Court Opinion

ID: 9633405
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 11:45:59.055786+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:08:34.615056
License: Public Domain

Finley, J.
(concurring in the result) — I agree with the majority opinion as to defendants Stewart and Wood. As to defendant Todd, I am convinced the instruction given to the jury dealing with the working of the parole system was inadequate, and it is speculative whether the jury was confused or misdirected by this instruction with resulting prejudicial error.1 Consequently, I am convinced defendant Todd’s sentence should be set aside and a new trial ordered solely as to the sentence to be imposed. However, in this connection, I must add that I do not believe that any instruction whatsoever as to the role and functions of the parole board in our system of criminal law administration stating the possibilities of parole for defendant Todd would be necessarily forbidden and grounds for a claim of prejudicial error if it is objected to by the defendant at the time of trial.2
Washington’s death penalty provision has one unique facet. It is the only instance in our criminal law that the jury enters into the process of penalization or punishment. *379In most other cases, the jury is concerned solely with determining whether, beyond a reasonable doubt, the defendant did the alleged act. In making this determination the jurors usually are aided by a plethora of instructions from the trial judge, but they are not concerned with what penalty is to be imposed. Under our indeterminate sentencing procedure that function is performed by the Board of Prison Terms and Paroles. In contrast, in capital cases the legislature has determined that the jury must fulfill the additional and separate function of determining penalization. Again, this function as noted by the majority, is limited to determining whether the ultimate sanction of the common law, the death sentence, is to be imposed.
The delineation of this function from that performed by the Board of Prison Terms and Paroles is a difficult task. The jury, in determining whether a defendant will be executed, must look at a complex of factors involving the makeup of the one individual, the offense to the community, and the evidence of the criminal offense previously introduced. The parole board considers some significantly different factors in determining the time to be served in prison by a defendant given a life sentence. The separation of these functions is a delicate enough task when done by the courts with their considerable experience and knowledge regarding the several factors involved, including those which mark the dividing line. To expect jurors, probably lacking in experience and knowledge about criminal law administration to make this delineation properly without guidance of rational and informative instruction from the trial court seems to me totally unrealistic.
The majority makes the point that neither the legislature nor this court has established any standards to guide the jury in making this decision. Indeed the power and responsibility of the jury are virtually unfettered. In any event, providing a minimal amount of correct information about the function and operation of the parole system is qualitatively different, in my judgment, from imposing a standard which must be considered by the jury. Providing accurate information is simply a realistic recognition of factors *380usually considered by the jury coupled with the desirability that these factors' be evaluated with a minimum of misconceptions. The majority opinion is predicated upon the assumption that it is best to have a jury operating in ignorance or upon misinformation. Although both parties and the majority opinion concede that the jury very likely will consider the possibility of parole, it is somehow felt that giving the jury a basic outline of how the parole system operates, coupled with additional instruction as to what they can and cannot properly consider is placing undue emphasis upon these matters and results in prejudice to the defendant. I disagree. Individual jurors frequently have some idea of how a parole system operates and many properly or improperly and erroneously apply the information they have in evaluating the practical effect of a term of life imprisonment and whether such sentence should be imposed. To prevent misconceptions, which may either help or hinder the defendant, I believe some basic information about the workings of the parole system should be given the jury. The following is a suggested instruction3 which might be utilized, I think without prejudicial error to the defendant:
A sentence of life imprisonment means that the prisoner may be paroled at some time during his lifetime or that he may spend the remainder of his natural life in prison. An agency known as the Board of Prison Terms and Paroles is empowered by statute to determine if and when a prisoner is to be paroled. By statutory enactment, at the very earliest a prisoner will be eligible for parole in 20 years less time off for good behavior.[4]
*381Any prisoner may earn credit for time off his minimum sentence for good behavior. This credit may be as much as one-third of his minimum sentence. Therefore, it is theoretically possible for a person serving a life sentence for murder in the first degree to be eligible for parole in 13 years, 4 months. However, under the laws of this state the Board of Prison Terms and Paroles cannot parole any prisoner unless the superintendent of the penal institution recommends parole and certifies that his conduct and work in prison have been meritorious and the board is convinced that his rehabilitation is complete and he is a fit subject for release. A prisoner released on parole may remain on parole for the rest of his life; if he violates the terms of the parole he may be returned to prison to serve the life sentence.
So that you will have no misunderstanding relating to a sentence of life imprisonment, you have been informed as to the general scheme of our parole system, which you may consider in determining the punishment for this defendant. However, you are cautioned it is not your function to decide now whether this man will be suitable for parole at some future date. So far as you are concerned, you are to decide only whether this man shall suffer the death penalty or whether he shall be permitted to remain alive. If upon consideration of the evidence you believe that life imprisonment is the proper sentence, you must assume that those officials charged with the operation of our parole system will perform their duty in a correct and responsible manner and that they will not parole this defendant unless he can be safely released into society. It would be a violation of your duty as jurors if you were to fix the penalty at death because of a doubt that the Board of Prison Terms and Paroles will properly carry out its responsibilities.

The instruction is also technically incorrect. The Board of Prison Terms and Paroles, as a matter of policy and statutory interpretation, does not set minimum terms for those prisoners imprisoned on a mandatory life sentence. Such a prisoner is theoretically eligible and can be considered for parole after 13 years and 4 months rather than 13 years and 8 months as indicated in the dubious instruction given.

The majority, while rejecting the implications of the dicta in State v. Collins, 50 Wn.2d 740, 314 P.2d 660 (1957), indulges in some questionable dicta in the suggestion that such an instruction is only prejudicial “over the objection of the appellant.” In capital cases we do not necessarily apply the rule that a failure to object to error at the trial level waives the error on appeal. State v. Miller, 164 Wash. 441, 2 P.2d 738 (1931); State v. Griffith, 52 Wn.2d 721, 328 P.2d 897 (1958). An instruction similar to the one at issue here has been used before on a number of occasions, with little or no comment by this court. See State v. Smith, 74 Wn.2d 744, 771 n.2, 446 P.2d 571, 588 n.2 (1968); State v. Aiken, 72 Wn.2d 306, 434 P.2d 10 (1967). In the absence of a showing that the instruction was suggested or approved by defendant, it is not at all clear that error could not be presented effectively at this time in a writ of habeas corpus. Cf. In re Pike, 66 Cal. 2d 170, 424 P.2d 724, 57 Cal. Rptr. 172 (1967).

Many jurisdictions apply an instruction similar to the one here recommended, cautioning the jury against considering the future operation of the parole system. See, e.g., People v. Morse, 60 Cal. 2d 631, 388 P.2d 33, 36 Cal. Rptr. 201 (1964); Lee v. State, 265 Ala. 623, 93 So. 2d 757 (1957); State v. Conner, 241 N.C. 468, 85 S.E.2d 584 (1955); State v. White, 27 N.J. 158, 142 A.2d 65 (1958). In both People v. Morse, supra, and State v. White, supra, the court set forth a suggested instruction similar to the one set out herein.

See RCW 9.95.115. “Parole of life term prisoners. The board of prison terms and paroles is hereby granted authority to parole any person sentenced to the penitentiary or thé reformatory, under a mandatory life sentence, who has been continuously confined therein for a period ■ of *381twenty consecutive years less earned good time: Provided, The superintendent of the penitentiary or the reformatory, as the case may be, certifies to the board of prison terms and paroles that such person’s conduct and work have been meritorious, and based thereon, recommends parole for such person: Provided, That no such person shall be released under parole who is found to be a sexual psychopath under the provisions of and as defined by chapter 71.12.”