Facts: Petitioner Guy Turner was convicted of robbery and assault in the Superior Court for Pierce County after he shoplifted various items from a store and stabbed the security guard who attempted to apprehend him. As a single event gave rise to both charges, the trial court issued a written order vacating the assault conviction but stating that it was nonetheless a valid conviction that could be reinstated if the robbery conviction was overturned on appeal in order to avoid violating the 5th Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article I §9 of the Washington State Constitution’s prohibition against subjecting defendants to double jeopardy. Turner subsequently appealed the trial court’s order, asserting that the prohibition against double jeopardy requires that the assault conviction be permanently and unconditionally vacated. The Washington Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court’s decision. Turner appealed this decision to the Supreme Court of Washington.
Question(s): May a court, in order to avoid double jeopardy, vacate a conviction for a lesser offense arising from the same conduct that gave rise to a conviction for a greater offense while nonetheless formally declaring the lesser conviction valid and subject to possible reinstatement if the conviction for the greater offense is reversed upon appeal?
Conclusion: Justice James M. Johnson’s opinion for a unanimous Court ruled that while the prohibition against double jeopardy does not preclude the reinstatement of convictions previously vacated to avoid double jeopardy, such convictions are not valid convictions and are not to be given any import prior to their reinstatement and the trial court therefore erred in appending its written order to the judgment. Thus, the Court remanded the case to the trial court to enter a corrected judgment excluding the written order and excluding any references to the validity or import attributable to the vacated conviction.
Docket No. 81626-3 (from Court of Appeals Division II Case No. 33678-2)
Petitioner: Guy Turner
(Counsel: Dino G. Sepe and Eric J. Nielsen)
Respondent: State of Washington
(Counsel: Todd Andrew Campbell, Karen Anne Watson, and Michelle Hyer)
Briefs:
- Answer to Petition for Review
- Appellant Brief in 82336-7
- Appellants Brief
- Appellants Supplemental Brief in the Coa
- Petition for Review
- Petition for Review in 82336-7
- Reply
- Respondent Brief
- Respondent Brief in 82336-7
- Respondent Supplemental Brief in the Coa
- Statement of Additional Auth
- Supplemental Brief of Petitioner
- Supplemental Brief of Respondent
- Supplemental Brief of Respondent Faagata
Argument: Thursday, January 21, 2010 9:00am
[Source: TVW, http://tvw.org]
Audio: Washington Supreme Court
Decided: Thursday, August 19th, 2010
Prevailing Party: Guy Turner (Petitioner)
Vote: 9-0
Citation: Pending
Court: Madsen1 Court (2010-)
Madsen
Johnson
Alexander
Sanders
Chambers
Owens
Fairhurst
Johnson
(Majority)
Stephens
Note: We post only slip opinion(s) as published at the time of the decision. Please consult Washington Reports printed volumes for the opinion(s) in their final form. Each opinion should appear next to the Justice who authored it.