Opinion ID: 2632392
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: firearms enhancements

Text: ¶ 9 A person is potentially subject to a deadly weapons enhancement if armed while committing a crime. RCW 9.94A.533(3), (4), .602. Again, the legislative findings of the hard time for armed crime initiative specifically state that armed criminals were creating an increasing threat to public safety, turning any crime into one where serious injury or death to the victims, the public, or the police was a possibility. Laws of 1995, ch. 129, § 1(1)(a) (I-159); see also Gurske, 155 Wash.2d at 138-39, 118 P.3d 333. ¶ 10 The statutes relating to weapons enhancements do not define what it means to be armed. See RCW 9.94A.533, .602. After consideration we held that [a] person is `armed' if a weapon is easily accessible and readily available for use, either for offensive or defensive purposes. State v. Valdobinos, 122 Wash.2d 270, 282, 858 P.2d 199 (1993); see also, generally, Jeffrey R. Kesselman, Excuse Me, Are You Using That Gun? The United States Supreme Court Examines 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1) in Bailey v. United States, 30 Creighton L.Rev. 513 (1997) (surveying use of a weapon in the context of the federal firearms enhancement). But a person is not armed merely by virtue of owning or even possessing a weapon; there must be some nexus between the defendant, the weapon, and the crime. Barnes, 153 Wash.2d at 383, 103 P.3d 1219; Valdobinos, 122 Wash.2d at 282, 858 P.2d 199. ¶ 11 Courts are especially careful in this area because of the constitutional right to bear arms. U.S. Const. amend. II; Const. art. I, § 24; see also State v. Rupe, 101 Wash.2d 664, 703-08, 683 P.2d 571 (1984) (constitutionally protected behavior cannot be the basis of criminal punishment; thus, courts must be protective of the right to bear arms during criminal trials implicating gun possession); State v. Johnson, 94 Wash.App. 882, 892-97, 974 P.2d 855 (1999) (inappropriate to send deadly weapon enhancement to the jury without some showing of both accessibility and nexus). But we are also mindful of the legislative purpose in creating the deadly weapons enhancement: to recognize that armed crime, including having weapons available to protect contraband, imposes particular risks of danger on society. Gurske, 155 Wash.2d at 138-39, 118 P.3d 333. ¶ 12 The lack of the word nexus does not render the generally used enhancement instructions per se inadequate. E.g., Willis, 153 Wash.2d at 374, 103 P.3d 1213. Because Eckenrode did not ask for such a nexus instruction, he is not entitled to seek relief on the ground of instructional error. When a defendant seeks such an instruction, it may well be appropriate to give it. See, e.g., id. But our primary task in this case is to determine whether the evidence was sufficient to uphold the jury's special verdict. As long as any rational trier of fact could have found that he was armed, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the State, sufficient evidence exists. State v. DeVries, 149 Wash.2d 842, 849, 72 P.3d 748 (2003); State v. Salinas, 119 Wash.2d 192, 201, 829 P.2d 1068 (1992). ¶ 13 We find there was sufficient evidence to uphold the jury's conclusion that a weapon was easily accessible and readily available. Eckenrode himself told the 911 operator that he had a loaded gun in his hand and that he was prepared to shoot an intruder. ¶ 14 There was also sufficient evidence of a connection between Eckenrode, the weapon, and his drug manufacturing operation to uphold the verdict. The rifle was loaded at the time, and Eckenrode testified that the pistol was as well. Eckenrode also had a police scanner, which together with his manufacturing operation raises the inference that he was monitoring police activity against the chance he might be raided. Finally, evidence of the drug manufacturing operation pervaded the house. A jury could readily have found that the weapons were there to protect the criminal enterprise. See State v. Simonson, 91 Wash.App. 874, 883, 960 P.2d 955 (1998) (holding that a nexus exists if the weapons were there to protect an active methamphetamine manufacturing operation). ¶ 15 Eckenrode asserts his case is on all fours with Gurske, where this court vacated a deadly weapons enhancement on the ground the State had not actually proved that the gun was easily accessible and readily available for use. But in Gurske, all the State proved was that the defendant possessed an inaccessible weapon. Gurske, 155 Wash.2d at 144, 118 P.3d 333. The State did not attempt to prove that the weapon found in Gurske was readily accessible at any relevant time or that there was any connection between the weapon and the crime. As we have said before, it is simply not enough to prove possession. Valdobinos, 122 Wash.2d at 282, 858 P.2d 199. ¶ 16 Nor is this case similar to Johnson, 94 Wash.App. 882, 974 P.2d 855. There, all the State proved was the mere presence of a weapon in the home of the defendant at the time drug crimes were committed. That is not sufficient; there has to be some facts presented that could lead a jury to infer that there was a connection between the defendant, the weapon, and the crime. Here, again, the evidence was sufficient for a judge to submit to, and for a rational jury to find, that connection. In this case, the defendant told the 911 operator he was holding a loaded weapon, a police scanner was found in the home, and there was pervasive evidence that much of the house was used for drug production. ¶ 17 Eckenrode argues that there was no direct evidence that any weapons were, in fact, there to protect any illicit business, as opposed to merely expressions of Eckenrode's quiet enjoyment of his article I, section 24 right to bear arms. But there is considerable circumstantial evidence that the weapons were there to protect the criminal enterprise and that they were readily accessible and available. Some circumstantial evidence is very strong, as when you find a trout in the milk. Henry David Thoreau, Journal, Nov. 11, 1850, in Journal of Henry D. Thoreau 2:94 (Bradford Torrey & Francis H. Allen eds.1962) (quoted in The Oxford Dictionary of American Legal Quotations 133 (Fred R. Shapiro ed.1993)); see also Rogers Potato Serv., L.L.C. v. Countrywide Potato, L.L.C., 152 Wash.2d 387, 392, 97 P.3d 745 (2004) (noting that circumstantial evidence can support a judgment). ¶ 18 However, as much as there was sufficient evidence in this case, we agree with Eckenrode that it is conceivable that some defendants could be receiving firearms enhancements for possession of weapons that actually have nothing to do with any crime. The knives in the kitchen drawer or the hunting rifle on the wall might be readily and easily available but unconnected to any criminal enterprise, and courts should be careful to stay within the guidelines of RCW 9.94A.602 [1] when instructing juries on what might qualify as a deadly weapon for purposes of weapons enhancements. While this is not the case before us, there may be situations where the jury instructions used would not allow the defendant to argue his or her theory of the case and thus be inadequate. Cf. Barnes, 153 Wash.2d at 382, 103 P.3d 1219; Willis, 153 Wash.2d at 374 n. 2, 103 P.3d 1213 (This is not to say that including such language would be error. Depending on the facts of the case, such language might assist the jury in reaching its decision.). In some cases, it would be the better practice to specifically instruct the jury that the defendant is armed only if there is some nexus or connection between the defendant, the weapon, and the crime. This may be most important. See generally State v. Schelin, 147 Wash.2d 562, 576-77, 55 P.3d 632 (2002) (Alexander, C.J., concurring). The jury, as the trier of fact, is in the best position to determine whether there is a connection. ¶ 19 But, again, in a sufficiency of the evidence challenge, the burden is on the defendant to establish that the evidence was in fact insufficient, even with all inferences from the evidence drawn in favor of the State. Schelin, 147 Wash.2d at 573, 55 P.3d 632. Eckenrode has not met this burden. Accordingly, we affirm imposition of the firearms enhancement.