State Of Wash. v. Mitchell

Decision Date12 August 2010
Docket NumberNo. 83169-6.,83169-6.
Citation169 Wash.2d 437,237 P.3d 282
CourtWashington Supreme Court
PartiesSTATE of Washington, Respondent, v. Marilea R. MITCHELL, Petitioner.

OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE

Sarah McNeel Hrobsky, Washington Appellate Project, Seattle, WA, for Petitioner.

Seth Aaron Fine, Mary Kathleen Webber, Snohomish County Prosecutor's Office, Everett, WA, for Respondent.

SANDERS, J.

¶ 1 The State charged Marilea R. Mitchell with first degree criminal mistreatment after deputies discovered a severely malnourished four-year-old boy in her care. The State's amended information alleged that Mitchell, “a person who has assumed the responsibility to provide to a dependent person the basic necessities of life,” recklessly caused great bodily harm to a “child or dependent person” by withholding those basic necessities of life. Clerk's Papers (CP) at 26. Mitchell now claims insufficient evidence supports her conviction because the terms “child” and “dependent person” are mutually exclusive in the criminal mistreatment statute, RCW 9A.42.020(1). She contends insufficient evidence exists to show she harmed a dependent person. We disagree. Mitchell's conviction is proper.

FACTS

¶ 2 The child in this case, S.A., was born in October 2002. For several years S.A. lived intermittently with his biological mother or with a foster family. When S.A. turned three, he returned to his biological father, Danny Abegg, who was Mitchell's boyfriend. While S.A. was not Mitchell's biological child, she shared responsibility for the boy's care, most notably when Abegg left for work. S.A. weighed about 38 pounds when Abegg took custody of him in late 2005.

¶ 3 About a year later, near Christmastime 2006, Mitchell's sister, Marie, visited the couple's house. Upon seeing S.A.'s thinness, she told Abegg and Mitchell she was worried about the boy's health and tried to convince them to schedule a doctor's appointment. The couple responded that they were trying to get some type of state medical coupon for a subsidized doctor's visit. Marie revisited the house on March 6, 2007. The day after that second visit, Marie called Child Protective Services because S.A. seemed sick and starved.

¶ 4 On March 7, 2007, Snohomish County sheriff's deputies rang the couple's doorbell to perform a welfare check. Abegg answered the door. After listening to the deputies, Abegg headed for S.A.'s bedroom, where he attempted to shut the door so the deputies would not see him put a T-shirt on S.A. Once in the bedroom, the deputies found S.A. lying in a bed soaked with urine. S.A. could not sit up in bed without his father's assistance. When Abegg picked S.A. up from the bed and tried to stand S.A. on his feet, the boy could not stand. He was shaking violently. Asked what he ate that day, S.A. responded that he had eaten popcorn and water. He said he did not eat vegetables, fruit, or meat.

¶ 5 Emergency medical technicians (EMT) were summoned to the scene. Like the deputies, they noted S.A. could not stand under his own power. Initial health checks clocked S.A.'s heart rate at between 30 and 60 beats per minute. The emergency crew rushed S.A. to the hospital. Joe Hughes, captain of the EMT crew, testified later that S.A. was “the most malnourished and emaciated child I have ever seen.” Report of Proceedings (RP) (12/17/07) at 68.

¶ 6 At Providence Everett Medical Center, a pediatric and internal medicine specialist determined S.A. was “strikingly malnourished.” Id. at 71. Doctors determined S.A.'s core temperature was only 87.1 degrees, a likely side effect of chronic malnutrition. He weighed about 26 pounds, severely underweight for his age. S.A.'s scalp was flaking, and his hair was thin and brittle. Doctors believed his body was consuming muscle to produce energy. His body was metabolizing its own tissue. His blood chemistry was highly irregular. When nurses fed S.A. in the hospital, he threw up undigested food because his stomach could not process the calories. Both the pediatric and internal medicine specialist, as well as a pediatrician at Children's Hospital, determined S.A.'s condition was life threatening.

¶ 7 During his recovery, S.A. told doctors that if he was discovered eating food, he would have to sleep in the bathtub. After doctors transferred S.A. to Children's Hospital, he expressed concern about eating during daylight hours. S.A. told doctors he could eat only when it was dark out. He hoarded food and tried to hide it from hospital staff.

¶ 8 The State charged Abegg and Mitchell with first degree criminal mistreatment. After a bench trial in December 2007, in which Abegg and Mitchell appeared as codefendants, the court entered a guilty verdict and applied an exceptional sentence of 96 months' incarceration. The court found Mitchell guilty “as charged in the information.” Clerk's Papers (CP) at 24. Mitchell appealed to the Court of Appeals, which affirmed the guilty verdict. State v. Mitchell, 149 Wash.App. 716, 724, 205 P.3d 920 (2009). Mitchell filed for discretionary review here, arguing (1) her conviction violated due process because insufficient evidence existed to convict her of criminal mistreatment because a “child” cannot fit the statutory definition of a “dependent person” and (2) her exceptional sentence was improper. We granted review in part, 167 Wash.2d 1001, 220 P.3d 783 (2009), to decide only whether the terms “child” and “dependent person” are mutually exclusive within the meaning of RCW 9A.42.020(1).

ANALYSIS

¶ 9 The meaning of a statute is a question of law we review de novo. Lake v. Woodcreek Homeowners Ass'n, 168 Wash.2d 694, 229 P.3d 791, 795 (2010) (citing Rozner v. City of Bellevue, 116 Wash.2d 342, 347, 804 P.2d 24 (1991)). The State must prove beyond a reasonable doubt every essential element of a charged crime. In re Winship, 397 U.S. 358, 364, 90 S.Ct. 1068, 25 L.Ed.2d 368 (1970). To determine whether the evidence is sufficient to sustain a conviction, we view the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution and determine whether any rational fact finder could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. State v. Engel, 166 Wash.2d 572, 576, 210 P.3d 1007 (2009) (citing State v. Wentz, 149 Wash.2d 342, 347, 68 P.3d 282 (2003)). “It is mandatory that a conviction be made only under the offense charged.” State v. Thompson, 68 Wash.2d 536, 541, 413 P.2d 951 (1966).

¶ 10 This case hinges on statutory construction. Our “fundamental objective in construing a statute is to ascertain and carry out the legislature's intent.” Arborwood Idaho, LLC v. City of Kennewick, 151 Wash.2d 359, 367, 89 P.3d 217 (2004). We first look to the plain language of a statute. State v. Armendariz, 160 Wash.2d 106, 110, 156 P.3d 201 (2007). If the plain language is subject to only one interpretation, our inquiry is at an end. Id. When a statute's meaning is plain on its face, then the court must give effect to that plain meaning as an expression of legislative intent.’ Tingey v. Haisch, 159 Wash.2d 652, 657, 152 P.3d 1020 (2007) (quoting State v. Jacobs, 154 Wash.2d 596, 600, 115 P.3d 281 (2005)).

¶ 11 Washington's first degree criminal mistreatment statute provides:

A parent of a child, the person entrusted with the physical custody of a child or dependent person, a person who has assumed the responsibility to provide to a dependent person the basic necessities of life, or a person employed to provide to the child or dependent person the basic necessities of life is guilty of criminal mistreatment in the first degree if he or she recklessly, as defined in RCW 9A.08.010, causes great bodily harm to a child or dependent person

by withholding any of the basic necessities of life.

RCW 9A.42.020(1) (emphasis added). 1

¶ 12 The legislature has defined some relevant terms in the statute. A “dependent person” means “a person who, because of physical or mental disability, or because of extreme advanced age, is dependent upon another person to provide the basic necessities of life.” 2 RCW 9A.42.010(4) (emphasis added). A “child” means “a person under eighteen years of age.” RCW 9A.42.010(3). The term “basic necessities of life” includes food, water, and health care. RCW 9A.42.010(1).

¶ 13 The legislature did not, however, define the word “disability,” which determines if a person is dependent. We may rely upon the dictionary when statutory terms are undefined. Armantrout v. Carlson, 166 Wash.2d 931, 937, 214 P.3d 914 (2009). According to the dictionary, “disability” means the “inability to do something” or “deprivation or lack esp. of physical, intellectual, or emotional capacity or fitness” or “a physical or mental illness, injury, or condition that incapacitates in any way.” Webster's Third New International Dictionary 642 (2002).

¶ 14 Evidence introduced at trial established that S.A.'s symptoms were consistent with these definitions of disability. When protective services assumed custody of S.A., the four-year-old boy weighed less than 26 pounds. Doctors measured his pulse at 30 to 60 beats per minute. His core temperature measured roughly 87 degrees. He could not walk or even stand up by himself when deputies performed the welfare check. His digestive system could not process food. S.A.'s bones had decalcified. His body tissue had wasted away. These physical ailments do not even address the mental issues he suffered, such as a likely eating disorder. In short, S.A. suffered a mental or physical disability.

¶ 15 The question, then, is whether a “child” who has a disability can also be a “dependent person” for purposes of RCW 9A.42.020(1). The statute sets out four classes of people who can commit criminal mistreatment: (1) parents of children; (2) people entrusted with custody of a child or dependent person; (3) people who assume responsibility to provide the basic necessities of life for a dependent person; and (4) people hired to care for a child or dependent person. This case...

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