State v. Berry
| Decision Date | 06 July 2000 |
| Docket Number | No. 67470-1.,67470-1. |
| Citation | 5 P.3d 658,141 Wash.2d 121 |
| Court | Washington Supreme Court |
| Parties | STATE of Washington, Respondent, v. Lanyard BERRY, Appellant. |
Seattle-King County public Defender, Neil Fox, Stephanie Adraktas, Seattle, for petitioner.
Norm Maleng, King County Prosecutor, Ann Summers, Deputy, William Berg, Deputy, Seattle, for respondent.
We accepted review of this case from Division One of the Court of Appeals, which affirmed the defendant's conviction of four counts of first degree robbery. The sole issue before this court is whether two "stayed" California convictions were properly counted as a "strike" under the Persistent Offender Accountability Act (POAA), see RCW 9.94A.120. We hold that they were and affirm Lanyard Berry's judgment and sentence to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
In 1975, Berry was convicted in California of voluntary manslaughter (Count I) for shooting and killing Kathleen Williams, and of assault with intent to commit murder (Count II) and assault with a deadly weapon (Count III) for shooting Willie Earl Smith.1 During sentencing, the court and both counsel discussed California's prohibition against multiple punishments for the same act under California Penal Code section 654.
The trial court orally ruled that both assaults "arose out of one act" and ordered that the judgment and sentence on Count II be temporarily "stayed" until the sentence on Count III was served or the judgment became permanent, at which time the stay would also become permanent. See Clerk's Papers (CP) at 511-12.2 The trial court's written ruling, however, contradicted its oral ruling. The trial court's written judgment ordered that the sentences on both assault counts would be stayed until the sentence and conviction on the manslaughter count was served or became permanent.3 Berry appealed his convictions.
On appeal, the California Court of Appeal ordered that Berry's voluntary manslaughter conviction be lowered to involuntary manslaughter. The remainder of Berry's judgment and sentence, however, was otherwise affirmed.
On remand, the trial court modified Berry's manslaughter conviction as ordered. The trial court, however, went further and modified the original stay provisions to be consistent with its original oral ruling. The trial court removed the stay on Count III and ordered that the stay on Count II should remain in effect until both Counts I and III were served or became permanent.4 Berry filed a writ of habeas corpus challenging the modification of the original stay provision.
In 1978, a different California trial court granted Berry's writ and held that the amendments to the stay provisions "had no force and effect" because the original trial court had no jurisdiction to amend that part of the judgment. CP at 553. Consequently, the original stay of both assault convictions remained in effect.
In 1997, Berry was convicted in Washington of four counts of first degree robbery. Following these convictions, the trial court sentenced Berry. In determining Berry's criminal history under RCW 9.94A.120, the State conceded and the trial court found that Berry's involuntary manslaughter conviction did not qualify as a prior strike because it was not comparable to a "`most serious offense'" in Washington. CP at 607. The trial court, however, found that Berry's 1985 robbery conviction qualified as a strike. The trial court also found that the two 1975 California assault convictions qualified as a single strike because they had never been set aside and because the one victim involved in both assault convictions was different from the victim involved in the manslaughter conviction. Based on this criminal history, Berry was sentenced as a "Persistent Offender" to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. CP at 579-80, 608.
The first issue we address is whether the State could collaterally attack the stay provisions. We hold that the full faith and credit clause requires that our courts recognize the stay provisions as valid and binding. The next issue, therefore, is how these stayed convictions should be treated under Washington's persistent offender statute. We hold that the trial court properly considered them as a prior strike in sentencing Berry as a persistent offender.
California Penal Code section 6545 prohibits multiple punishments, but not multiple convictions, for two or more offenses arising from the same act or indivisible course of conduct. People v. Pearson, 42 Cal.3d 351, 721 P.2d 595, 599-600, 228 Cal. Rptr. 509 (1986) (citing cases). Section 654 does not apply, however, where a single act or course of conduct is committed against separate victims. People v. Arndt, 76 Cal. App.4th 387, 395-96, 90 Cal.Rptr.2d 415 (1999) (citing cases).
To promote the purposes of section 654, the California courts developed a procedure where the courts "stay" the execution of sentences for all but one conviction arising out of each act or indivisible course of conduct.6 The purpose of California's stay procedure is to avoid improper multiple punishments, while also avoiding leaving a defendant without any convictions if the trial court dismissed the stayed convictions at sentencing and if the nonstayed convictions were later reversed on appeal. Pearson, 228 Cal.Rptr. 509, 721 P.2d at 600-01. A stayed sentence becomes permanently stayed when the defendant's sentences on any nonstayed convictions have been served. Pearson, 228 Cal.Rptr. 509, 721 P.2d at 600.7
In California, permanently stayed convictions generally may not be used to enhance future sentences or in any way used to disadvantage a defendant. Pearson, 228 Cal.Rptr. 509, 721 P.2d at 601. An exception exists where the Legislature explicitly declares that stayed convictions may be used to enhance future sentences. California's "Three Strikes" law explicitly provides such a declaration. See People v. Benson, 18 Cal.4th 24, 954 P.2d 557, 560-62, 74 Cal. Rptr.2d 294 (1998) (citing, inter alia, Cal.Penal Code § 667(d)(1)(B); Cal.Penal Code § 1170.12). Consequently, Berry's stayed convictions could be used as strikes under California law. See Benson, 74 Cal.Rptr.2d 294, 954 P.2d at 560-62.
The State argues that because Washington courts do not recognize clearly erroneous convictions, we should not recognize the stay provisions that were improperly imposed under California law. The assault convictions involved a victim who was different from the victim involved in the manslaughter conviction. Therefore, we agree that the California trial court appears to have mistakenly stayed both assault convictions. However, we hold that the full faith and credit clause requires that we recognize the stays as valid.
"Judgments, including criminal convictions of sister states, are generally accorded full faith and credit and their validity may not be collaterally attacked," absent constitutional infirmity. State v. Rinier, 23 Wash. App. 102, 105, 595 P.2d 43 (1979). "The Full Faith and Credit Clause provides a means for ending litigation by putting to rest matters previously decided between adverse parties in any state or territory of the United States." In re Estate of Tolson, 89 Wash. App. 21, 29, 947 P.2d 1242 (1997). A valid foreign judgment may be collaterally attacked only if the court lacked jurisdiction or constitutional violations were involved. Absent these grounds, "`a court of this state must give full faith and credit to the foreign judgment and regard the issues thereby adjudged to be precluded in a Washington proceeding.'" In re Tolson, 89 Wash.App. at 30, 947 P.2d 1242 (quoting In re Estate of Wagner, 50 Wash.App. 162, 166, 748 P.2d 639 (1987)).
We find that the full faith and credit clause applies with full force here. There is no claim that the conviction is invalid in California, or that the California court did not have jurisdiction or committed constitutional error. Rather, the only claim is that the California court mistakenly applied California law.
We note that this case is distinguishable from Washington decisions that did not recognize out-of-state judgments. See State v. Carver, 113 Wash.2d 591, 602-03, 781 P.2d 1308, 789 P.2d 306 (1989) (). Here, there was no statutory authority to modify the California judgment. Thus, the basic tenet that foreign judgments control in Washington court proceedings applies. Consequently, we find that Berry's assault convictions, including the stay provisions, must be afforded full faith and credit.
The dissent contends that "[i]f we are to give full faith and credit to the California judgment of conviction we must likewise give full faith and credit to the legal limitations on the use or meaning intrinsic to that stayed conviction." Dissent at 665. This statement, however, is clearly contrary to the repeated pronouncements of the United States Supreme Court.
While the full faith and credit clause applies in full force to judgments, its effect is lessened when the statutes or judicial decisions of another forum are at issue. Baker v. General Motors Corp., 522 U.S. 222, 232-33, 118 S.Ct. 657, 139 L.Ed.2d 580 (1997). "The Full Faith and Credit Clause does not compel `a state to substitute the statutes of other states for its own statutes dealing with a subject matter concerning which it is competent to legislate.'" Id. (quoting Pacific Employers Ins. Co. v. Industrial Accident Comm'n, 306 U.S. 493, 501, 59 S.Ct. 629, 83 L.Ed. 940 (1939)).8
In fact, it is under this doctrine that a California court, the forum to which the dissent would defer, recently held that even if...
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