Court Opinion

ID: 9793696
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 02:51:34.030299+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:06:40.807756
License: Public Domain

Durham, J.
(dissenting) — While the prosecutor's amendment of the information on the day of trial in this case may have been shortsighted, the majority of this court misstates prior case law and implies facts that are not present in order to find reversible error in the trial court's rulings. The result of the majority's holding is a new rule of criminal procedure which is at odds with our own court rules and from which I must dissent.
*751The issue before us is the trial court's denial of a continuance. As noted by the majority, the decision on a motion for a continuance is within the sound discretion of the trial court. State v. Williams, 84 Wn.2d 853, 855, 529 P.2d 1088 (1975). An appellate court may find error only if the trial court abused that discretion. We previously have defined judicial discretion as
a sound judgment exercised with regard to what is right under the circumstances and without doing so arbitrarily or capriciously. Where the decision or order of the trial court is a matter of discretion, it will not be disturbed on review except on a clear showing of abuse of discretion, that is, discretion manifestly unreasonable, or exercised on untenable grounds, or for untenable reasons.
(Citations omitted.) State ex rel. Carroll v. Junker, 79 Wn.2d 12, 26, 482 P.2d 775 (1971). In other words, an abuse of discretion occurs only where no reasonable person would take the view adopted by the trial court. State v. Blight, 89 Wn.2d 38, 41, 569 P.2d 1129 (1977).
Failure to grant a continuance is an abuse of discretion if it deprives the defendant of a fair trial and due process of law, within the circumstances of a particular case. Williams, at 855. This is a case-by-case inquiry which requires an actual deprivation of rights. See also State v. Eller, 84 Wn.2d 90, 95-98, 524 P.2d 242 (1974); State v. Harp, 13 Wn. App. 273, 275-76, 534 P.2d 846, review denied, 85 Wn.2d 1016 (1975); State v. Cadena, 74 Wn.2d 185, 443 P.2d 826 (1968), overruled on other grounds in State v. Gosby, 85 Wn.2d 758, 539 P.2d 680 (1975). In this case, the critical question should be if the defendant adequately demonstrated to the trial court that he would be prejudiced by the lack of a continuance. The majority, unfortunately, never addresses this issue.
As it happens, actual prejudice was not even argued in the instant case, let alone proven. Defense counsel never alleged that amending the information without granting a continuance would "prejudice" any "substantial rights of the defendant", which is the standard established by our *752court rules for denial of such an amendment. CrR 2.1(e). Defense counsel merely stated, upon making his motion to the trial court, that he did not know the effect of the amendment upon Purdom's defense. His only grounds for the request was that he wanted more time.
Nevertheless, the majority holds that substantial rights of the defendant were violated as a matter of law. It is clear that our rules allow the amendment of an information on the day of trial. And even the majority, albeit implicitly, would not require a continuance in this situation if none were requested. By making a continuance automatic upon request, the majority presumes there has been substantial prejudice or a deprivation of rights, abandoning the case-by-case inquiry we have heretofore required. By so doing, the majority effectively creates a new rule of procedure: whenever an information is amended on the day of trial, and the defendant requests a continuance, it must be granted, regardless of whether that defendant's rights were actually deprived.
As support for its new rule, the majority primarily relies upon dictum in State v. Jones, 26 Wn. App. 1, 612 P.2d 404, review denied, 94 Wn.2d 1013 (1980). Majority opinion, at 749. This is a poor basis for extending the law in this area. Jones held that "[a] defendant cannot claim error from the amendment of an information unless he can show he was prejudiced thereby." (Italics mine.) Jones, at 6 (citing State v. Brown, 74 Wn.2d 799, 447 P.2d 82 (1968)). The Jones court applied this rule and found that " [t] he amendment of the information in the instant case did not prejudice Jones and was, therefore, proper." Jones, at 6. The trial court had declared a mistrial almost immediately after granting the motion to amend. Continuance of the trial was not an issue. Jones stands for the proposition that a defendant must show actual prejudice to sustain a claim that the amendment of an information was error. The majority ignores the clear import of the case.
The majority cites another case not on point which involves only the propriety of amending an information. *753State v. LaPierre, 71 Wn.2d 385, 428 P.2d 579 (1967) involved a claim that an amended information charged a new and different crime. The LaPierre court held that the evidence introduced at trial supported the offense charged. It noted that the defendant had not suggested that he was misled or prejudiced by the amendment. The court commented in passing that if more time was needed to prepare a defense to an amended information, the defendant was entitled to request a continuance. LaPierre, at 388. Like the Jones case, LaPierre supports the rule that prejudice must be shown before an amendment is error.
The majority's reliance on State v. Lutman, 26 Wn. App. 766, 614 P.2d 224 (1980), is more obtuse. The majority makes a statement apparently suggesting that a case allowing an amendment is distinguishable because a continuance had been granted and cites State v. Lutman. Majority opinion, at 749. In fact, nowhere in the Lutman opinion is a continuance mentioned. Lutman concerned a district court's amendment of traffic charges to charge a completely different offense after trial. The applicable court rule, JTR 3.04, has different language than the rule at issue in this case. The Lutman court found error in the amendment of the information.
State v. Brown, 74 Wn.2d 799, 447 P.2d 82 (1968) and State v. Gosser, 33 Wn. App. 428, 656 P.2d 514 (1982) complete the catalog of cases cited by the majority on this issue. Again, these cases directly support a well-established rule which is contrary to the majority's result. Both cases held that a defendant cannot claim error from the amendment of an information unless he can show he was prejudiced by it. In other words, the defendant has the burden of showing prejudice. Brown, at 801 (citing State v. Graeber, 46 Wn.2d 602, 283 P.2d 974 (1955), cert. denied, 350 U.S. 938, 351 U.S. 970 (1956)); Gosser, at 435 (citing State v. Brown, supra; State v. Jones, supra). The majority attempts to distinguish Brown and Gosser because a continuance was not requested in those cases. Majority opinion, at 749. The absence of that fact in no way impairs *754those cases' interpretation of the general effect of the court rule that prejudice must be shown.
In summary, the majority confuses the issue in this case, ignores the requirements of our own court rules, and mis-characterizes and miscites case law. The unhappy result is an unprecedented new rule of criminal procedure without support. Therefore, I dissent.
Brachtenbach and Callow, JJ., concur with Durham, J.