Court Opinion

ID: 9613970
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 04:21:22.918723+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:13:06.894266
License: Public Domain

Reed, A.C.J.
(dissenting) — I must respectfully dissent. Instruction No. 9 may not be the model of perfection, but I doubt it tended to take the jury off course. In State v. Boggs, 57 Wn.2d 484, 358 P.2d 124 (1961), our Supreme Court approved an almost identical instruction; it did not include a reference to "unwitting.'1 In State v. Morris, 70 Wn.2d 27, 422 P.2d 27 (1966), the court again approved a more succinct version, stating as follows at pages 34-35:
The state had the burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that the appellant, on or about the times fixed in the information, had possession of the marijuana cigarettes. When possession was thus proved, it became a matter of defense, a burden resting on the appellant, to show to the satisfaction of the jury that his possession of the drug was either unwitting, or authorized by law, or acquired by lawful means in a lawful manner, or was otherwise excusable under the statute. [RCW 69.33.390.] Of course, the burden of showing such defenses to the charge of possession did not in any way deprive the appellant of his defenses either of want of possession or that the evidence failed to show beyond a reasonable doubt such possession.
The majority appears to say that, because instruction No. 3 defines the collective term "willfully, unlawfully and felo-niously" and because instruction No. 9 refers to "unwitting" possession — a defense to a claim of "willful" *570possession — the State has improperly shifted to defendants the burden of disproving "willfulness." This is where the majority and I differ.
I do not agree that, where the prosecution has mistakenly assumed the burden of proving the existence of an element which is not necessary for proof of the crime charged, that any constitutional right of the defendant is violated by giving the prosecution the aid of a presumption in carrying that additional burden. I read Mullaney v. Wilbur, 421 U.S. 684, 44 L. Ed. 2d 508, 95 S. Ct. 1881 (1975) and State v. Roberts, 88 Wn.2d 337, 562 P.2d 1259 (1977) as condemning only those presumptions which improperly aid the State in proving a necessary element of the crime charged.
In the instant case that means that no constitutional right of the defendants would be violated by an instruction to the jury that "willfulness" may be presumed to follow once the fact of possession is proved. This is so because "willfulness" is not an element of the crime of merely possessing controlled substances. State v. Vindhurst, 63 Wn.2d 607, 388 P.2d 552 (1964); State v. Boggs, supra; State v. Hennings, 3 Wn. App. 483, 475 P.2d 926 (1970). I fail to see how the State's error can expand upon a defendant's constitutional right, or how defendants can complain when the State has carried its burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt all the true elements of the crime charged.
I also disagree with the majority's conclusion that the State did not adequately carry its increased burden of proving "willfulness." Albeit the evidence was slight on this issue, it was uncontradicted that O'Flaherty knew of Wor-land's propensity for bringing drugs into the room which the two shared. The drugs in evidence were found in portions of the premises open to and under control of both defendants. The jury did not have to believe either defendant's version. On a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence the State was entitled to the reasonable inference that O'Flaherty knew of and condoned the presence of such drugs in his room. State v. Randecker, 79 Wn.2d 512, 487 *571P.2d 1295 (1971). I believe the State successfully carried its extra burden. I would affirm.