Court Opinion

ID: 9570016
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 20:19:20.790002+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:04:37.084633
License: Public Domain

Durham, J.
(concurring) — The majority establishes a blanket rule prohibiting the amendment of a criminal charge after the State has rested its case in chief, unless the amendment is to a lesser degree of the original charge or a lesser included offense. With these exceptions, it concludes *492that any such amendment is a per se violation of Const, art. 1, § 22 (amend. 10), which gives a defendant the right to demand the nature and cause of the accusation against him. Thus, the majority eliminates any requirement that the defendant show that she was, in fact, prejudiced by the amendment. It is with this holding that I disagree.
Pelkey was originally charged with bribery under RCW 9A.68.010(l)(a), which required that Everett police officer James Brauch was acting in his official capacity when the offer of money was made. After the State rested its case, Pelkey brought a motion to dismiss based on the lack of evidence as to this particular aspect of the statute. In response, the State moved, and was allowed, to amend the charge to trading in special influence, RCW 9A.68.050(l)(a). This statute differs from bribery primarily in that the recipient of the money, Officer Brauch, need not be identified as a public servant, but that he, in turn, offer or confer a benefit upon a public servant, in this case a member of the Bellingham Police Department. The limited record before us appears to contain sufficient identification of the Bellingham person as a police officer.
Pelkey's counsel filed a post-trial motion to dismiss claiming, inter alia, prejudice "which occurred during the course of the trial as a result of the prosecution's failure to properly charge the defendant and the resulting amendment allowed at the close of the prosecution's case-in-chief". Counsel then sets forth in detail several ways in which his trial preparation and conduct were impaired by the amendment, including lack of notice, inadequate pretrial preparation and briefing of legal issues, possible prejudice of the jury as a result of the bribery charge, change of trial tactics, especially relating to cross examination of the key witness, and the focus of closing argument. Unfortunately, the record before us is limited to a narrative report of proceedings which makes a thorough evaluation of Pel-key's claim difficult. Nonetheless, it appears that Pelkey's claim is meritorious. Thus, I believe Pelkey has established *493the requisite prejudice, and I would affirm the dismissal on that basis only.
Andersen and Callow, JJ., concur with Durham, J.
Reconsideration denied January 20,1988.