State v. Holland
| Decision Date | 06 January 1983 |
| Docket Number | No. 48519-4,48519-4 |
| Citation | 656 P.2d 1056,98 Wn.2d 507 |
| Parties | The STATE of Washington, Respondent, v. Daniel W. HOLLAND, Petitioner. |
| Court | Washington Supreme Court |
William A. Jaquette, Eastside Defender Ass'n, Seattle, for petitioner.
Norman K. Maleng, King County Prosecutor, Andrew R. Hamilton, Deputy Pros. Atty., Seattle, for respondent.
Defendant Daniel W. Holland, a juvenile, appeals the juvenile court's decline of jurisdiction over him and his subsequent conviction of second degree murder and second degree rape.
Two issues are presented in the appeal. First, do the trial court's oral and written findings support its decision to decline jurisdiction over defendant? Second, does any constitutional or statutory privilege extend to statements made by defendant to court-appointed mental health professionals during an evaluation prior to the decline hearing? We hold that the court's written findings, although insufficient in themselves, when considered together with the court's oral opinion, are sufficient to support its decision to decline jurisdiction. On the second issue, we hold that the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination protects statements made during evaluations prior to the decline hearing, but this privilege may not be used to prevent the State's impeaching a defendant's credibility after he chooses to testify.
On August 14, 1979, 11-year-old Ruth Spencer was shot once in the head and buried in a shallow grave near her parents' home in Maple Valley. The victim's cousin, defendant Daniel Holland, admitted killing the victim and was charged with first degree murder and second degree rape. At a hearing pursuant to RCW 13.40.110(1)(a), held on September 25, 1979, the juvenile court declined jurisdiction over the 16-year-old defendant. After being tried as an adult, defendant was convicted on December 12, 1979, of second degree murder and second degree rape.
The crimes were discovered on the evening of August 14 when Terry Spencer found the body of his sister Ruth buried in the yard of their parents' home. When confronted with the body, defendant, who was living with the Spencer family, said that he had shot the victim. He was formally arrested shortly thereafter by King County Police officers and made a statement to these officers. (This statement was subsequently held inadmissible.) An autopsy revealed that the victim had been shot once in the head, and that within hours of her death sexual intercourse had occurred. The victim had not had intercourse prior to this occasion.
At the detention hearing pursuant to RCW 13.40.050, the court found probable cause to support the allegations that defendant had committed offenses, ordered defendant detained until a decline hearing in September 1979, and ordered psychiatric and psychological evaluation of defendant prior to that hearing.
Defendant's caseworker, James Fox, employed Dr. Gordon Carlson, Dr. James McDermott, and Dr. Irwin Dreiblatt to perform the court-ordered evaluations. All three mental health professionals interviewed defendant and apparently prepared written reports which were presented to the trial court (but which are not part of the record before the Court of Appeals or this court).
At the decline hearing on September 25, 1979, the court heard testimony from Drs. Carlson, McDermott, and Dreiblatt, from Mr. Fox, and from Dr. Donald Johns, a psychologist retained by the defense. Their testimony revealed that defendant had a troubled background. His parents had separated before his birth. He lived with his mother until her death when defendant was age 5. Defendant went to live with his father and stepmother, who abused or at least neglected him. In 1973, defendant ran away from home, was made a dependent ward of the Clark County Juvenile Court, and placed in a foster home. For the next 5 years, defendant lived in a series of foster homes until the fall of 1978, when his family placed him in the home of his mother's sister and her husband, the parents of the victim, Ruth Spencer.
All three mental health professionals who evaluated defendant agreed that he had limited intelligence, was emotionally immature and unsophisticated, and possibly suffered a degree of brain damage. They all considered that defendant would receive better treatment in juvenile facilities than he would in adult detention institutions. Dr. Johns, a psychologist with the Division of Adult Corrections of the Department of Social and Health Services for 12 years, testified that adult detention would be unsuitable for defendant even for short-term placement. He gave two reasons: the dangers to a young person from the other prisoners, and the enormous difficulties caused by overcrowding and understaffing in adult institutions. "It's simply an unthinkable place for any young person at this point in our history."
The court heard testimony that the maximum sentence which could be imposed by the juvenile system upon defendant was 192 weeks, and the minimum, 153 weeks; it was, moreover, theoretically possible that defendant could be released into a community program after as little as 20 months' detention.
None of the three mental health professionals was able to predict whether defendant would continue to be a danger to society in the future. In particular, they refused to predict that defendant would be successfully treated in the time available to the juvenile system, so as to avoid future acts of violence. However, they agreed that a better chance of successful treatment lay with the juvenile system than with the adult system. Dr. Johns took a slightly different approach, concluding from statistical tables that there was a 98 percent chance that defendant would not commit a similar offense in the future.
The only witness to recommend that juvenile jurisdiction be declined was defendant's probation officer, James Fox. He testified that the decision was excruciating for him because the needs of the defendant conflicted so violently with the expectations of the community. He agreed with the other witnesses that defendant's interests would be best served by the juvenile system, but he concluded that there was so much uncertainty as to defendant's future dangerousness that the needs of society required defendant's being handled by the adult system.
The court declined jurisdiction over defendant, setting forth its reasons in an oral opinion. (Set out in opinion of the Court of Appeals, State v. Holland, 30 Wash.App. 366, 370 n. 3, 635 P.2d 142 (1981).) The trial court concluded that there would be more "flexibility" in providing services to defendant if the adult courts could retain jurisdiction over him beyond his 21st birthday. The court's written findings, required by RCW 13.40.110(3), consisted of a standardized form on which the court checked off two reasons supporting its decision to decline. 1
Defendant subsequently requested the court to reconsider its decision to decline jurisdiction and to enter more specific findings and conclusions. The court denied both requests and defendant was tried as an adult on December 3, 1979.
Defendant's position at trial was that the victim had consented to sexual intercourse, and that he had accidentally shot her while pointing a rifle at her to frighten her.
Defendant testified that the victim came to his basement bedroom, she voluntarily removed her pants, and they engaged in sexual intercourse. She subsequently began to tease him and he went upstairs into the house. As he went upstairs, the thought "popped into [his] mind" to get a gun and scare her in retaliation for her teasing. Defendant obtained a gun from his uncle's bedroom, returned to the basement where the victim remained sitting on his bed, and pointed the gun at her. He stepped backwards, stumbled over something, and the gun fired. He buried the body to conceal the victim's death until he could figure out how to tell the Spencers he had killed their daughter.
The defense also called Drs. McDermott and Carlson, whose testimony was similar to that at the decline hearing, covering defendant's tragic odyssey from one foster home to another, his mental deficiencies, and his emotional abnormalities.
In the course of the trial, several references were made to statements made by defendant to the mental health professionals appointed to evaluate him prior to the juvenile decline hearing. These references may be summarized as follows:
1. In the cross examination of defendant, the prosecutor, over defense objections, referred to statements made by defendant to Drs. Dreiblatt, Carlson, and McDermott, which were inconsistent with his testimony.
2. Dr. Carlson, under cross examination, referred to a statement made to him by defendant that defendant had thought about having intercourse with the victim some hours before the intercourse took place.
3. The court admitted, over objections, a document entitled "My Thoughts" written by defendant at Dr. Dreiblatt's request. The document is not a part of the record, but apparently contained some damaging admissions.
4. Dr. Dreiblatt testified for the prosecution as a rebuttal witness, over defense objections. He testified that defendant told him after he had sexual intercourse with the victim, he went upstairs to obtain the gun and thought, "I should shoot her." Defendant also told Dr. Dreiblatt that when he actually fired the gun he meant to scare her, not kill her. Dr. Dreiblatt could not get defendant to see the inconsistency between these two statements.
The jury found defendant guilty of second degree murder and second degree rape, and on February 11, 1980, defendant was sentenced to consecutive sentences of 20 years and 10 years. Defendant appealed, challenging the decline of juvenile jurisdiction and the admission of his statements made to mental health professionals. The Court of Appeals affirmed defendant's conviction, holding that the decline of juvenile jurisdiction...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
State v. Scott
...165, 691 P.2d 197 (1984) (factors to determine reliability of hearsay statements of child victims of sexual abuse); State v. Holland, 98 Wash.2d 507, 656 P.2d 1056 (1983) (factors to consider when determining whether to waive juvenile jurisdiction); State v. Alexis, 95 Wash.2d 15, 19, 621 P......
-
State v. Creekmore
...conduct to which [it was] referring." State v. Payne, 45 Wash.App. 528, 531, 726 P.2d 997 (1986) (citing State v. Holland, 98 Wash.2d 507, 517, 656 P.2d 1056 (1983)). Payne and Holland are distinguishable because, here, the record is replete with evidence that Creekmore had no sympathy for ......
-
State v. Furman
...v. Case, 49 Wash.2d 66, 74-75, 298 P.2d 500 (1956); and cases cited therein. SMITH, J., concurs with UTTER, J. 1 State v. Holland, 98 Wash.2d 507, 515, 656 P.2d 1056 (1983) (citing Kent v. United States, 383 U.S. 541, 566-67, 86 S.Ct. 1045, 1059-60, 16 L.Ed.2d 84 (1966)); State v. Massey, 6......
-
State v. Burke
...the time he admitted involvement to the victim's family was not an impermissible comment on silence), aff'd on other grounds, 98 Wash.2d 507, 656 P.2d 1056 (1983). ¶ 60 Chelsea Pierson is Burke's friend. She testified that she spoke with him many times "about this incident," including "abou......
-
The Court-ordered Predisposition Evaluation Under Washington's Juvenile Justice Act: a Violation of the Privilege Against Self-incrimination?
...be asserted to prevent the state from using the defendant's statements to impeach his credibility. State v. Holland, 98 Wash. 2d 507, 656 P.2d 1056 (1983); State v. Bonds, 98 Wash. 2d 1, 653 P.2d 1024 84. Roberts, 445 U.S. at 560. It also should be noted that the fifth amendment privilege a......