Court Opinion

ID: 9552800
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 19:17:06.524786+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:29:00.412919
License: Public Domain

Rosellini, J.
(dissenting)—I believe the majority opinion undercuts the deterrent effect of the deadly weapon statute, RCW 9.95.015.1 therefore dissent.
Prior to the passage of a new complicity statute, RCW 9A.08.020, the rule in Washington was that even though only one defendant was armed with a deadly weapon, both would be deemed armed for purposes of the enhancement provisions of RCW 9.95.015. State v. Willis, 5 Wn. App. 441, 487 P.2d 648 (1971). The majority opinion asserts that changes in the language of the present complicity statute require that we change this rule. I believe State v. Silvernail, 25 Wn. App. 185, 192-93, 605 P.2d 1279 (1980) states the better rule. That court noted:
Under State v. Willis, ... he is deemed armed if another accused who participated in the same offense is armed. While Willis was premised, in part, on former RCW 9.01.030, the passage of RCW 9A.08.020 did not change the rule. Willis was also premised on the observation that the intent of the deadly weapon and firearm statutes applies with equal force to all participants in a crime. We believe this reasoning to be sound because the danger to human life is at least as great when several participants decide to use a deadly weapon.
(Footnote and citation omitted. Italics mine.)
*120Moreover, the danger to human life is the same even if the participant does not know that his partner is armed. By agreeing to participate in a crime where a weapon may be present, he exhibits the same nonchalance for human life as if he knew of the weapon. It is this indifference to human life that the enhancement statute is meant to protect against. I would therefore apply the statute regardless of the defendant's knowledge.