Court Opinion

ID: 9847267
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 03:56:52.787979+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:17:05.356366
License: Public Domain

Pearson, J.
(dissenting) — The majority holds the invalidity of a plea of guilty to an underlying felony which establishes an essential element of a habitual criminal charge is not an error of constitutional magnitude that can be raised for the first time on appeal. The majority also holds appellant cannot raise for the first time on appeal challenges to the propriety of (1) the information under which he was charged and (2) the jury instructions under which he was convicted. I dissent from the majority's opinion on each of these three issues.
I
The law in this state respecting the use of challenges to allegedly invalid convictions for the first time on appeal is unclear at best. I fear the majority merely compounds the confusion. Accordingly, I believe it useful to review the progression of the law in this area.
History in this area begins with Boykin v. Alabama, 395 U.S. 238, 23 L. Ed. 2d 274, 89 S. Ct. 1709 (1969). In Boykin, the Court held that " [i]t was error, plain on the face of the record, for the trial judge to accept petitioner's guilty plea without an affirmative showing that it was intelligent and voluntary." Boykin, at 242. According to the Court, "if a defendant's guilty plea is not . . . voluntary and knowing, it has been obtained in violation of due process and is therefore void." Boykin, at 243 n.5. Clearly then, the error of which the Court spoke in Boykin was of constitutional magnitude which could be raised for the first time on appeal. In fact, a reading of Boykin itself implies that the petitioner in that case failed to raise the voluntariness issue *513until he appealed his death sentence to the Alabama Supreme Court.
In State v. Holsworth, 93 Wn.2d 148, 607 P.2d 845 (1980) this court considered Boykin in the context of guilty pleas to felonies used to establish habitual criminal status under the then existing habitual criminal statute, RCW 9.92.090. The issue in Holsworth concerned the right of a criminal defendant to challenge the State's use in a habitual criminal proceeding of allegedly invalid guilty pleas entered before the decision in Boykin. We held that a defendant could raise such a challenge at the time of the proceeding, placing upon the State the burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that the pr e-Boykin conviction was valid. Holsworth, at 159.
In reaching this conclusion, this court noted that "violation of the defendant's constitutional rights is 'renewed' through use in a habitual criminal proceeding of an uninformed guilty plea which thus violates due process." Hols-worth, at 157. Contrary to the majority's position, a procedural defect of constitutional magnitude existing at the time of the original guilty plea, which is "renewed" for purposes of the habitual criminal proceeding, simply cannot be stripped of its constitutional nature when the habitual criminal conviction is appealed, even if the error was not raised at the habitual criminal proceeding. A contrary result absolutely confounds logic.
In the case of In re Lee, 95 Wn.2d 357, 623 P.2d 687 (1980) this court stated in dictum that "even though a petitioner raised no objection at trial to the admissibility of evidence of a prior conviction based on pr e-Boykin guilty pleas, as a matter relating to a constitutional right he would not have been precluded from raising the issue on appeal." (Italics mine.) In re Lee, at 364. The court then held that all but one of the petitioners was precluded from raising the issue by collateral attack in their personal restraint petitions. In re Lee, at 364. The case before us, however, is a direct appeal from a jury conviction. Therefore, a challenge to the validity of a prior invalid guilty plea *514should now be heard.
In State v. Williams, 98 Wn.2d 428, 656 P.2d 477 (1982), the court referred to the dictum appearing in In re Lee, phrased the question as to whether we should adhere to that dictum, Williams, at 430, and then decided the case on different grounds. Williams, at 433-34. The case admittedly is confusing; but contrary to the majority's opinion, it does not defeat appellant's contention that he is entitled to review of this issue initially on appeal. After discussing three cases in the Court of Appeals which held that a challenge could be entertained despite the fact that the issue was not raised at trial, the Williams court simply sidestepped the issue. Williams, at 430-31. Accordingly, the issue is before this court once again and warrants a resolution contrary to that supplied by the majority.
I agree with the majority that an assignment of error generally will not be considered on appeal if no exception is taken at trial. See, e.g., Seattle-First Nat'l Bank v. Shoreline Concrete Co., 91 Wn.2d 230, 588 P.2d 1308 (1978) (case involving liability of multiple tortfeasors, raising no issues of constitutional magnitude). I also agree with the majority that manifest constitutional error may be raised for the first time on appeal. RAP 2.5(a). I believe this is especially true if the error affects such fundamental aspects of due process as the right to have the State prove every element of the charge beyond a reasonable doubt. See State v. Johnson, 100 Wn.2d 607, 614, 674 P.2d 145 (1983); State v. McHenry, 88 Wn.2d 211, 213, 558 P.2d 188 (1977).
The due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment "protects the accused against conviction except upon proof beyond a reasonable doubt of every fact necessary to constitute the crime with which he is charged." In re Winship, 397 U.S. 358, 364, 25 L. Ed. 2d 368, 90 S. Ct. 1068 (1970). Accordingly, if the State convicts a defendant with insufficient evidence, the defendant's Fourteenth Amendment rights are thereby implicated. In fact, this court recently stated that a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence is of constitutional magnitude such that it can be raised ini*515tially on appeal. State v. Baeza, 100 Wn.2d 487, 488, 670 P.2d 646 (1983).
As recognized by the majority, the existence of three valid felony convictions is a necessary element of the habitual criminal statute, RCW 9.92.090, which must be proved by the State beyond a reasonable doubt. Holsworth, at 159. The majority also concedes that one of appellant's prior felony convictions is invalid because he did not voluntarily waive his constitutional right against self-incrimination as required by Boykin. Accordingly, appellant was convicted on the basis of insufficient evidence, in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment. Therefore, his challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence should be heard initially on appeal. See State v. Baeza, supra. A contrary result offends the very constitution which we have sworn to uphold.
II
At the outset of this dissent I also stated that I disagreed with the majority's conclusion that appellant cannot raise initially on appeal challenges to the propriety of the information under which he was charged and the jury instructions under which he was convicted.
With respect to the deficiency of the information, the majority states:
The defendant also raises this issue initially on appeal. He has shown no prejudice or any lack of understanding of the charge against him. The information was not unconstitutionally vague. It will not be considered on appeal.
Majority opinion, at 509. Although the majority identifies the correct RAP, reliance on Seattle-First Nat'l Bank v. Shoreline Concrete Co., supra, is totally misplaced. That case involved liability of multiple tortfeasors and did not raise any issues of constitutional magnitude.
More troubling, however, is the majority's failure to recognize the defect in the information. Appellant is not alleging vagueness, but rather that the information omitted the element of knowledge. In the recently filed opinion of State *516v. Holt, 104 Wn.2d 315, 704 P.2d 1189 (1985), this court stated that "[t]he omission of any statutory element of a crime in the charging document is a constitutional defect which may result in dismissal of the criminal charges." Holt, at 320. See also State v. Bonds, 98 Wn.2d 1, 16, 653 P.2d 1024 (1982), cert. denied, 464 U.S. 831 (1983); In re Richard, 75 Wn.2d 208, 449 P.2d 809 (1969); Seattle v. Morrow, 45 Wn.2d 27, 273 P.2d 238 (1954); Seattle v. Jordan, 134 Wash. 30, 235 P. 6 (1925). This court also stated that "the law of this state has long been that a criminal defendant can raise objections to an information which completely fails to state an offense [by omission of an element] at any time." Holt, at 321. See also Seattle v. Jordan, supra; Seattle v. Morrow, supra.
Appellant in this case was charged with delivery of a controlled substance under RCW 69.50.401. Although the statute does not state that knowledge is an element of the offense, this court so held in State v. Boyer, 91 Wn.2d 342, 344, 588 P.2d 1151 (1979). In Boyer this court addressed the absence of knowledge as an element under RCW 69.50-.401, stating that:
The language of the statute thus provides no guidance on the issue before us. However, without the mental element of knowledge, even a postal carrier would be guilty of the crime were he innocently to deliver a package which in fact contained a forbidden narcotic. Such a result is not intended by the legislature. Accordingly ... we find . . . that guilty knowledge is intrinsic to the definition of the crime itself.
Boyer, at 344.
The holding in Boyer clearly shows that as early as 1979 the State was aware that knowledge was an element of the crime of delivery of a controlled substance. Ignoring fine distinctions, I believe that a court imposed element, the absence of which would render the statute unconstitutional, is equivalent to the statutory element of which we speak in Holt. Accordingly, under Holt and its precedents, I believe appellant is entitled initially to raise on appeal a challenge *517to the sufficiency of an information omitting an essential element of the crime of which he was charged.
III
With respect to appellant's challenge to the deficiency of the jury instructions on the element of knowledge, the majority states: "Smith argues that the jury was improperly instructed on the element of knowledge in the charges at bar. . . . The issue will not be entertained on appeal." Majority opinion, at 511. The majority relies on State v. Smith, 88 Wn.2d 639, 646, 564 P.2d 1154 (1977) to support this conclusion. The cited case has absolutely nothing to do with the issue in the instant case of whether a challenge to jury instructions can be raised initially on appeal, and in no way supports the majority's position.
In fact, the majority's assertion is directly contrary to the court's holding in State v. Johnson, 100 Wn.2d 607, 674 P.2d 145 (1983). In Johnson, this court addressed the defendant's claim of deficient jury instructions on the presumption of intent. The court stated that failure to assert error in the instruction on presumption of intent at trial does not bar raising the claim of error on appeal, because the instruction violated the defendant's constitutional right to have the State prove him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Johnson, at 614. See also In re Winship, 397 U.S. 358, 25 L. Ed. 2d 368, 90 S. Ct. 1068 (1970). Accordingly, although he may be asserting merely harmless error, I believe appellant is entitled to have his claimed error reviewed by this court on appeal.
In sum, I believe the majority heaps confusion onto this already confused area of the law, ignoring or misreading existing precedent to reach a desired result. Since each of the errors raised by appellant is clearly of constitutional magnitude, I would entertain them initially on review of this appeal. Further, since the record plainly shows the State failed in its burden of proof on the habitual criminal charge, and because of the defective information, I would reverse and dismiss appellant's conviction for delivery of a *518controlled substance and his conviction as a habitual criminal.
Utter, Brachtenbach, and Goodloe, JJ., concur with Pearson, J.