State v. Clark

• Decision Date: 20 August 2012
• Docket Number: No. 64861–6–I.,64861–6–I.
• Court: Washington Court of Appeals
• Parties: STATE of Washington, Respondent, v. DeShawn C. CLARK, Appellant.

283 P.3d 1116

STATE of Washington, Respondent,

v.DeShawn C. CLARK, Appellant.

No. 64861–6–I.

Court of Appeals of Washington, Division 1.

Aug. 20, 2012.

Oliver Ross Davis, Washington Appellate Project, Seattle, WA, for Appellant.

Andrea Ruth Vitalich, King County Prosecutor's Office, Seattle, WA, for Respondent.

PUBLISHED IN PART OPINION

SCHINDLER, J.

¶ 1 A jury convicted DeShawn C. Clark of human trafficking in the second degree of T.G., promoting prostitution in the first degree of T.G., unlawful imprisonment of T.G., promoting commercial sexual abuse of H.R. and N.S., and conspiracy to commit promoting prostitution in the first degree. The jury also found that Clark committed the crime of conspiracy to commit promoting prostitution with the intent to benefit, profit, or otherwise advantage a criminal street gang. Clark argues insufficient evidence supports the convictions of commercial sexual abuse of N.S. and human trafficking of T.G. In the alternative, Clark claims that either the convictions for human trafficking and promoting prostitution violate double jeopardy, or the convictions for unlawful imprisonment and human trafficking or promoting prostitution violate double jeopardy. We remand for resentencing. In all other respects, we affirm.

FACTS

¶ 2 West Side Street Mobb (WSSM) is a criminal street gang in West Seattle. “Mobb” is an acronym for “Money Over Broke Bitches” that means “money first before you talk to bitches.” The primary objective of WSSM gang members was to make money from drug dealing, bank fraud, and prostitution.

¶ 3 DeShawn “Cash Money” Clark, Thomas “Mario” Foster, Donte “Tay” Walters, Gamata “G Bez” Abdullah, Elijah “E Pill” Cane, Jeffrey “Little Pill” Knox, Desmond “Goldie” Manago, and Mycah Johnsen were members of WSSM and were engaged in promoting prostitution. Clark, his older brother Shawn Clark, Mycah Johnsen, Gerald Jackson, and Jewan Spinks also identified themselves as members of Crime Fam.

¶ 4 When Clark and 18–year–old T.G. began dating in August 2007, she had a job at Kentucky Fried Chicken and was living in an apartment. Approximately two months later, T.G. had lost her job and was evicted from her apartment. In October, T.G. and Clark were living with Clark's mother. At Clark's urging, T.G. agreed to work as a prostitute to earn money.

A. When I lost my job and didn't have anywhere to stay, it was the option that [Clark] gave me.

Q. What do you mean it was the option that he—he gave you?

A. He told me that that's how I could get money.

Q. All right. And would it be fair for me to say the [sic] at first that was something you were willing to do?

A. Yes.

¶ 5 In October 2007, 15–year–old H.R. was working as a prostitute for Gamata and staying in a motel on Pacific Highway South. H.R. said that one day when she came back from “walking the track,” Gamata and Clark were in the motel room with T.G. H.R. testified that Gamata and Clark told her to “go take [T.G.] out and show her how” to prostitute. H.R. said that Gamata and Clark told H.R. and T.G., “Just go out there and make some money.” H.R. and T.G. wanted to walk the track together, but Gamata and Clark told them to split up so they could make more money.

Me and [T.G.] decided we would—we came up with this thing where we can, you know, both of us can walk side by side together, you know, to avoid cops to avoid, you know, maybe we'll make some more money walking both of us down, you know, by each other or whatever.

So—and then when we weren't really making that much money they told us, Well, just split up, you go on one side of the street and you go on the other side of the street.

¶ 6 Later that same month, H.R. left Gamata and went to work as a prostitute for Clark. H.R. said that she earned between $500 and $800 a day, and gave the money to Clark. H.R. testified that she worked for Clark for approximately two weeks before she left and returned home.

¶ 7 T.G. said that when she worked as a prostitute in 2007, she worked most days and earned between $500 and $1000 a day. T.G. said that when she did not work and “didn't bring any money back,” Clark did not “beat [her] up for it.”

¶ 8 In late November, Clark, T.G., Walters, and F.S., the 16–year–old girl working for Walters, went to Las Vegas for approximately a week and a half to stay with WSSM member Roosevelt “City Red” Johnson. On December 5, Clark accused T.G. of hiding money from him and told her, “You're not going to keep anything from me. You're not going to hide money from me.” T.G. said that Clark forced her to strip naked in front of Walters and City Red, and hit her on “[m]y face, my head, my arms, my legs, just kicking and hitting.”

¶ 9 The next day, T.G. went to the emergency room of a hospital in Las Vegas. T.G. said the injuries were the result of “a fight with somebody.” T.G. testified that she did not tell the truth because she was scared that she would “go to jail” for engaging in prostitution.

¶ 10 After returning to Seattle, T.G. left Clark and turned off her cell phone. T.G. testified that in early January 2008, Clark came to her grandmother's house and threatened to kill her because she “turned the text messaging off” on the phone and did not respond to his text messages. T.G. said that she “caught the first bus that left [town]” and went to stay with her mother in Wisconsin.

¶ 11 Around the same time that T.G. went to Wisconsin, 16–year–old N.S. started working for Clark as a prostitute. After N.S. ran away from home, her mother often went to Pacific Highway South to hand out missing person fliers. N.S.'s mother testified that on one occasion, Clark approached her and said that he had N.S. “wound up so tight she would never come home.”

¶ 12 T.G. testified that after she left Seattle in January 2008, she “cut off communication [with Clark] entirely.” Nonetheless, Clark continued to try to contact T.G. Because she still loved him, T.G. eventually talked to Clark. Clark repeatedly told T.G. that he loved her. Clark promised that if she returned, they would be together, “things were going to be okay again,” and “he wasn't going to hit [her] anymore.” T.G. believed Clark, and on June 18, 2008, she returned to Seattle.

¶ 13 T.G. testified that at first, Clark fulfilled his promise. But within the first week that she started working as a prostitute, Clark treated her harshly and was violent.

¶ 14 At Clark's direction, T.G. stayed in hotels and posted advertisements for sex on Internet web sites. T.G. said that “[m]ost of the time [Clark] stayed in the hotel” room, but when she had a date, he would leave and sit in the car. T.G. testified that Clark kept “tabs” on her by requiring her to text him to report about customers and the money she was making. T.G. said that Clark told her she was “not allowed to talk to any males unless it was for money.” Clark made T.G. refer to him as her pimp, call him “Daddy,” and forced her to get a tattoo of a money bag on her stomach.

¶ 15 T.G. described a typical day as follows:

Get up around 1 o'clock in the afternoon. Then [Clark] would tell me to post some ads, post some ads, and just sit and wait for calls. I wasn't allowed to eat until I made some money that day. If I didn't make any money, then it would be, if I was lucky, get to eat once that day.

I would work until he decided that it was enough or until it reached anywhere from 3, 4 o'clock in the morning, and even after that, if a call came in with a substantial amount of money, he would make me take it.

¶ 16 T.G. testified that Clark berated her and beat her if she did not follow his rules. T.G. said that Clark would also punish her by putting her “to sleep,” or choking her until she lost consciousness. From June to November 2008, N.S., H.R., A.B., and a girl named “Ice” also worked as prostitutes for Clark. But T.G. was the only one that he “beat up.”

¶ 17 T.G. said that she complied with Clark's demands because “of what he ... was capable of doing to me” and the fear of getting “beat up.”

It was more of what he, himself, was capable of doing to me and being hit all the time and punched all the time. It scared me into just doing what he told me to do. I did it, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. If I didn't do what he told me to do, I would get beat up, so I just started following the rules.

¶ 18 In late summer 2008, Clark, his brother Shawn, and Gerald Jackson took T.G., J.Z., and S.A. to Portland, Oregon to engage in prostitution. Clark paid for the hotel suite. T.G., J.Z., and S.A. posted advertisements on the Internet and used the hotel room for customers. Meanwhile, Clark, Shawn, and Jackson went to the shopping mall.

¶ 19 T.G. said that she did not contact the police because “I was scared ... knowing that there's so many ... people from [WSSM] that could come after me.” But on October 30, 2008, T.G. called 911 after Clark choked her until she lost consciousness and hit her head on the bathroom wall. Tukwila Police Officer Todd Bisson responded to the 911 call. Officer Bisson said that T.G. was crying and had “a very large welt on her left eye that was purple,” but did not want to talk about what happened. T.G. repeatedly said she should not have called the police, and lied about what happened.

¶ 20 In 2008, Seattle Police Department (SPD) Detective Todd Novisedlak and Detective Bill Guyer worked in the Vice Unit. The SPD Vice Unit works with the Federal Task Force and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to combat juvenile prostitution.

¶ 21 At the beginning of November 2008, Detective Novisedlak and Detective Guyer interviewed L.J. about the abduction and assault that occurred on November 3. Mario Foster is the father of L.J.'s two young children. L.J. said that in October, Foster made her work as a prostitute. L.J. told the Detectives that she did not want to work as a prostitute, but she “was more afraid of what [Foster] would do to her if she didn't do it.” After L.J. told Foster “she couldn't do it anymore,” he left a message on ...