State v. Peerson

• Decision Date: 09 September 1991
• Docket Number: No. 24516-3-I,24516-3-I
• Citation: 816 P.2d 43,62 Wn.App. 755
• Court: Washington Court of Appeals
• Parties: STATE of Washington, Respondent, v. Rick Melvin PEERSON, Appellant.

Page 755

62 Wn.App. 755

816 P.2d 43

STATE of Washington, Respondent, v. Rick Melvin PEERSON, Appellant.

No. 24516-3-I.

Court of Appeals of Washington,

Division 1.

Sept. 9, 1991.

Review Denied Jan. 8, 1992.

Washington Appellate Defender, Patricia Novotny, Seattle, for appellant.

Norm Maleng, King County Pros. Atty., Theresa Fricke, Seattle, for respondent.

AGID, Judge.

The State charged Rick Melvin Peerson with two counts of first degree assault and two counts of aggravated first degree murder, alleging as the aggravating circumstance that on or about November 25, 1986, Peerson assaulted Mack Smith and Rick Damiano and murdered Thomas Mott and Roger Fox as part of a "common scheme or plan." Peerson was convicted on all four counts. He appeals, challenging (1) the trial court's entry of judgment despite arguably inconsistent jury verdicts, (2) the sufficiency of the "to-convict" jury instructions, (3) the trial court's admission of incriminating statements Peerson made while in police custody, and (4) "prior bad act" evidence admitted under ER 404(b) and ER 403. We affirm.

Peerson made his living selling marijuana to retail buyers in South King County. His main suppliers were Ron Anderson, Mark Diemert, Blade Dufor and Roger Fox. ¹ Peerson was very familiar with these growers. He knew that Fox and Diemert operated large grow operations in their basements and that Anderson operated an extensive grow business in two Woodinville houses. ² Peerson had been to the ranch house and had also worked on occasion at Fox's house. All the growers with whom Peerson did business were closely connected with each other. Anderson met Fox and Diemert through Dufor and helped all three start their own grow operations. Although Anderson, Diemert, Dufor and Fox operated their grow houses independently, Anderson described them as a "loose knit family", helping each other out when they needed it.

In May 1986, Peerson was in an automobile accident in which he and his two young children were seriously injured. Having incurred substantial medical bills, Peerson's financial situation severely declined, and he became desperate for money. After the accident, Anderson, Dufor, Fox and Diemert decided not to do business with Peerson any longer, both because Peerson had failed to pay Anderson for some marijuana and because his behavior had been bizarre since the accident.

In August 1986, ³ Peerson telephoned Diemert, asking if he had any marijuana for sale. Diemert told him that he had none and was getting out of the business. Peerson verbally threatened Diemert and said that he was after Dufor and Anderson as well. A few minutes later, Peerson appeared at Diemert's house, armed with an Uzi, and directed him to lie on the floor. He then handcuffed and tied up Diemert and kicked him in the face. Peerson threatened that, "if we were going [to] cut him off and use him like that, that he was going to kill us, all of us, for doing that." He also expressed his anger toward Dufor and Anderson, telling Diemert, "that he was going to call them both and get them both over there and then kill us all." Peerson tried to call Dufor and Anderson, but got no answer. He kept Diemert and Mark, ⁴ who had stopped by, on the floor for 3 hours. According to Diemert, Peerson was "enraged" and "out of control". Peerson finally left after Diemert and Mark each promised to give him $5,000.

As soon as Peerson left the house, Diemert, emotionally distraught, left his home and never returned. Two days later, Peerson telephoned Mark's house and asked for the $5,000. Diemert spoke with Peerson and told him hewould give him nothing. Peerson replied, "I guess I should have killed you when I had the chance." He told Diemert and Mark that he would kill their family members and then kill them. Diemert and Dufor immediately packed their belongings and moved back to California. ⁵

Peerson later called Anderson twice, demanding that he get Diemert and Mark to drop the charges they had filed against him. He also wanted their telephone numbers. He threatened to have everyone arrested and killed in prison. Frightened by his threats, Anderson immediately left his house and moved into a security condominium. Although he was concerned for his own safety, Anderson decided to risk another crop for the money. He closed up the big house and took special security precautions at the ranch house. He hired Damiano to manage the ranch house crop and gave him a description of Peerson. Smith and Mott continued to work for Anderson at the ranch house as well.

On November 25, 1986, Smith, Damiano and Mott were at the ranch house. Mott left the ranch house at 7:15 p.m. in a white GMC pickup truck that belonged to Anderson. Around 9 p.m., Smith and Damiano heard a loud noise. Smith discovered that a basement window had been broken. While Smith was calling Anderson about the break-in, Damiano saw someone walk by the front door and then heard someone banging on the door, yelling "Police. Police. This is a raid." Smith recognized the voice as Peerson's.

Although Smith never got a good look at the man's face, he identified Peerson at trial as the attacker. ⁶ Damiano testified that the attacker struck him in the head with a large crescent wrench, and a struggle ensued. Smith chased the attacker outside with a stove poker, but he soon returned swinging a large metal sprinkler attached to a hose. Both men escaped, Damiano out of a second story window. He landed on broken glass, injuring his arm.

The two men fled in Smith's van, passing Anderson's white GMC truck parked along the road. Smith wanted to stop and look for Mott, his stepson, but Damiano was in pain and incoherent and persuaded Smith to keep driving. Smith took Damiano to the hospital, where he received eight stitches for a head wound. Damiano gave a statement to police later that night.

Police found Mott's body in a drainage ditch near Anderson's abandoned white truck. Mott had died from a combination of drowning and a fractured skull. Injuries caused by blows to Mott's head were consistent with the use of a 16-inch crescent wrench. He died sometime between 5 p.m. on November 25 and 5 a.m. on November 26.

A friend of Fox's discovered his body tied up on the stairway of his home. Fox had been bound with ropes and cords in a way that ensured his slow death by strangulation. As the friend ran out of the house, he saw one of Fox's bows on the stairway. He also noticed that Fox's red Chevy truck was not at the house. The police found Fox's body and a large marijuana grow operation in his house. He had been assaulted 20 times with a blunt instrument in his head and face. Fox's lacerations had a "cookie cutter" effect, consistent with blows inflicted by a 16-inch crescent wrench. According to the medical examiner, Fox died between 11 p.m. on November 25 and 4 a.m. on November 26.

On the morning of November 26, Peerson stopped by his friend Major Hixon's apartment. He was driving a new red Chevy pickup truck. As he left Hixon's room, Peerson stated "that there was 97 more people on his list that he was going to kill." He asked his friend Lynn Schultz, who was also there, for some telephone equipment. Schultz and Peerson left together.

Shortly thereafter, Peerson and Schultz arrived at Douglas Wiren's house. Ernie Kitchen and "Tommy" were also there. Wiren, Kitchen and Peerson had been friends for many years. Peerson told them that he had taken the new red truck he was driving from a guy who owed him money in satisfaction of a debt. Wiren or Kitchen instructed Tommy to remove the tires and stereo from the truck. Peerson told Kitchen and Wiren that he had 10 pounds of marijuana at a house in Woodinville. The three men drove to Woodinville in Kitchen's old truck. As they neared the house in Woodinville, they passed a white GMC truck parked along the road. Peerson said that if the truck was still there it was safe to take the marijuana, because the police were not yet involved. He told Kitchen and Wiren that he had burglarized the house and then stashed some marijuana and weapons in the bushes. He went into the woods to retrieve them.

While waiting for Peerson, Wiren and Kitchen noticed a police car driving by. Aware of the police car, Peerson came running out of the bushes and directed his friends to get out of there because, "There is a dead guy in the house." Peerson carried out of the bushes a garbage bag filled with several items, a bow and a 12-gauge shot gun. Peerson then began to tell Kitchen and Wiren how he had assaulted two people and murdered two others. He explained that, after he broke into the house and took the marijuana and weapons he had just retrieved, he returned to the house and waited for the guy to come home from work. When the guy got home, Peerson struck him with a crescent wrench, and then tied him up in a way that he would choke himself to death. He then took some "leaf" and spread it through the house to make it look like a drug-related murder. He assured Kitchen and Wiren that the police would not do much about the murder because it was drug-related.

Peerson also told them that there was another dead man in the ditch next to the white truck. He said he had stopped the truck and claimed to be a narcotics officer. When the guy got out of the truck and put up his hands, Peerson hit him in the head with the crescent wrench. He then dragged him to a ditch and held him under water until he drowned.

Finally, Peerson told them he had attacked two men in another grow house not far away. He had chased them with a hose and sprinkler and had also used the crescent wrench on the man in the house. He said one of the men escaped by jumping out of a window.

After the three returned to Wiren's house, Kitchen drove the red truck to Issaquah and ditched it, according to Peerson's instructions. Peerson gave Wiren some items to hold for him, including the bow, shot gun and garbage bag. In the bag were items from the glove...