State v. Devyver
| Decision Date | 25 October 2016 |
| Docket Number | No. 47547-2-II,47547-2-II |
| Parties | STATE OF WASHINGTON, Respondent, v. CHASE HARRISON DEVYVER, Appellant. |
| Court | Washington Court of Appeals |
MELNICK, J. — Chase Harrison Devyver appeals his convictions for felony murder in the second degree, assault in the second degree, both with a deadly weapon enhancement, and robbery in the first degree, with a firearm enhancement. Devyver was also convicted of attempt to elude a pursuing police vehicle. We conclude Devyver's rights were not violated after two jurors saw him with security officers outside the courtroom, and the trial court did not abuse its discretion by denying Devyver's motion for a mistrial. In addition, we conclude the trial court properly instructed the jury on voluntary intoxication and reasonable doubt, and correctly denied Devyver's manslaughter instruction as a lesser included offense for felony murder in the second degree. We also conclude that Devyver did not receive ineffective assistance of counsel. Finally, we conclude Devyver's SAG does not establish any error. We affirm.
On the evening of January 18, 2014, a group of people including Devyver, his girlfriend Laura Reneer, Reneer's housemate Margaret Braswell-Donoho, Shawn Woods, Caleb Roth, and Nick Lafont, gathered at Braswell-Donoho's house to go out for the evening. Devyver began staying at the house with Reneer approximately a month before hand. Devyver seemed upset about a misunderstanding from days before regarding a possible double date. Reneer assured Devyver she was not interested in being set up with another man but the topic came up several times throughout the evening.
Braswell-Donoho and Roth were the designated drivers for the night. Everybody else took at least one shot of whiskey before leaving. They arrived at a bar around 9:30 P.M. and did not return to the house until after closing time, approximately 3:00 A.M. Devyver and Woods appeared intoxicated at the bar. According to several witnesses, Devyver was very intoxicated at the beginning of the night but became less so as the night progressed.
Everyone but Roth and Lafont returned to the house. Upon returning to the house, Braswell-Donoho went to bed and Woods laid down on the couch in the living room. Woods intermittently got up so he could vomit. Devyver and Reneer helped Woods get back and forth from the couch to the bathroom.
Shortly thereafter, Devyver approached Reneer from behind. She did not know if he was hugging her or what he was doing. Devyver wrapped his arm around her and stabbed her twice in the back. Reneer felt sharp pains in her back and started screaming. She told Devyver to stop, but he kept "escalating." 3 Report of Proceedings (RP) at 178. Reneer heard Devyver say, "Why would you do this to me now." 3 RP at 177. Woods got up from the couch to intervene. Reneer got away, and Devyver and Woods fought.
Devyver stabbed Woods twice, once fatally in the heart. Devyver then ran around the house for a brief period of time, seemingly collecting items from the upstairs and the garage. During that time, Reneer and Woods remained on the floor near each other. Woods was not moving, but Reneer heard "gargling" noises. 3 RP at 184. Reneer saw Devyver washingsomething in the sink. The items in his hand looked like "sharp metal objects, probably a knife." 3 RP at 184.
Devyver then returned to the living room, held a gun to Reneer's forehead, and asked her where her wallet was. Reneer told him she did not know, and he hit her in the head with the gun. Devyver threatened to kill Reneer, saying that if he did not kill her, she would have time to call the police. She pleaded with him not kill her and told him to take her keys and "just leave." 3 RP at 188. Devyver drove away in Reneer's car.
Reneer crawled up the stairs to find Braswell-Donoho. Reneer woke Braswell-Donoho, and they called the police. They went downstairs when the police arrived. Reneer then tried to walk back upstairs but fell. Her shirt was covered in blood.
While responding to the scene in marked patrol vehicles, the police observed Devyver driving away. Two officers passed Reneer's vehicle, driven by Devyver, and turned around to follow it. The officers activated their emergency lights, but Devyver did not stop. Devyver increased his speed immediately, and the officers activated their sirens.
Devyver did not pull over for the police and proceeded to drive between 90 and 100 miles per hour down a stretch of road. He drove through three red lights. Devyver slowed to 75 miles per hour at a hill. The lead police vehicle initiated a PIT (pursuit intervention technique) maneuver1 to bring the chase to a stop. Devyver's vehicle spun out, broke through a telephone pole, and rolled several times into a yard. The officers could see items flying out of the vehicle as it rolled.
The vehicle stopped with the passenger side on the ground. The officers approached the vehicle and could see Devyver trying to grab something from the floor. The officers had their weapons drawn and instructed Devyver to show his hands and come out of the vehicle with his hands in the air. Devyver pulled himself out of the car through the driver's side window, got on top of the car, and climbed to the ground without assistance. When Devyver exited the car, he stated, "Shoot me, just f***ing shoot me." Clerk's Papers (CP) at 6. Devyver yelled at the officers to shoot him several times but kept his hands in the air. He did not respond to officer commands to get on the ground so officers tased him. The police arrested Devyver and took him to the hospital in an ambulance.
The officers investigating the car crash scene found a firearm in the grass where the vehicle rolled over. Officers also recovered a hard-shelled gun case and another gun case. The gun was a Smith and Wesson nine millimeter semi-automatic pistol. Police also recovered two pocket knives with locking blades and a kitchen knife. Additionally, the police recovered Reneer's wallet from the car.
Reneer was taken to the hospital to receive medical attention. Reneer had two "puncture, stab wounds" in her back—one in her mid-back on top of her spine and one over her right scapula. 3 RP at 212. The wounds were approximately one half inch long and a quarter inch deep. They were both over bone. The trauma surgeon who tended to Reneer said there was no penetration into the chest cavity because the knife hit bone. The trauma surgeon saw no indication that Reneer had a head injury, stating, "She was awake and alert, oriented;" however, he acknowledged that she had a "laceration" to her head. 4 RP at 253. Photos were taken to document the head laceration.
The State charged Devyver in a second amended information with one count of felony murder in the second degree with a deadly weapon enhancement involving Woods (count I), assault in the first degree with a deadly weapon enhancement involving Reneer (count II), robbery in the first degree, while armed with a deadly weapon or while causing bodily injury, with a firearm enhancement involving Reneer, (count III), and attempting to elude a pursuing police vehicle (count IV). The charging document specified that the predicate felony for the murder charge was "the crime of assault in the first degree, assault in the second degree, or assault in the third degree." CP at 1. The State further alleged that Devyver and Reneer were part of the same household for the assault in the first degree charge.2
At trial, Devyver testified, but he did not refute any other witnesses' testimony because he could not remember anything from that night between shortly after he arrived at the bar up until when the police tased him. Devyver previously worked as a medic in the army. He testified that "[a]t the right depth" the mid-spine area is a "particularly vulnerable area." 7 RP at 688. He also stated, however, that the wound "wasn't deep enough to even reach the spine." 7 RP at 689. Devyver further testified that the top of the lung was in the area of the second wound but that the type of knife "wouldn't actually make it all the way through the bone." 7 RP at 689.
Devyver stated that he owned a Smith and Wesson semi-automatic handgun. He also stated that one gun case the police recovered appeared to be one he owned and the other he was not certain about because there was nothing particularly identifiable about it. According to Devyver, he also usually carried a black pocket knife with a locking blade in his pocket. He did not confirmthe knife in evidence was his, but he stated he owned a similar knife and could not remember exactly what brand it was because he had not seen it in a while.
Reneer testified that she did not know guns well but that she knew Devyver owned a pistol. She also thought that the pistol in evidence looked similar to the one with which Devyver struck her.
A Washington State Patrol Crime Laboratory employee tested the three knives found in the vehicle for blood. He found blood that matched Devyver's "DNA3 profile" on the knives. 5 RP at 389. On one knife, the sample showed the presence of both Devyver's and Woods's DNA.
The trial began at the end of March, 2015 and lasted 7 days. On the first day of testimony, when the court reconvened from lunch, Devyver made the court aware of an incident. While transporting Devyver back to the jail, two officers held Devyver in a small room connected to the lobby. Two jurors left the jury room and passed the small room. Devyver moved for a mistrial.
The trial court and attorneys questioned the two officers. One stated that he watched the jury room door close and his partner then placed Devyver in handcuffs. That officer stood in the doorway to make sure the jurors were not coming out from the jury room and waited for the elevator. Two jurors exited the jury room and looked in the direction of the officers and Devyver. The officer closed the door and stood in front of the narrow...
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