State v. Collins

• Decision Date: 29 November 2022
• Docket Number: 56155-7-II
• Parties: STATE OF WASHINGTON, Respondent, v. DAKOTA MIKALLE COLLINS, Appellant.
• Court: Washington Court of Appeals

STATE OF WASHINGTON, Respondent, v. DAKOTA MIKALLE COLLINS, Appellant.

No. 56155-7-II

Court of Appeals of Washington, Division 2

November 29, 2022

UNPUBLISHED OPINION

Worswick, J.

Dakota Collins pleaded guilty to one count of second degree murder with a firearm enhancement, one count of attempted first degree robbery, and two counts of second degree unlawful possession of a firearm for acts committed when he was a juvenile. His case was remanded for resentencing because the trial court failed to meaningfully consider his youth.

The trial court resentenced Collins to a standard range sentence and Collins appeals for a second time. Collins argues that the trial court failed to meaningfully consider youth as a mitigating factor. The State argues that Collins cannot appeal his standard range sentence. Collins also argues, and the State concedes, that there is a scrivener's error in the judgment and sentence.

We hold that Collins's standard range sentence is appealable. We further hold that the trial court meaningfully considered Collins's youth as a mitigating factor, and that he is entitled to correct the scrivener's error in his judgment and sentence. Accordingly, we affirm and remand for the trial court to correct the scrivener's errors.

FACTS

I. Background and Sentencing

When he was 16 years old, Dakota Collins and six co-defendants attempted to rob Lorenzo Parks. When Parks claimed Collins's gun was fake, Collins removed the magazine and reinserted it. After Parks resisted, Collins shot him. Juvenile court declined jurisdiction, and the State charged Collins as an adult with second degree murder with a firearm enhancement, attempted first degree robbery, and two counts of second degree unlawful possession of a firearm. Collins pleaded guilty. In the statement of defendant on plea of guilty form, Collins admitted that he intentionally shot and killed Parks while he and his codefendants were attempting to rob him. As part of Collins's guilty plea, the State agreed to recommend a standard range sentence of 200 months plus the 60-month firearm enhancement. Collins was permitted to ask for a sentence as low as 66 months.

Collins argued for an exceptional sentence of 96 months, arguing that his youth and the circumstances of his upbringing warranted an exceptional downward sentence. He argued that he had attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and oppositional defiant disorder, likely related to his biological mother's drug use during pregnancy, and that he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) due to abuse he endured at a military academy. Collins had a history of abusing drugs in the time preceding the shooting. Collins submitted an expert's report detailing the impact of these conditions and his youth on his judgment and ability to control impulses.

The trial court heard testimony from Parks' father, sister brother, and sister-in-law about how the loss of Parks had impacted their family. The trial court heard testimony from April A. Gerlock, Ph.D., a psychiatric nurse practitioner who evaluated Collins and diagnosed him with "moderate to severe, chronic PTSD." Clerk's Papers (CP) at 139.

At the hearing, defense counsel asked Gerlock to explain how the PTSD "may have played a part in the actual shooting incident." 2 Verbatim Report of Proceedings (VRP) (Oct. 5, 2017) at 45. Gerlock testified that adolescent brains are less developed in the prefrontal cortex, the area responsible for exercising judgment and understanding consequences, and the prefrontal cortex is also "not as active for someone with PTSD." 2 VRP (Oct. 5, 2017) at 47. In addition, PTSD impairs the mid-brain, "the part of the brain that stores fear-based memories," and causes it to be "more reactive." 2 VRP (Oct. 5, 2017) at 46-47. Gerlock explained that Collins's adolescence and PTSD together "really compounded his situation in terms of how he perceived the events as they unfolded that night, perceived the situation as threatening, and responded in that reactive impulsive way with lethal violence." 2 VRP (Oct. 5, 2017) at 47. Gerlock also submitted a more detailed report which concluded, "Substance abuse treatment, trauma-informed therapies, and life skills are all critical for [Collins's] rehabilitation." CP at 142. She also concluded that Collins's judgment was "impaired because of his young age, major mental health disorders, and further impaired by marijuana and/or alcohol intoxication." CP 305.

The trial court heard from Collins's biological mother, who shared her regrets that she used drugs heavily during her pregnancy, as well as her opinion that Collins "was not the same boy when he returned from the military school." 2 VRP (Oct. 5, 2017) at 49.

The trial court heard testimony from Catholic Community Services counselor Evelyn Maddox. The counselor started working with Collins prior to his offense, and she had been trying to get him help, but Collins was arrested for shooting Parks before he could receive the benefit of these services. The counselor ended her testimony by stating, that she was sure Collins would take advantage of programming in prison because he had been very receptive.

Collins expressed his remorse to the court. He addressed Parks's family, saying, "I want you to know this: I promise you that with every breath and bone in my body, I will commit to changing my life and myself so that I will never put another family in the spot I have put yours in." 2 VRP (Oct. 5, 2017) at 71.

The court described Gerlock's report as "very interesting" before concluding, "I don't know. I don't think [Gerlock] knows. I think that's why she phrased it [as] what you may have been experiencing at that time. But the facts as they sound to me don't sound like a person who was in fear for their life." 2 VRP (Oct. 5, 2017) at 74.

Addressing Collins's youth, the trial court agreed with the State "that nothing miraculous happens on your 18th birthday. You don't suddenly have your brain fully developed so that you're now going to make good choices and now going to be able to assess risks and consequences of your behavior differently than you did the day before you turned 18." 2 VRP (Oct. 5, 2017) at 75. Looking to the specific facts of this case, the trial court told Collins, "I suspect that you actually did have a good appreciation [of risks and consequences] when you had a gun in your hand, a loaded gun in your hand, and took the magazine out and put it back in." 2 VRP (Oct. 5, 2017) at 75. The trial court concluded that Collins likely "had an appreciation for the risk associated with that gun and what would happen if you pulled the trigger." 2 VRP (Oct. 5, 2017) at 75-76.

In reviewing the circumstances of Collins's childhood, the trial court commented,

[A]s a human being and as a mother, it's very sad to read the packet of materials that [defense counsel] gave me about your life. It's very sad that you were exposed to drugs before you even had a chance at a life. It's very sad that you suffered at that academy.

2 VRP (Oct. 5, 2017) at 76. The trial court assured Collins, "I want you to know that I appreciate the materials that [defense counsel] has put forward, and that has given me-that I've given a great deal of thought to that." 2 VRP (Oct. 5, 2017) at 76.

Throughout its ruling, the trial court referenced State v. Houston-Sconiers, 188 Wn.2d 1, 391 P.3d 409 (2017), and recognized its discretion to impose an exceptional mitigated sentence based on Collins's youth:

I agree with [defense counsel] that I don't think the Houston-Sconiers or the line of cases leading up to it supports the idea that if the State amends the charges or recommends something below the high end of the range, that that's taking into consideration youth and age and all of those things that Houston-Sconiers talks about.

But I do think that the Court isn't going to ignore that, because clearly I would have expected that that's part of what was taken into consideration by the State. But I believe that the Court shouldn't defer to the State and assume that they did that, but do its own assessment of that.

. . . .

I do think that Houston-Sconiers requires the Court to consider all of the factors, not just the act itself. But it can't-it's like, okay, how do you consider immaturity or failure to appreciate risks and consequences. You don't consider those in a vacuum. You consider them in the context of what brings us all here today, and that is that you chose to pull the trigger, and a person died as a result.

. . . . And to Mr. Collins, considering all of these factors, including all of the goals of sentencing that I've already touched on, of what is a just punishment, what will be a deterrent, what would it take to rehabilitate you-which I honestly didn't hear a lot about-and how do we protect the public, I do think a sentence within the standard sentencing range is appropriate, plus the firearm sentencing enhancement and a period of community custody.

2 VRP (Oct. 5, 2017) at 74-77.

The trial court denied Collins's request for exceptional sentence downward, and it imposed the State's recommended, standard range sentence of 260 months for second degree murder with the firearm enhancement. The sentences for the remaining convictions would be served concurrently, so the total term of confinement was 260 months.

II. Appeal and Resentencing

Collins appealed his standard range sentence to this court "arguing that the trial court failed to fully and meaningfully consider his youth as a mitigating factor," and this court "held that the trial court did not abuse its discretion and affirmed Collins's sentence." State v. Collins, No. 51511-3-II, slip op. at 1 (Wash.Ct.App. Dec. 15, 2015) (unpublished).^[1] "Collins then petitioned the Washington Supreme Court...