In re Spears

• Decision Date: 23 May 2023
• Docket Number: 56824-1-II
• Parties: In the Matter of the Personal Restraint of: ALBERT ALLAN SPEARS, Petitioner.
• Court: Washington Court of Appeals

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In the Matter of the Personal Restraint of: ALBERT ALLAN SPEARS, Petitioner.

No. 56824-1-II

Court of Appeals of Washington, Division 2

May 23, 2023

UNPUBLISHED OPINION

PRICE J.

Albert A. Spears seeks relief from personal restraint as a result of his 1997 convictions for murder in the first degree and two counts of assault in the first degree. The trial court sentenced Spears to 1,000 months in custody. Spears committed the crimes when he was 21 years old.

Spears argues that his personal restraint petition (PRP) meets exceptions to the one-year time bar for PRPs stated in RCW 10.73.090(1). Spears asserts that recent decisions from our Supreme Court are significant, retroactive, and material to his sentence because of his youth. He also argues that neuroscientific studies show that a 21-year-old is legally indistinguishable from a juvenile in terms of culpability and these studies constitute newly discovered evidence. Finally Spears argues his sentence is unconstitutional and invalid on its face.

We reject these arguments. Because Spears was 21 years old at the time of his crimes and did not face a mandatory life without the possibility of parole sentence, recent case law is not material to his sentence. Spears also did not act with reasonable diligence in bringing his petition based on neuroscientific studies as newly discovered evidence. Lastly Spears has not shown that his judgment and sentence is unconstitutional or invalid on its face. Accordingly, we dismiss Spears' PRP as untimely.

FACTS

In March 1996, Albert Spears committed three shootings in two different locations in Tacoma, paralyzing one man and killing another. Spears' motivation for the shootings was to "prove himself as being worthy and to improve his stature within a sub-culture of gang members and drug dealers." App. to PRP at 19 (internal quotation marks omitted). The shootings were also racially motivated as Spears resented people of Asian descent who had established stores in what Spears considered predominantly black neighborhoods.

Spears first went to a small grocery store "to shoot-up an Asian business." Id. Spears and his friend entered the store and the store clerk, Soon Yi, offered to assist them. Spears and his friend initially left the store because too many potential witnesses were present. They returned 10 minutes later when Yi, who is of Asian descent was alone with one customer, Robert White. At close range Spears fired his gun at Yi, but she avoided being struck by falling to the floor. Spears then shot White in the back severing his spinal cord and leaving him permanently paralyzed.

Spears changed clothes and boarded a transit bus with friends. The bus was full of people. Chin Hua Lee, a 73-year-old man of Asian descent, sat speaking to two young Japanese exchange students. Lee wore a jacket with a Chicago Bulls logo. The logo is popular with certain gang members, and Spears has a past affiliation with a rival gang. Spears laughed as he shot Lee in the back of the head two times. Lee did not exchange words, look at, or gesture to Spears before the attack. Spears exited the bus, disposed of his handgun, and changed his clothes.

Before trial, Spears was evaluated by medical professional staff at the county jail. Spears was observed as "shaky again, nervous, [and] hearing voices" and experiencing "paranoid delusions." Id. at 77. The staff stated that Spears suffered from depression and psychosis.

At trial, Spears claimed diminished capacity, arguing that schizophrenia impaired his ability to form intent. Spears also blamed his behavior on his ingestion of the hallucinogenic drug phencyclidine (PCP).

Spears offered the testimony of Lloyd Cripe, Ph.D., a clinical neuropsychologist. Dr. Cripe evaluated Spears and concluded that at the time of his crimes, "[Spears] was in a psychotic state with his behavior driven by paranoid delusions and hallucinations because of a combination of substance abuse of PCP and mental illness. His behavior was not willfully controlled by a normal mind." Id. at 79. Dr. Cripe determined that Spears suffered from a mental disorder in the days leading up to the shooting, the cause of which "was probably a mix of severe personality disorder (Schizotypal and Antisocial features), evolving schizophrenia, and drug effects (PCP)." Id. at 82. He also stated that Spears' "actions were more driven by the mental disorder than by free will." Id. Dr. Cripe closed with his opinion on Spears' mental state at the time of the crime, stating:

The explanation of how the mental disorder had the effect upon his capacity to form intent is as follows:

Five or more days before the tragic shootings, Mr. Spears started having irrational and delusional thoughts that he was going to be harmed. He started believing that he had to prove himself. In a distorted manner, he started believing that Korean people were a threat. He believed that he had to prove himself to the "mafia" by doing harm to some Koreans. He started hearing voices. Those around him experienced him as behaving weird and unusual. He misinterpreted what was being said on audio recordings. In the context of all this mental confusion, disorganization, and delusion, he was not in the normal driving seat of his mind. He lacked normal volition and free will. He acted in extreme and regretful ways that were the result of this disturbed psychology. He did not have a normal capacity to form specific intent. The cause of his mental aberrations and deterioration is joint product of mental disorder significantly exacerbated by chemical abuse.

Id. . at 83.

The jury found Spears guilty of murder in the first degree and two counts of assault in the first degree. The jury also found that Spears was armed with a firearm at the time of the crimes.

The standard sentencing range for Spears' crimes and the firearm enhancements, running the counts consecutively, was 606-746 months. The State gave notice that it would seek an exceptional sentence, alleging (1) the attack was racially motivated, (2) Spears committed the shootings in order to further his status among gang members, (3) one of the victims, Lee, was particularly vulnerable due to his age and health, and (4) White suffered unusually grave injuries.

Spears requested a mitigated exceptional sentence downward of 346 to 380 months due to significant impairment of his "capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct and to conform his conduct to the requirements of the law." Id. at 52. Spears argued that his mental illness substantially impaired his ability to appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct.

At sentencing, the trial court considered information on Spears' background and difficult childhood; the trial court also considered information related to the day of the crime, including his ingestion of PCP that morning and opinions relative to Spears' psychological state. The information that the trial court considered about Spears' childhood included that at the age of five or six, he witnessed his mother shoot a man for which she served seven months in jail. At age 13, Spears moved to Washington from California with his mother, who at that time was addicted to cocaine. Spears also became addicted to "sherm"^[1] and started to sell cocaine. Id. at 63. Spears became friends with individuals affiliated with a gang. Although Spears was never arrested as a juvenile, he admitted he stole cars, sold drugs, and fought.

After considering the information, the trial court gave Spears an exceptional upward sentence based on Lee's vulnerability and Spears' racial motivation for committing the crimes. The trial court imposed the top of the standard sentencing range for each count with each carrying a firearm enhancement of 60 months, running each consecutively. For the aggravating factors, the trial court imposed an additional 254 months. With the additional 254 months added to the high-end standard range sentences with enhancements, the trial court imposed a total confinement of 1,000 months.

Spears appealed his convictions and sentence, which we affirmed in an unpublished opinion. The mandate issued in October 1999. Spears later filed two collateral attacks, both of which were dismissed as untimely.

In March 2022, nearly 23 years after his judgment and sentence was finalized, Spears filed this third petition for relief from personal restraint.

Spears supports his PRP with a 2022 forensic psychological evaluation by Michael Stanfill, Ph.D., a licensed psychologist. Stanfill wrote in a section titled "Psychologically Relevant Considerations" that a juvenile brain is not developed until age 25, stating:

Research showed that adolescent development was a period of gradual maturation. Adolescence was roughly defined as the period between the onset of puberty and maturity, approximately from the age of 10 to 25, with the adolescent brain not being fully developed until about age 25. Per available scientific literature, adolescents and young adults were not fully mature in their judgment, problem-solving, risk assessment, impulse control, and decision-making capacities. Their capacity for decision making was not fully developed and certainly not the same as an adult's capacity. Generally speaking, adolescents did not have the ability to fully understand adult responsibilities or appreciate potentially grave, long-term consequences or consider alternative courses of actions. They were also significantly influenced by their peers compared to their adult counterparts.

Id. at 166 (footnotes omitted). Stanfill's report supports its neuroscientific conclusions by relying on studies from as early as 1999.^[2] Spears argues that pursuant to one of these studies "under emotionally arousing conditions, 18- to 21-year-olds...