State v. Rodgers
| Decision Date | 28 March 2002 |
| Docket Number | No. 70735-9.,70735-9. |
| Court | Washington Supreme Court |
| Parties | STATE of Washington, Respondent, v. Jesse Lee RODGERS, Petitioner. State of Washington, Petitioner, v. Eddie James Locklear, Respondent. |
Kevin R. Cole, Seattle, Linda J. King, Steilacoom, for Petitioner.
Gerald Horne, Pierce County Prosecutor, John Christopher Hillman, Deputy, Michael Lee Sommerfeld, Deputy, Kathleen Proctor, Deputy, for Respondent.
At the conclusion of a bench trial in Pierce County Superior Court, the trial judge found codefendants Eddie James Locklear and Jesse Lee Rodgers each guilty of violating RCW 9A.36.045, the crime of drive by shooting. The stipulated facts that were presented to the trial court at Locklear's and Rodgers' joint trial revealed that the criminal enterprise that ultimately led to their conviction had its inception when Julie Ishaq enlisted the defendants to "shoot up" the home of Locklear's former girl friend, Celia Vela. Clerk's Papers (Locklear) at 45. In furtherance of this plan, Ishaq drove Locklear and Rodgers to the "area of town" where Celia Vela lived, parking her car two blocks from Vela's home. Id. Locklear and Rodgers then got out of Ishaq's car, armed with a .12 gauge shotgun and a .30-.30 caliber rifle, and walked the two blocks to Vela's house. From that location they each "intentionally fired several shots into the Vela household." Id. at 46. Following the shooting Rodgers and Locklear ran back to Ishaq's parked car. Ishaq then drove the "vehicle away carrying the shooters and the firearms used in the crime." Id. The stipulated facts were adopted by the trial court and reduced to findings of fact. Based on these facts, the trial court concluded that Locklear and Rodgers each discharged a firearm from the "immediate area" of the vehicle driven by Ishaq. Id. at 47.
Although Locklear and Rodgers separately appealed their convictions to the Court of Appeals, Division Two, that court consolidated their appeals. The trial court's findings of fact were not challenged on appeal. Following argument, the Court of Appeals vacated Rodgers' conviction in an order in which it concluded that Rodgers had not been charged with any crime. Pet. for Review App. A. In doing so, the Court of Appeals noted that the State had initially charged Ishaq, Locklear, and Rodgers with drive-by shooting but later amended the information to allege that only Locklear committed the crime. The Court of Appeals also observed in its order that "the State conceded that it had not alleged a valid charge against Rodgers." Id. at 2. The Court of Appeals reversed Locklear's conviction concluding that the drive-by shooting statute was unconstitutionally vague as applied to the facts of the case.
We granted the State's petition to review the Court of Appeals' decision reversing Locklear's conviction. We also granted Locklear's cross-petition for review in which he contended that the Court of Appeals erred in not considering his challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence to support the conviction and in not remanding to the trial court for an order dismissing the drive-by shooting charge. In addition, we granted Rodgers' petition for review in which he contends that the Court of Appeals erred in declining to consider his arguments that the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction and that the statute was unconstitutional as applied to him.1
We affirm the Court of Appeals' decision in State v. Rodgers, concluding that it did not err in declining to consider Rodgers' arguments that the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction and that the drive-by shooting statute was unconstitutionally applied. In State v. Locklear, we conclude that the Court of Appeals erred in not remanding to the trial court to dismiss Locklear's conviction based on insufficiency of the evidence.
Rodgers asserts that because his conviction for drive-by shooting was merely vacated, the State is not precluded from recharging him with that offense. He contends, therefore, that the Court of Appeals erred in not addressing his challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence upon which his conviction was based. The flaw in this argument is that Rodgers was not validly charged with drive-by shooting because the amended information did not contain an allegation that he committed the offense. Indeed, that holding of the Court of Appeals has not been assailed by Rodgers. Because Rodgers was not charged with the offense of drive-by shooting, the Court of Appeals was justified in concluding that the subject matter jurisdiction of the court had not been invoked and that Rodgers' conviction, should, therefore, be vacated. Having properly dismissed the charge for that reason, the Court of Appeals was correct in not going further to reach Rodgers' argument that the evidence supporting his conviction on the uncharged offense was insufficient. In short, a court may not consider a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence supporting a conviction for an offense that was not validly charged.
In the event that the State should charge Rodgers with drive-by shooting and obtain a conviction based on evidence that is consistent with the aforementioned stipulated facts, he is, of course, free to reassert his challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence as well as any claim he may have that his rights under the United States and Washington Constitutions to not be tried twice for the same offense have been violated.
Locklear's contention is that the Court of Appeals erred in reversing his conviction on constitutional grounds rather than for insufficiency of the evidence. His position, in this regard, is significantly different from that of Rodgers' because Locklear was properly charged in the amended information with the crime of drive-by shooting. The Court of Appeals' failure to address his sufficiency of the evidence claim, he argues, deprives him of "his just remedy on appeal." Br. of Cross Pet'r at 8.
If the evidence against Locklear was not sufficient to support the trial court's conclusion that he was guilty of drive-by shooting, then he is correct in asserting that the Court of Appeals erred in not addressing the issue. That is so because "[i]f there is insufficient evidence to support a conviction, the Double Jeopardy Clause requires reversal and remand for judgment of dismissal with prejudice." Br. of Cross Pet'r at 5 (citing Burks v. United States, 437 U.S. 1, 17-18, 98 S.Ct. 2141, 57 L.Ed.2d 1 (1978)). Furthermore, it is a well-established rule of judicial restraint that the issue of the constitutionality of a statute will not be passed upon if the case can be decided without reaching that issue. State v. Peterson, 133 Wash.2d 885, 894, 948 P.2d 381 (1997) (Talmadge, J., concurring). A challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence to support a conviction is obviously not a challenge to the constitutionality of the statute.
As we have observed above, the facts in State v. Locklear were all set forth in a stipulation that was agreed to by the State and Locklear and these facts were adopted by the trial court in its findings of fact. As noted above, these...
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