State v. Lar
| Decision Date | 24 April 2012 |
| Docket Number | No. 40801-5-II,40801-5-II |
| Court | Washington Court of Appeals |
| Parties | STATE OF WASHINGTON, Respondent, v. MICHAEL ANTHONY LAR, Appellant. |
Hunt, J. — Michael Anthony Lar appeals his jury convictions for first degree burglary, first degree kidnapping, and first degree attempted robbery. He argues that (1) the trial court violated his state and federal constitutional rights when it refused to suppress evidence obtained after police arrested him without a warrant in a "high risk"1 stop; (2) he received ineffective assistance when defense counsel failed to file a timely motion to suppress evidence flowing from Lar's allegedly unlawful arrest and from his allegedly coerced statements; (3) the trial court violated his right to a fair and impartial jury trial when it denied his motion to excuse a juror who had failed to disclose that he was acquainted with a State witness; and (4) the trial court erred in sentencing him to life in prison under the Persistent Offender Accountability Act (POAA)2because the State did not produce substantial evidence that he had two prior bank robbery convictions. In his Statement of Additional Grounds (SAG), Lar asserts that the trial court erred during voir dire by conducting an "inadequate inquiry" into the possible prejudicial effect that adverse pretrial publicity might have had on the jury pool. SAG at 1. We affirm.
Around 6:30 am on January 25, 2010, Holly Weitz arrived at the Twin Star Credit Union in Centralia to begin her opening shift as a bank teller. When Weitz approached the bank's parking lot, she saw fellow employee Esperanza Mejia-Tellez waiting in her vehicle. The credit union's opening procedures required Weitz to call Mejia-Tellez on her cell phone and then to enter the building, turn off the security system, turn on the bank's lights, and eventually tell Mejia-Tellez by cell phone that she could safely enter the building.
After Weitz parked her car, she established a cell phone connection with Mejia-Tellez, entered the credit union's side entrance, and disarmed the alarm. She heard a noise that sounded like "wind" coming from the assistant manager's office. Verbatim Reports of Proceedings (VRP) (March 25, 2010) at 23. She went to investigate, pushed open the door to the office, turned on the light, and saw a man wearing dark clothing with a ski mask over his face crouched in the corner. According to Weitz, the man was about 6'3" tall and approximately 60 years old. Although the mask covered most of his face, Weitz noticed his unusually blue eyes and white stubble on his upper lip. He appeared to be holding a handgun in his right hand and a knife in hisleft hand. The man, later identified as Michael Anthony Lar, rushed toward Weitz and hit her on the back of the head with a metal object, which she believed was his handgun. Weitz screamed and dropped her cell phone. Lar held his gun to the back of her head, placed his knife on her throat, told her not to touch her cell phone, and threatened to take her hostage if she "screwed" anything up for him. VRP (March 25, 2010) at 26.
Weitz explained that she needed to talk to Mejia-Tellez, who otherwise would immediately call the police. Lar handed Weitz her cell phone. Weitz tried to call Mejia-Tellez four or five times, but she was so upset that she misdialed and was unable to get a call through. Lar took Weitz to the side entrance of the building and told her to stick her head outside and to wave for Mejia-Tellez to come inside, while pointing his gun at Weitz's head and telling her, "[Y]ou better not [f*ck] this up, [b*tch or] I'll take you with me." VRP (March 25, 2010) at 29. Weitz opened the side door and waived her cell phone at Mejia-Tellez, beckoning her inside.
Mejia-Tellez did not respond because she had already called the police. Weitz noticed Centralia Police Officer Neil Hoium with a gun, approaching on the right side of the credit union. Holding her thumb and index finger in the shape of a "gun," Weitz mouthed silently to Hoium that a male intruder inside had a gun. VRP (March 25, 2010) at 111. Hoium grabbed Weitz's arm and pulled her out of the doorway. According to Hoium, a male figure inside the credit union appeared out of the shadows holding what appeared to be a .45 caliber handgun. Hoium fired two shots at the man, who disappeared from view.
About five minutes later, officers established a perimeter around the credit union; theythen spent several hours trying to establish communication with Lar, whom they believed was inside. Eventually two SWAT teams stormed the building, but Lar was not there. Police officers searched the bank and the surrounding area with a K-9 unit, which found no trace of the suspect and no additional evidence. Processing the scene inside the credit union, detectives found a broken window in the assistant manager's office, blood on the window frame and wall, and glass shards with what appeared to be blood on them below the window.
Later that same evening, Kimberly Ronnell observed a man walking down the street near her house a couple blocks from the credit union: He was "average" size with blonde or grayish hair, wearing a dark jacket and jeans, limping, holding his side, and looking "groggy." VRP (March 26, 2010) at 68. As Ronnell pulled into her front driveway, the man asked her to call him a taxi so he could go to Olympia; she did. A few minutes later, taxi driver Joey McKnight picked up Lar in front of Ronnell's house. Lar was wearing jeans and a coat and carrying a gray shoulder bag; he insisted on sitting in the back seat. According to McKnight, Lar wore black gloves, which he did not remove, even when paying for his fare. Lar told McKnight that he had hurt his arm in a car accident in Chehalis; but he did not ask to stop for treatment, even when McKnight picked up another passenger at the Centralia hospital on the way to Olympia. After delivering Lar to "Peppers,"3 a bar in downtown Olympia, McKnight noticed that Lar was carrying a pair of bloody jeans and duct tape; McKnight called the Centralia Police Department, to which he had provided tips, and provided a description of Lar.
Around 8:45 pm, Lar walked into the Phoenix Inn, four blocks from Peppers, and askedthe front desk attendant, Emma Alexander, to call him a taxi to go to Seattle or as "far north as possible." VRP (March 26, 2010) at 82. According to Alexander, Lar was wearing black workout pants, leather shoes, a dark navy-blue jacket, and a black glove on his right hand. He had blood splotches on his clothing, a pair of denim jeans wrapped around his right arm, and a roll of duct tape. Lar told Alexander that he had injured his arm in a car accident in Chehalis. Although Lar appeared to be in extreme pain, he repeatedly told Alexander not to call paramedics to assist him because he did not have health insurance. Alexander arranged for a taxi to take Lar to Sea-Tac Airport. Around 9:05 pm, a white taxi with a red top picked Lar up at the inn. Lar conversed with the taxi driver for about five minutes before entering the cab.
Another Phoenix Inn employee, Crystal Schultz, called the Olympia Police Department and provided a description of Lar and the taxi. At approximately 9:15 pm, six or seven blocks from the inn, Olympia Police Officer Jacob Brown spotted a taxi matching this description, drove behind the taxi, and noticed a white male with "lightish or gray hair" crouched in the back seat. VRP (March 26, 2010) at 135. Earlier in the day, the Olympia Police Department had briefed Brown about the attempted Centralia credit union robbery; and dispatch had informed him that they suspected the man Schultz had reported to have been involved. Brown called for backup.
The Olympia police shut down the street, conducted a "high risk" stop, pulled Lar out of the taxi at gunpoint, and put him face down on the sidewalk. VRP (March 26, 2010) at 136. According to Brown, Olympia police "detained" Lar and put him in handcuffs. VRP (March 26, 2010) at 143. Centralia police officers, also present, (1) observed that Lar had "blue"4 eyes; thathe was wearing "layers,"5 including black sweats and a jacket; that he appeared to have wounded his arm; and that he was holding duct tape and a pair of jeans; (2) "arrested" Lar; and (3) took him to the Olympia police station, where police confiscated several layers of his clothing and photographed his injuries. Because Lar had gunshot wounds to his arm and to his hip, they had him transported to the hospital.
Lar spent several days hospitalized under heavy sedation, restrained to his bed. As he drifted in and out of consciousness that first evening, Centralia police officers discussed with him aspects of the attempted robbery without first reading him Miranda6 rights. At one point, Lar told Detective Carl Buster that he did not want to talk; and Buster stopped discussing the case with Lar. Later, however, according to Officer Gary Byrnes, before the officers engaged in any overt questioning, Lar volunteered the following information: (1) he was "going to prison for the rest of his life"7; (2) he was not mad at the officer who had shot him; and (3) if the girl at the credit union had done what he had told her, none of this would have happened.
Early the next morning, at approximately 1:00 am, Byrnes read Lar his Miranda rights for the first time at the hospital. According to Byrnes, Lar indicated that he understood his rights, said that he did not want any attorneys to visit him, reiterated that he was not angry at the officer who had shot him, described how he had carried out the attempted robbery and how he hadeluded the police, and explained that he had hidden in the bushes near at the north end of the credit union until around 6:00 pm, when the police left. Lar also explained that he then had buried his gun across the street from the credit union, had looked...
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