In re Bratz

• Decision Date: 04 August 2000
• Docket Number: No. 24514-1-II.,24514-1-II.
• Court: Washington Court of Appeals
• Parties: In re the Personal Restraint Petition of Douglas BRATZ, Petitioner.

5 P.3d 759

101 Wash.App. 662

In re the Personal Restraint Petition of Douglas BRATZ, Petitioner.

No. 24514-1-II.

Court of Appeals of Washington, Division 2.

August 4, 2000.

Jean Ann O'Loughlin, Tacoma, for Appellant.

Kathleen Proctor, Pierce County Deputy Pros. Atty., Tacoma, for Respondent.

HOUGHTON, J.

Douglas Bratz seeks relief from personal restraint imposed following his 1987 acquittal by reason of insanity of one count of first degree robbery, contending that the facts supported only a charge of second degree robbery. Since his acquittal, Bratz has been committed by court order to Western State Hospital, where he may remain for a term no longer than the maximum penal sentence allowed if he had been convicted. RCW 10.77.020(3). First degree robbery carries a maximum life sentence; second degree robbery carries a 10-year maximum sentence. Thus, he concludes, a reversal of the original judgment and entry of an order as to second degree robbery mandates his release from commitment pursuant to the 1987 charge. We agree and grant the petition.

FACTS

In June 1987, Douglas Bratz was found not guilty of first degree robbery by reason of insanity (NGI). The trial court that accepted Bratz's plea found:

I.

On January 21, 1987, Douglas Edward Bratz entered the Old National Bank Branch at 1145 Broadway, Tacoma, Pierce County, went up to a teller, stated, "I have nitroglycerin in my coat and I need you to give me money or I'll blow up the bank."

II.

The teller, who had observed that the defendant seemed kind of high or partially drunk, gave the defendant about $80.00, and the defendant said he didn't need that much. The defendant walked away, then returned to the teller and handed her back about half the money. The defendant left the bank and was arrested within one block of the bank, without incident.

Findings and Judgment of Acquittal of Commitment at 1-2.

This was the extent of the court's findings as to the circumstances of the crime. Each of the court's remaining findings pertained to Bratz's mental condition, which the court concluded justified both an acquittal by reason of insanity and an order of commitment to Western State Hospital.¹

The police report of the crime states:

[The teller] said she noticed [Bratz] when he first got in line. She said he acted kind of strange. When he got to the window he seemed kind of high or maybe partially drunk.

He first said, "I have nitro gylcerine [sic] in my coat and I need you to give me money or I'll have to blow up the bank." He said he owes a tavern some money and he didn't need much. [The teller] said, "[a]re you sure you wanted to do this thing?" At this time she pulled the ones, fives and tens out of the drawer and set off the alarm. She figures she handed him only about 80 dollars. He then said, "I don't need this much."

[Bratz] then walked away from the window.... [The teller] walked out around the counter and [Bratz] approached her again. He reached out and handed her about half the money and said he didn't need this much. He said he was sorry he had to do this. He reached out to shake [her] hand which [the teller] didn't acknowledge. He then left the bank.

Police Report at 2-3.

Bratz then walked across the street and into the Sheraton Hotel where he was arrested minutes later. No nitroglycerin was found on Bratz when searched by police. Upon being apprehended, Bratz confessed to the robbery.

Since his acquittal, Bratz has been confined to Western State Hospital. On three different occasions, Bratz has received conditional release status. But each time he has lost this status due to non-compliance with conditions imposed by the hospital. In its latest report to the superior court, the hospital stated that its records indicated Bratz had a life sentence.

Bratz filed his personal restraint petition (PRP) in April 1999. No appeals were ever taken from the court's 1987 order, and no prior PRPs were filed by Bratz.

ANALYSIS

Procedural Bar

Notice Requirement

As a preliminary matter, the State argues that Bratz's petition is time barred by RCW 10.73.090, which provides in part:

(1) No petition or motion for collateral attack on a judgment and sentence in a criminal case may be filed more than one year after the judgment becomes final if the judgment and sentence is valid on its face and was rendered by a court of competent jurisdiction.

(2) For the purposes of this section, "collateral attack" means any form of postconviction relief other than a direct appeal. "Collateral attack" includes ... a personal restraint petition[.]

The judgment of acquittal and commitment order was filed on June 3, 1987; therefore, Bratz's current petition falls well beyond the prescribed one-year statute of limitations. Bratz asserts that RCW 10.73.090² does not operate to bar his claim because he never received notice of the time limit as required by RCW 10.73.120, which provides:

As soon as practicable after July 23, 1989, the department of corrections shall attempt to advise the following persons of the time limit specified in RCW 10.73.090 and 10.73.100: Every person who, on July 23, 1989, is serving a term of incarceration, probation, parole, or community supervision pursuant to conviction of a felony.

Where the Department of Corrections (Department) has failed to notify, or even to attempt to notify, someone entitled to notice under RCW 10.73.120, RCW 10.73.090 will not bar consideration of that person's personal restraint petition on its merits. In re Vega, 118 Wash.2d 449, 450-51, 823 P.2d 1111 (1992). Actual notice is not required; rather, the Department must make a good faith attempt to give notice to all affected persons. In re Runyan, 121 Wash.2d 432, 452, 853 P.2d 424 (1993).

Bratz acknowledges that In re Well, 133 Wash.2d 433, 946 P.2d 750 (1997), precludes him from asserting a statutory right to notice of the time limit. In In re Well, the court held that petitioners committed to a mental institution pursuant to a NGI plea are not statutorily entitled to notice because they are not included in any of the statutorily designated classes of RCW 10.73.120. In re Well, 133 Wash.2d at 444, 946 P.2d 750.

But the court specifically left open the issue of whether a petitioner such as Bratz could assert a constitutional right to notice of the time limit. See In re Well, 133 Wash.2d at 444, 946 P.2d 750

("We do not rule on whether one might be constitutionally entitled to notice of the time limit, since Well did not raise any such constitutional claim."). Thus, Bratz brings an equal protection challenge to RCW 10.73.120, asserting that "[t]he mentally ill are at least as deserving of notice as convicted felons, and are at least as much in need of notice."³ Petitioner's Reply Br. at 3.

The Equal Protection Clause requires that persons similarly situated with respect to legitimate purposes of the laws receive like treatment. In re Knapp, 102 Wash.2d 466, 473, 687 P.2d 1145 (1984). Equal protection does not mandate that persons be dealt with identically, but it does require that a distinction have some relevance to the purpose for which the classification is made. In re Young, 122 Wash.2d 1, 45, 857 P.2d 989 (1993).

In undertaking an equal protection analysis, the first question is the standard under which the legislative classification is properly analyzed. Where a classification implicates physical liberty and no suspect or semi-suspect class is involved, rational basis is the proper test. In re Detention of Dydasco, 135 Wash.2d 943, 951, 959 P.2d 1111 (1998). Under rational basis review, a statute must satisfy the following three-part test to pass constitutional muster:

1. Does the classification apply alike to all members within the designated class?

2. Does some rational basis exist for reasonably distinguishing between those within the class and those outside the class? and

3. Does the challenged classification bear a rational relation to the purpose of the challenged statute?

Morris v. Blaker, 118 Wash.2d 133, 149, 821 P.2d 482 (1992).

In Blaker, the firearms act precluded both persons convicted of violent crimes and persons formerly involuntarily committed to a mental hospital from owning or possessing certain firearms. The act provided a means by which persons convicted of violent crimes could be rehabilitated but provided no means by which a person formerly involuntarily committed could be rehabilitated. Our Supreme Court held that relevant provisions of the firearms act were invalid because they violated equal protection: "No plausible justification exists to explain why those who have been convicted of violent crimes should be deemed capable of rehabilitation, but those who were previously involuntarily committed for treatment of a mental disorder are not." Blaker, 118 Wash.2d at 149, 821 P.2d 482.

Although rational basis review is highly deferential, the rationale of Blaker applies here and operates to invalidate RCW 10.73.120.⁴ The distinction made by RCW 10.73.120 is even more egregious and arbitrary than that made by the firearms act. There can be no rational basis for requiring that notice of the time limit to collaterally attack a judgment be given to convicted felons but not to those hospitalized following NGI pleas. The only explanation that can be proffered other than animus to the mentally ill is that the statute's non-inclusion of the criminally committed was an unfortunate legislative oversight. Yet, even if the resulting classifications were unintentional, they are arbitrary and, thus, violate rational basis review. See In re Detention of Dydasco, 135 Wash.2d at 951, 959 P.2d 1111

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RCW 10.77.080—Preclusion of Claim that He Did Not Commit Acts Charged⁵

The second procedural bar the State asserts is RCW 10.77.080, which provides that a defendant who moves for acquittal on grounds of insanity and is so acquitted "may not later contest the validity of his or her detention on the grounds that he or she did not commit the acts charg...