Opinion ID: 2770231
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: State v. Vo/k

Text: The State charged Casmer Volk with first degree rape of a child. The victim was four years old, and Volk was a friend of the victim's family at the time of the offense. As in Friedlund's case, the prosecution included an aggravating circumstance in the information alleging that Volk knew or should have known that the victim was particularly vulnerable or incapable of resistance. A jury convicted Volk and found the aggravating circumstance present. The trial court calculated the standard sentence range as 162 to 216 months. The trial court then sentenced Volk to a term of 336 months to life, citing the aggravating circumstance as the basis for sentencing Volk at least 120 months above the standard range. 2 The trial court never entered written findings articulating the reason for this exceptional sentence. Volk appealed. The Court of Appeals affirmed, explaining that remand for entry of written findings would be a mere formality because the record is sufficiently comprehensive and clear for us to discern the sentencing court imposed an exceptional sentence solely because the jury found an aggravating circumstance by 2 First degree rape of a child is subject to the indeterminate sentencing provisions of RCW 9.94A.507. That statute requires trial courts to sentence offenders to a range of imprisonment consisting of a maximum and a minimum term, with the maximum term set at the statutory maximum for the offense and the minimum term either within the standard sentence range for the offense, or outside the standard sentence range pursuant to RCW 9.94A.535 ....  RCW 9.94A. 507 (3)(a)-( c)(i). 4 State v. Friedlund, No. 89926-6 Consolidated with State v. Volk, No. 90005-1 special interrogatory. Vo/k, 2014 WL 465452, at . We granted review. 180 Wn.2d 1013, 327 P.3d 54 (2014).