Court Opinion

ID: 9575896
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 21:18:24.411426+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:48:26.656722
License: Public Domain

Johnson, J.
(dissenting) — I dissent. The trial court abused its discretion when it imposed a 450-day prison term. McDougal committed a level 2 offense and his offender score at the time was 0. The standard range for his offense under the Sentencing Reform Act of 1981 (SRA) was only 0 to 90 days in jail. The majority ignores the legislative purposes behind the SRA in failing to find an abuse of discretion in this case. McDougal's 450-day sentence is contrary to the SRA's purpose of ensuring an offender's punishment is "proportionate to the seriousness of the offense and the offender's criminal history". RCW 9.94A.010(1). In affirming this sentence, the majority undermines the SRA's goal of ensuring punishment that is "commensurate with the punishment imposed on others committing similar offenses". RCW 9.94A-.010(3). McDougal's sentence is so excessive it is contrary to the SRA's purpose of "[p]romot[ing] respect for the law" because it does not "provid[e] punishment which is just". RCW 9.94A.010(2). Finally, the sentence of over 1 year in the state penitentiary is contrary to the SRA's purpose of "[m]ak[ing] frugal use of the state's resources". RCW 9.94A.010(6). I would affirm the Court of Appeals because the trial court abused its discretion in this case.
When a defendant violates the terms and conditions of a sentence, the court "may order the offender to be confined for a period not to exceed sixty days for each violation . . .." (Italics mine.) RCW 9.94A.200(2)(b). This statute gives the trial court a discretionary range from 0 to 60 days for imposing additional time for each sentence violation. I agree the Court of Appeals erred in holding that this statute is ambiguous. However, a sentencing court's decision to impose additional time under this statute remains subject to abuse of *354discretion review. A trial court abuses its discretion when its discretionary determination is "manifestly unreasonable". In re Schuoler, 106 Wn.2d 500, 512, 723 P.2d 1103 (1986) (quoting State ex rel. Carroll v. Junker, 79 Wn.2d 12, 26, 482 P.2d 775 (1971)). A 450-day prison sentence is manifestly unreasonable in this case.
The Legislature designed the SRA to "[e]nsure that the punishment for a criminal offense is proportionate to the seriousness of the offense and the offender's criminal history". (Italics mine.) RCW 9.94A.010(1). McDougal's 450-day prison sentence is not proportionate to the seriousness of his level 2 offense or to his offender score of 0. A defendant with an offender score of 0 would face a 450-day standard range sentence only if he or she were found guilty of killing another with a car, burglarizing a home while armed with a deadly weapon, or molesting a 12-year-old child, all level 7 offenses. See RCW 9.94A.320 (vehicular homicide, first degree robbery and second degree child molestation). The Legislature has determined that McDougal's crime carries a seriousness level of only 2, not 7. His sentence, in all fairness, should reflect this fact.
The basic purpose behind the SRA is to structure, but not eliminate, trial court discretion in sentencing matters. RCW 9.94A.010(1). To further this purpose, the court has "always interpreted the SRA in a manner that ensures the structuring of trial court discretion". State v. Shove, 113 Wn.2d 83, 89, 776 P.2d 132 (1989). The majority ignores this principle in finding no abuse of discretion in this case. Under the majority's holding, a sentencing court could add anywhere from 0 to 600 days, a range of 20 months, to the defendant's sentence without abusing its discretion. The maximum disparity allowed between the top and bottom of the standard range for committing a level 2 offense is only 14 months, and this 14-month disparity is reserved only for persons with offender scores of 9 or more. RCW 9.94A.310. The SRA was designed to structure trial court discretion in sentencing matters in order to make the criminal justice system *355accountable to the public. RCW 9.94A.010. The 20-month disparity the majority allows in this case frustrates this purpose. Nothing in the SRA indicates a trial court's structured discretion under the SRA suddenly becomes unstructured when a defendant violates the terms and conditions of his or her original sentence.
Moreover, this 20-month range of unstructured discretion undermines the SRA's goal of imposing punishment "commensurate with the punishment imposed on others committing similar offenses". RCW 9.94A.010(3). Under the majority's holding, a defendant similarly situated with McDougal could receive anywhere from 0 to 450 to 600 days of incarceration. Similarly situated defendants could thus receive vastly unequal terms of punishment pursuant to the majority's broad grant of unstructured discretion in this case.
The majority also affirms the 450-day sentence contrary to the SRA's purpose, of "[m]ak[ing] frugal use of the state's resources". RCW 9.94A.010(6). The Legislature determined McDougal's original offense merited a sentence of 0 to 90 days in the county jail. A sentence of 0 to 90 days constitutes an appropriate and frugal use of the state's resources. A sentence of 450 days in the state penitentiary does not. McDougal committed no new crime under the laws of this state. His violations were all technical in nature. These violations do merit additional incarceration. However, a 450-day prison sentence in this case is a poor use of the State's resources. These prison resources are better spent on criminals who, because of the seriousness of their crimes and their criminal histories, merit legislatively determined sentences of 1 year or more. These resources are wasted in this case.
The Sentencing Guidelines Commission noted: *356(Italics mine.) Washington Sentencing Guidelines Comm'n, Sentencing Guidelines Implementation Manual § 9.94A.200 comment, at 11-39 (1990). I agree with the Court of Appeals that this comment should guide our application of RCW 9.94A.200. See State v. McDougal, 61 Wn. App. 847, 854, 812 P.2d 877 (1991). However, it is also important to recognize that under certain circumstances, a defendant's sentence should logically be modified to exceed his or her standard range. For example, a defendant should not be able to violate the terms and conditions of a sentence without the possibility of facing additional time just because the trial court originally imposed a sentence at the top of the standard range. Moreover, a defendant such as McDougal should not be free to commit repeated violations of the terms of his sentence once the top of the standard range has been imposed in his case. Concerns such as these necessitate flexibility and discretion in modifying sentences pursuant to RCW 9.94A.200(2)(b). However, this discretion remains structured pursuant to the legislative purposes behind the SRA. See RCW 9.94A.010.
*355Although the legislature has not adopted specific guidelines for the length of sanctions for various violations, the imposition of sanctions should be evaluated with reference to the standard range of the original offense. Rarely should the time to be served for violations exceed the underlying standard range.
*356I would affirm the Court of Appeals because the trial court in this case abused its discretion. This case should be remanded for resentencing. Upon remand, I would require the sentencing court to impose a sentence that is proportionate both to McDougal's crime and to his offender score of 0. Such a sentence would "provid[e] punishment which is just" and would comply with the SRA's purpose of "[m]ak[ing] frugal use of the state's resources". See RCW 9.94A-.010(2), (6). McDougal's 450-day sentence in the state penitentiary is both unjust and a waste of the State's resources. I accordingly dissent.
Dore, C.J., and Utter, J., concur with Johnson, J.
Reconsideration denied February 10, 1993.