Opinion ID: 2584029
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Effect of Incarceration on Waiver

Text: We have not addressed the question of how absence from trial when the defendant was incarcerated on unrelated charges affects the voluntary waiver inquiry. However, the Court of Appeals analyzed this issue in State v. Atherton, 106 Wash.App. 783, 24 P.3d 1123 (2001). In that case, the defendant was present for the first three days of trial. The next day, he did not appear. The trial court deemed Atherton's absence to be voluntary and permitted trial to continue without him, refusing to grant a mistrial. During closing arguments, the court learned that Atherton had been incarcerated on an outstanding warrant, but again denied defense counsel's motion for mistrial. Atherton was present the next day and renewed the motion. Atherton explained that he had (1) asked an employee to contact the court, (2) tried to call the judge, and (3) tried to call his attorney. His motion was denied. The Court of Appeals reversed. In doing so, it declined to adopt a per se rule, advocated by Atherton and adopted in some jurisdictions, that incarcerated defendants cannot voluntarily waive their right to be present at trial. Id. at 788-89, 24 P.3d 1123. Instead, it approved a rule necessitating a factual inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the incarceration. Id. Such a rule, the court reasoned, allows a finding of voluntary waiver when appropriate and protects against an opportunistic defendant who waits to discover the outcome of the trial and move for retrial if the verdict was guilty. Id. at 789, 790, 24 P.3d 1123. The Court of Appeals imposed a duty on the incarcerated defendant to make reasonable efforts to inform the court of his situation. Id., at 790, 24 P.3d 1123. When the defendant appears before the trial court following the incarceration: [T]he court must conduct an inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the defendant's absence before affirming its preliminary finding of voluntary waiver. If there is unrefuted evidence that the defendant was unable to call in a timely manner, or tried but failed to make contact, then the court must retract its preliminary finding of voluntary waiver .... [and] grant a mistrial. Id. Atherton offered uncontroverted evidence that he had tried to inform the court of his incarceration. The Court of Appeals held that the trial court erred when it failed to inquire more closely into those efforts and merely assumed that the absence was voluntary. Id., at 791, 24 P.3d 1123. Because the record did not support a renewed finding of voluntary absence, the court granted Atherton's motion for a mistrial. Atherton does not bind this court, but we approve its approach to voluntary waiver when the absent defendant has been incarcerated. As part of the third prong of Thomson, when the trial court affords the defendant the chance to explain the absence from trial, the defendant must show that he or she genuinely tried but failed to contact the court. If the defendant's efforts were reasonable, the court must retract its preliminary finding of voluntary waiver and grant a mistrial. If the defendant's efforts were not reasonable, the court makes a renewed finding of voluntary absence. The State urges us to find that Garza's efforts to contact the court were not reasonable. Indeed, the Court of Appeals reasoned that Garza's statement to the police, `[N]otify King County to let them know that I can't make it in' was too vague and cryptic to meet the Atherton requirement. Garza, 112 Wash.App. at 320, 48 P.3d 385. We do not actually decide the question of whether Garza's actions would justify a renewed finding of voluntary absence. Instead, we hold that even if Garza failed to make reasonable efforts to contact the court, it would not cure the judge's abuse of discretion in the preliminary determination of voluntary absence.