State v. Carlson

• Decision Date: 21 April 2015
• Docket Number: No. 31610-6-III,31610-6-III
• Court: Washington Court of Appeals
• Parties: STATE OF WASHINGTON, Respondent, v. CHRISTOPHER JAMES CARLSON, Appellant.

STATE OF WASHINGTON, Respondent, v. CHRISTOPHER JAMES CARLSON, Appellant.

No. 31610-6-III

COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON DIVISION THREE

April 21, 2015

UNPUBLISHED OPINION

FEARING, J. — Christopher Carlson exploited chivalry to rape his neighbor. He appeals his convictions for second degree rape, first degree burglary, and residential burglary. Carlson contends: (1) the trial court violated his right to a speedy trial, (2) the trial court erred when it refused to instruct the jury on the inferior degree offense of third degree rape, (3) the trial court erred when it refused to instruct the jury on the defense of voluntary intoxication, and (4) the trial court erred when it omitted the phrase "or lack of evidence" from one of the sentences in the jury instruction for "reasonable doubt." We affirm all convictions.

FACTS

On October 6, 2012, around 6:00 p.m., M.J. returned to her Moses Lake apartment, where she lives alone. M.J. was then a 5'2" 58-year-old woman who weighed 125 pounds. A man, whom M.J. rarely saw, but who lived in the apartment complex, sat in his car in a parking lot stall next to the stall in which M.J. parked. As M.J. exited her car and walked toward her apartment, the man followed.

As M.J. approached her apartment, she saw her neighbor Christopher Carlson round a corner. M.J. motioned for Carlson to intervene, which he did. Carlson invited the man to come to Carlson's apartment. M.J. entered her apartment without incident.

Two to three hours later, two of Christopher Carlson's neighbors heard Carlson singing loudly. At trial, neighbor Dan Hennagir testified he heard the singing between 8:30 and 9:00 p.m. through the walls of his apartment. Hennagir opined that Carlson sounded drunk.

Q And why do you think that he was inebriated?

A I've heard him sing. He sings normally fine. I thought it was—I got a chuckle out of the fact that he was a little over the top.

Q What was different about his singing on this occasion that led you to believe that he what inebriated?

A The volume, the slurring, the kind of whoops and hollers in between certain phrases.

Report of Proceedings (RP) (Feb. 28, 2013) at 121-22. Hennagir's roommate, Albert Wise, also heard Carlson and testified that Carlson sounded like he had been drinking.

Later that night, M.J. heard a knock at her apartment door. Through a window,M.J. recognized Christopher Carlson at the door and believed he had come to confirm her safety. M.J. allowed Carlson ingress to her apartment. Christopher Carlson wore a Seattle Seahawks cap and held a glass containing clear liquid. Carlson sat down in a recliner chair. He then grabbed M.J. by the wrist and pulled her onto his lap.

A bewildered and nervous M.J. repeatedly asked Carlson what he was doing. M.J. also asked Carlson, "What are you drinking?" RP (Feb. 28, 2013) at 64. She futilely strived to escape his grip. M.J. described what happened next:

A He was putting—he was putting his hand—I had sweats on. He was putting his hands down into my pants and—He had his hands in my pants and he had his fingers inside of me. And then—and then he was just sitting there. I was still on his lap and he removed his—he took his penis out and—and then he said "You're going to eat it."

. . . .

No. No. I said no. And I said "No, I'm not."

. . . .

I was telling him he was hurting me because he had—he was putting his hands inside of me. And then when I told him no, I wouldn't do that, then his response was—the next thing I knew I was on the floor. He took me down on the floor in front of the recliner. And he was inside of me. Took my sweats off and he was inside of me. Just he put himself in my vagina.

RP (Feb. 28, 2013) at 64-65.

Christopher Carlson pinned M.J. on the apartment floor. Under Carlson's weight, M.J. struggled to breathe. Carlson told M.J.: "look at me. You owe me big time," and "[l]ook at me and tell me that you want me to fuck you." RP (Feb. 28, 2013) at 66, 101.

At trial, the State asked M.J. whether she resisted being pinned. M.J. responded:

Yes. Yes, he's bigger than me and stronger than me and there wasn't anything—there was nothing I could do. And he was being so aggressive and yelling at me and being mean and bizarre and scary that I didn't—I didn't want to—I didn't want to add to it.

RP (Feb. 28, 2013) at 68.

Christopher Carlson ordered M.J. to remove her sweater. She complied out of fear. Carlson demanded M.J. turn over onto her stomach and said: "I bet you want me to fuck you doggie style." RP (Feb. 28, 2013) at 66. As Carlson continued to rape M.J., he told her: "You've let me taste you now. I'm going to want you more. And this was just your pussy, and I'm going to want your ass." RP (Feb. 28, 2013) 67. Carlson grabbed M.J. by the hair, and jerked her head back.

At trial, M.J. described the physical pain Carlson inflicted:

It was painful to me. It was painful from the very beginning when his fingers were inside of me very—just so hard and awful. And then the whole—and then physically, yes, because he was controlling me physically. I couldn't breathe. He was hurting me inside. I couldn't—I just kept saying "You're hurting me".

RP (Feb. 28, 2013) at 70.

While still pinning M.J. to the floor, Carlson whispered to M.J.: "Thank—thank you." RP (Feb. 28, 2013) at 67. Carlson told M.J.: "Blame it on PTSD or whatever, but I'm not going to remember any of this." RP (Feb. 28, 2013) at 67. Carlson promised to return and most likely return that night. His last words to M J. were: "Lock your door and buy some pepper spray." RP (Feb. 28, 2013) at 68.

After Carlson left the apartment, a numb M.J. curled up and remained in this position in the middle of the floor. M.J. felt ashamed and embarrassed. She later locked her door. Around 11:15 p.m., M.J. phoned her friend Taffian Wright, who testified:

Her voice was quivering and she's like "Oh, my God. You won't believe what just happened. Oh, my God. Oh, my God." And I tried to calm her down. And I said "[M.J.], just talk to me. What happened?" And—and she just kind of broke down and cried a little bit. And I said, you know, "Talk to me." And then she just said "I was just raped." She just blurted it out. And then she started crying hysterically.

RP (Feb. 28, 2013) at 84. M.J. told Wright that she felt dirty. She wanted to shower and scrub her body. Wright encouraged M.J. to go to the hospital and to call police.

The following day, M.J. went to Columbia Basin Hospital, where Dr. Jonathan Crosier examined her. Dr. Crosier testified at trial that M.J. had noticeable erythema, redness indicative of inflammation and trauma, in her vaginal canal and a tender neck. M.J. reported to the attending nurse that she had been raped the previous night by a "very drunk and intoxicated man." RP (Feb. 28, 2013) at 143. At trial, the nurse testified that M.J. commented that the man "forcefully put her to the ground [and] pulled her ponytail." RP (Feb. 28, 2013) at 143.

M.J. reported the sexual assault to the Moses Lake Police Department. Detective Juan Rodriguez interviewed M.J. and inspected her apartment. Detective Rodriguez found Carlson's Seahawks cap behind M.J.'s recliner. Rodriguez searched Carlson's apartment, where he found a nearly empty fifth of vodka in the refrigerator and a secondSeattle Seahawks cap.

On October 8, 2012, Detectives Juan Rodriguez and Mike Williams interviewed Christopher Carlson about the rape. During the recorded interview, Carlson stated that, after work on October 6, he arrived home, began drinking vodka about 6:00 p.m., cooked dinner, drank more, sang songs, and passed out about 10:00 p.m. because he was tired. Carlson told the detectives he imbibed almost a fifth of vodka. He denied raping M.J. by stating: "I don't remember that." Ex. 1, at 11 min., 5 sec. Carlson told the detectives that he owned two Seattle Seahawks caps and believed he still possessed both.

PROCEDURE

In October 2012, the State of Washington charged Christopher Carlson with (1) rape in the second degree by forcible compulsion, (2) burglary in the first degree, and (3) residential burglary. The State also alleged that Carlson committed the burglaries with sexual motivation.

On December 3, 2012, the State and Christopher Carlson stipulated to the following schedule: a status hearing on December 18, 2012; a readiness hearing on January 14, 2013; and trial on January 16, 2013. The scheduling order established the outside date, for purposes of time for trial rules in CrR 3.3, as February 1, 2013. At the December 18, 2012 status hearing, defense counsel informed the court that he was almost ready for trial.

On January 3, 2013, at a confession hearing, the trial court corrected the outside trial date from the original scheduling order to February 15, 2013. Defense counsel acknowledged February 15 as the correct date. Counsel informed the trial court, however, that Christopher Carlson would object to any trial continuances and was ready to begin trial on January 16.

At the January 14, 2013 readiness hearing, the State moved to postpone the trial. The State asserted that its cochair deputy prosecutor could not attend on January 16 due to a broken elbow and Dr. Jonathan Crosier was unavailable to testify then because of scheduled work in the hospital emergency room. Also, while M.J. was available January 16, she planned a foreign trip for two weeks thereafter. M.J. had already postponed the extraterritorial travel to be available January 16. During the January 14 hearing, Christopher Carlson objected to a trial continuance.

On January 14, the trial court denied the State's motion to postpone the January 16 trial. The court told the parties that it would address M.J.'s travel plans if and when the conflict in dates actually arose. During the January 14 hearing, the trial court noted that Grant County has two courtrooms for jury trials and three superior court judges, and four criminal cases held priority over the Carlson prosecution for the trial calendar. The trial court kept February 15...