Court Opinion

ID: 9755354
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 20:35:32.683282+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:28:06.454683
License: Public Domain

Stephens, J.
¶16 (concurring) — I concur in the lead opinion’s dismissal of Joshua Dean Scott’s personal restraint petition (PRP). But I cannot endorse the lead opinion’s gratuitous announcement of a new “rule” affecting determinations of facial invalidity. After tracing our case law since Stoudmire 7 the lead opinion states that courts may review charging documents, verdict forms, and documents related to plea agreements, “but not the jury instructions,” in assessing whether a judgment and sentence is facially valid. Lead opinion at 917 & n.3. No support exists for drawing this line.
*921¶17 As with our recent decision in Coats, this case does not present an occasion to revisit our precedent since Stoudmire. In re Pers. Restraint of Coats, 173 Wn.2d 123, 136 n.8, 267 P.3d 324 (2011). Thus, we begin with the proposition that courts may look beyond the four corners of a judgment and sentence in order to ascertain facial invalidity under RCW 10.73.090. Coats, 173 Wn.2d at 138-39. The court in Coats observed that we have never rested a determination of facial invalidity on “jury instructions, trial motions, and other documents that relate to whether the defendant received a fair trial,” further cautioning that defects in jury instructions cannot render a judgment and sentence invalid on its face. Id. at 140 & n.ll. Presumably, the lead opinion seeks to build on Coats and draw a bright line to limit the grounds upon which courts will consider the merits of otherwise untimely PRPs.
¶18 While I support the lead opinion’s goal, I believe its approach is misguided. Refusing to find a judgment and sentence facially invalid based on defective jury instructions is not the same thing as refusing to consider jury instructions, along with charging documents and verdict forms, to determine whether a claim of facial invalidity is supported. Unfortunately, the categorical refusal to look at jury instructions could actually lead a court to find facial invalidity where none exists. Consider, for example, a case similar to this one but where the law post -Recuenco III8 applies. The information (which the court considers) charges a firearm enhancement; the special verdict form (which the court also considers) reflects a deadly weapon finding. If we look at nothing else, a judgment and sentence imposing a firearm enhancement reveals a facial invalidity. But, what if the jury instructions relating to the special verdict form tell the jury it should give an affirmative answer on the special verdict form only if it finds the defendant armed with the charged firearm? In other words, under the law *922explained to the jury, a deadly weapon verdict reflected a firearm finding. Without an ability to consider the jury instructions in conjunction with the charging document and the special verdict form, a court reviewing the judgment and sentence is unable to confirm the absence of any facial invalidity. This makes no sense. After all, courts often ascertain the meaning of special verdict forms in light of the instructions given to the jury. Why not in this context? My concern is that the artificial line the lead opinion draws provides no real limitation on PRPs and may well expand as often as limit the instances in which facial invalidity will be found.
¶19 Nor is this an appropriate case in which to engage in such line drawing. In support of his PRP, Scott offers only the charging document, verdict forms, and judgment and sentence. See Personal Restraint Pet. (Apr. 10, 2006), Apps. 1, 2, 3. Rather than announce a bright line rule about jury instructions, we should decide this case based on what is before us. Scott cannot demonstrate the facial invalidity of his judgment and sentence because it is valid under the law in effect at the time it was entered, and Scott is not entitled to the retroactive benefit of our later decisions. For this reason, his PRP must be dismissed.
Fairhurst, J., concurs with Stephens, J.

 In re Pers. Restraint of Stoudmire, 141 Wn.2d 342, 5 P.3d 1240 (2000), overruled in part by In re Pers. Restraint of Turay, 153 Wn.2d 44, 101 P.3d 854 (2004).

 State v. Recuenco, 163 Wn.2d 428, 180 P.3d 1276 (2008).