Opinion ID: 1388756
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Disadvantageous Versus Ameliorative Aspects of SHB 1457.

Text: Petitioners argue that SHB 1457 pushes back the date at which they may be considered for parole. They point out that under former RCW 9.95.115 they could be considered for parole as early as 20 years (minus good time) from the day they began serving their sentence. On the other hand, SHB 1457 (RCW 9.95.009(2),.116) requires that the Board set a minimum term of imprisonment for persons serving mandatory life sentences. This section also requires that this term be reasonably consistent with SRA guidelines. Absent exceptional circumstances and written reasons justifying departure, the Board's minimum term decisions under section .009(2) must conform to the SRA. Addleman v. Board of Prison Terms & Paroles, 107 Wn.2d 503, 511, 730 P.2d 1327 (1986). Therefore, it can be assumed that the Board will follow SRA guidelines in setting minimum terms. Under the SRA, a mandatory minimum of 20 years is imposed, RCW 9.94A.120(4), but that minimum is on the very low end of the possible sentences which may be received, RCW 9.94A.310(1) (lowest possible sentence with an offender score of 0). It is therefore unlikely that a 20-year minimum term will be given under the SRA to a person serving a mandatory life term. In fact, the sentences given to petitioners in this case clustered in the 25- to 27-year range. Thus, argue petitioners, since adherence to the SRA actually results in a longer period of incarceration before they can be considered for parole, the law which requires that adherence works to their disadvantage and is ex post facto. We begin by noting that because of the brutal and coldblooded nature of their crimes, petitioners were sentenced to remain in prison for the rest of their lives. Thus, even were they to receive parole, petitioners would never be truly free, but would always be subject to the terms of their parole. See RCW 9.95.100, .110, .115. Moreover, because of the unique nature of the crime of first degree murder and the people who commit that crime, the possibility of even receiving parole in cases like petitioners' has only been legislatively authorized in this state since 1951. See Laws of 1947, ch. 92, § 1, p. 598; In re George, 90 Wn.2d 90, 93, 579 P.2d 354 (1978). We therefore feel compelled to reiterate that the purpose of the ex post facto clause is not to insure an individual's right to less punishment, because certainly petitioners are not entitled to less punishment, but merely to provide for fair notice and governmental restraint. Weaver, at 30. With these principles in mind, we turn to our analysis of petitioners' ex post facto claims. [4] The threshold question in determining whether a law which affects parole is disadvantageous to prisoners is whether the law alters the standard of punishment which existed under prior law. Lindsey v. Washington, 301 U.S. 397, 401, 81 L.Ed. 1182, 57 S.Ct. 797 (1937). We agree with petitioners that the standard of punishment under SHB 1457 is different from that under former RCW 9.95.115, in that the nature of the parole decision has been changed. A process which was once entirely encompassed within the discretion of the Board and prison superintendent has been transformed into one which sharply circumscribes the Board's discretion and entirely eliminates that of the superintendent. The next question is whether this change in the standard of punishment works to the disadvantage of petitioners. See Lindsey, at 401. We hold that it does not. Petitioners seek to measure the 20-year time limit of former RCW 9.95.115 against the new SRA-consistent time limit of SHB 1457 in order to show that SHB 1457 is disadvantageous. Their reliance on this direct comparison is misplaced. The two cannot be laid side by side and measured against one another because they are structurally and functionally different. Under former RCW 9.95.115, the 20-year time limit (in addition to the superintendent's certification) was merely the starting point, after which the machinery of the parole process could begin to operate. It was the point at which the Board obtained jurisdiction of the inmate for purposes of determining parole; the point after which the Board could exercise its virtually unlimited discretion to determine whether to parole the inmate. Under SHB 1457, however, an inmate need not wait 20 years minus good time for the wheels of the parole process to begin turning. That process begins immediately, with the Board setting a minimum sentence reasonably consistent with the SRA. RCW 9.95.009(2),.040. The inmate must then wait until the end of that minimum term before he or she will actually be considered for parole. The minimum term which the Board sets may, and often will, be longer than 20 years, but at the end of it the inmate knows that he or she will be considered for parole, in marked contrast to former RCW 9.95.115, which gave the inmate no clue as to when he or she would actually be considered for parole. [5] Thus, the nature of the two time limits is different and a mere quantitative comparison of time limit versus time limit is inappropriate. The proper analysis requires that we carefully balance any disadvantageous aspects of SHB 1457 against its ameliorative effects. See Weaver, at 33; Dobbert v. Florida, 432 U.S. 282, 294-95, 53 L.Ed.2d 344, 97 S.Ct. 2290, reh'g denied, 434 U.S. 882 (1977). As the United States Supreme Court has said, [w]e must compare the two statutory procedures in toto to determine if the new may be fairly characterized as more onerous. Dobbert, at 294. We have already noted the disadvantageous aspects of SHB 1457. It appears to extend the time before which an inmate can be considered for parole. Petitioners analogize this situation to that in Weaver v. Graham, 450 U.S. 24, 67 L.Ed.2d 17, 101 S.Ct. 960 (1981), in which a statute negatively affecting an inmate's ability to earn good time credits, and therefore early release, was struck down as violative of the ex post facto clause. In Weaver, the Florida Legislature had reduced the amount of good-time credit which could be automatically accumulated per month and applied this change retrospectively to prisoners who had been sentenced before the enactment of the legislation. The Supreme Court held this to be an ex post facto law, finding that reduction in good-time credits necessarily increases the time spent in prison and is therefore detrimental to the prisoner. The prisoners were disadvantaged by the reduced opportunity to shorten [their] time in prison.... (Italics ours.) Weaver, at 33-34. Petitioners claim that the difference in time limits in the present case has similarly reduced their opportunity for early release and that the ex post facto analysis must therefore be resolved in their favor. They are mistaken. [6-8] We agree that in one sense SHB 1457 reduces the possibility of release prior to the end of the SRA-consistent term. It is possible that under former RCW 9.95.115 the prison superintendent might certify the prisoner as parolable prior to that time and it is possible that the Board might have granted parole prior to that time. This is not the whole story, however. SHB 1457 also has an ameliorative aspect, represented by the abolition of the superintendent certification requirement. Under former RCW 9.95.115, a prisoner's first opportunity to be considered for parole by the Board was after 20 years minus good time AND certification from the prison superintendent that the prisoner was parolable. Former RCW 9.95.115. Until the Board received the superintendent's certification it could not consider the prisoner for parole. This decision whether to grant certification was entirely within the discretion of the superintendent. See former RCW 9.95.115; In re Baker, 44 Wn. App. 116, 121, 720 P.2d 870 (1986). Therefore, under former RCW 9.95.115, a prisoner did not have an opportunity for early release until the superintendent had exercised his virtually unfettered discretion. It is therefore conceivable that under former RCW 9.95.115, a prisoner would never have had the opportunity to be considered for parole by the Board and therefore would never have had an opportunity for early release. Substitute House Bill 1457 does away with this problem by eliminating the requirement of superintendent certification. Each prisoner must now be considered for parole at a set time. Therefore, far from constricting the opportunity for early release, SHB 1457 ameliorates the harshness inherent in former RCW 9.95.115, which allowed for the possibility that a prisoner might never be considered for parole. This ameliorative effect advantages inmates more than the reduction in the possibility of early release disadvantages them. The possibility of never even being considered for parole by the Board has been transformed to a certainty of being considered. While SHB 1457 admittedly pushes back the first possibility of parole release, its elimination of the superintendent's certification requirement makes the possibility which the inmate does get more determinate and therefore more meaningful. SHB 1457 therefore, on balance, works to inmates' benefit and is not ex post facto. Petitioners claim, however, that as a practical matter, the superintendent always certified inmates as parolable at the end of 20 years minus good time and that therefore SHB 1457 is not actually ameliorative. We first note that petitioners have provided us with no data to support this proposition. Even if they did, it would avail them nothing. The constitution prohibits ex post facto laws. For a law to be ex post facto, it must detrimentally alter the standard of punishment called for by a prior law, not by a prior administrative practice which was not required by that law. See Warren v. United States Parole Comm'n, 659 F.2d 183, 195-96 (D.C. Cir.1981), cert. denied, 455 U.S. 950 (1982); see also Watson v. Estelle, 886 F.2d 1093, 1096 (9th Cir.1989) (and cases cited therein). The reason for this is clear. One of the primary justifications of the ex post facto clause is that legislative Acts [should] give fair warning of their effect and permit individuals to rely on their meaning until explicitly changed. (Citations omitted.) Weaver, at 28-29; see also Dufresne v. Baer, 744 F.2d 1543, 1546, 1548 (11th Cir.1984), cert. denied, 474 U.S. 817 (1985). At the time they committed their murders, each of the petitioners might have thought that the usual administrative practice was to grant certification at the expiration of 20 years minus good time, but given the superintendent discretion expressly provided for in former RCW 9.95.115, they could not have been certain that the practice would be followed in their cases. Because the statute provided that certification did not have to be given at the end of 20 years minus good time, petitioners were provided with fair warning that their individual certifications might occur much later, or never. See Dufresne, at 1548. The fair warning with which the ex post facto clause is concerned is provided by prior statutes, not prior administrative practice not required by its authorizing legislation. In fact, petitioners have admitted as much. See Reply Brief of Petitioners Powell, Thompson and Forsman, at 24. The relevant benchmark for determining whether a law is ex post facto is therefore the prior law and as we have already shown, the prior law in this case, as written, was harsher than SHB 1457. Petitioners cite a number of cases to support their argument, none of which is persuasive. In Addleman v. Board of Prison Terms & Paroles, 107 Wn.2d 503, 730 P.2d 1327 (1986), the petitioner claimed that the proposed statutory abolition of the Parole Board in 1988 would violate the ex post facto clause because there would no longer be any entity authorized to waive certain mandatory minimum terms ... recompute minimum terms at any time ... and to grant `good time' credits, Addleman, at 506, in other words, to discretionarily reduce sentences. The court agreed, noting that the new provision constricts the inmate's opportunity to earn early release and is therefore more onerous on the inmate. (Italics ours.) Addleman, at 506 (quoting Weaver v. Graham, supra ). Petitioners argue that SHB 1457 similarly reduces their opportunity to earn early release, if not by eliminating the Board entirely, by limiting its exercise of discretion so that it cannot grant parole at 20 years minus good time as it could under former RCW 9.95.115. There are two problems with using Addleman in this way. First, the ex post facto discussion in Addleman is dicta. The issue was not ripe in that case because the Board had not yet been abolished, and the issue was moot because the Legislature had already provided for the Indeterminate Sentence Review Board to replace and take over the functions of the Board of Prison Terms and Paroles. Addleman, at 507. Second, there is a fundamental difference between the changes complained of in Addleman and those complained of in this case. Elimination of the Board in Addleman completely eliminated the possibility of release earlier than the minimum term which had already been set. It did entirely eliminate the opportunity to earn early release. In stark contrast, by eliminating the certification requirement, SHB 1457 has made the opportunity for early release mandatory. Far from eliminating the opportunity for early release, SHB 1457 creates an opportunity which may not have materialized under prior law. Addleman is therefore of no assistance to petitioners. Petitioners also cite a number of cases for the general proposition that [a]dverse changes in the ... time at which a prisoner first becomes eligible for parole consideration may ... violate the ex post facto clause. Yamamoto v. U.S. Parole Comm'n, 794 F.2d 1295, 1300 (8th Cir.1986) (citing United States ex rel. Graham v. United States Parole Comm'n, 629 F.2d 1040, 1043 (5th Cir.1980); Rodriguez v. United States Parole Comm'n, 594 F.2d 170, 175-76 (7th Cir.1979)); see also Warden, Lewisburg Penitentiary v. Marrero, 417 U.S. 653, 663, 41 L.Ed.2d 383, 94 S.Ct. 2532 (a repealer of parole eligibility previously available to imprisoned offenders would clearly present [a] serious question under the ex post facto clause), reh'g denied, 419 U.S. 1014 (1974); Devine v. New Mexico Dep't of Corrections, 866 F.2d 339 (10th Cir.1989). The Supreme Court has never held that such a change does violate the ex post facto clause. See Akins v. Snow, 922 F.2d 1558, 1563 (11th Cir.1991). Regardless, we fail to see how the cases cited by petitioners are relevant to the disposition of this case. SHB 1457 has worked no adverse change in the time of parole eligibility. As already pointed out, SHB 1457 actually ameliorates the inmates' parole consideration situation by eliminating the superintendent certification requirement. Thus, eligibility for parole consideration has not been adversely changed or repealed, but has merely been made more definite. Petitioners also rely on the California case of In re Stanworth, 33 Cal.3d 176, 654 P.2d 1311, 187 Cal. Rptr. 783 (1982). In that case, the petitioner was sentenced to a mandatory life term under California's Indeterminate Sentence Law (ISL). California then enacted a Determinate Sentence Law (DSL). Petitioner's parole release date was determined in accordance with the administrative guidelines enacted pursuant to the DSL. The California court found this to be an ex post facto violation because, among other things, the goals of the two statutory schemes were different. The ISL was aimed toward rehabilitation and was therefore concerned with an individual assessment of each inmate whereas the goals under the DSL were punishment and uniformity, lessening the importance of individual considerations. Stanworth is inapposite for two reasons. First, the court in Stanworth did not have before it the same statutes which are at issue here. Neither the ISL nor the DSL at issue in Stanworth included anything analogous to the superintendent certification requirement of former RCW 9.95.115 or the elimination of that requirement in SHB 1457. This peculiarity of the Washington parole scheme makes our analysis necessarily unique and therefore renders Stanworth of little assistance. Even if Stanworth were on point, we would decline to follow it because its analysis is faulty. There, the court found that the DSL changed the standard of punishment because postconviction behavior is no longer utilized in the same manner in determining parole release dates. Stanworth, at 187. The court then went on to find that this change in the standard of punishment may well be to defendant's disadvantage because his postconviction behavior has been given different weight in the fixing of his term. Stanworth, at 187. As has already been noted, in order to find an ex post facto violation, a court must find both that the standard of punishment has changed and that this change works to prisoners' disadvantage. The court in Stanworth failed to carry out both of these steps. Rather, it assumed that the change in the standard of punishment may have worked to the disadvantage of the defendant, and upon that assumption found an ex post facto violation. We decline to follow Stanworth in this regard. When the foregoing analysis is applied to the facts of the present case, it is clear that petitioners Forsman, Powell, and Halstien have not been disadvantaged by the application of SHB 1457. SHB 1457 eliminates the certification requirement, thus making their opportunity for early release more determinate and ameliorating their punishment. We therefore hold that, as applied to petitioners Halstien, Powell, and Forsman, SHB 1457 is not an ex post facto law. [9] Petitioner Thompson, however, is in a different situation. He was certified as parolable by the superintendent of McNeil Island Penitentiary on March 7, 1989, before the effective date of SHB 1457. The elimination of the certification requirement therefore will have no ameliorative effect on him, since he has already been certified. We therefore hold that, as applied to him and others like him, SHB 1457 is an ex post facto law and therefore void. Petitioner Thompson and others like him will have their parole release determined according to former RCW 9.95.115, the law in effect when they committed their crimes. See Weaver v. Graham, 450 U.S. 24, 36 n. 22, 67 L.Ed.2d 17, 101 S.Ct. 960 (1981). We are careful to note this does not mean petitioner Thompson must be immediately paroled or even that he must be paroled by the expiration of the SRA-consistent minimum term he would have received under SHB 1457. What it means is that petitioner Thompson is, as he was prior to the enactment of SHB 1457, subject entirely to the discretion of the Board, which may parole him now or never. RCW 9.95.100, .110; former RCW 9.95.115.