State v. Santos
| Decision Date | 30 April 2020 |
| Docket Number | No. 36069-5-III,36069-5-III |
| Parties | STATE OF WASHINGTON, Respondent, v. SANTIAGO ALBERTO SANTOS, Appellant. |
| Court | Washington Court of Appeals |
FEARING, J. — We affirm Santiago Santos's conviction for second degree murder, but remand to vacate some financial obligations.
Santiago Santos appeals his conviction and sentence for the November 15, 2015, killing of Manuel Jaime. Santos then lived with his mother in a Grandview house located on the same street as the residence of Manuel Jaime. In November 2015, Santos worked the night shift at a Prosser warehouse.
Because Santiago Santos claims diminished capacity, we recount some of his history and characteristics. According to Maria Santos, Santiago's mother, Santiago lived a different life. Santiago did not desire company, and he disliked sunlight to the extent he placed sheets over the home's windows. Sometimes Maria heard Santiago, alone in his bedroom, talking and laughing. Santiago occasionally told his mother that others sought to injure him, he housed a tumor in his head, he suffered internal bleeding, and he contracted a sexually transmitted disease from his girlfriend.
Medical records introduced as exhibits at trial showed that, in June 2014, Santiago Santos told medical providers: " " Ex. 206 at 8 (some capitalization omitted). The treating physician apparently questioned the self-diagnosis because the physician only diagnosed a headache and prescribed pain medication. In early July 2014, Santos returned to the hospital, where he informed medical providers that he engaged in intercourse with a female without protection and that he wanted treatment for symptoms resulting from a sexually transmitted disease. Records, however, list no diagnosis of a sexually transmitted disease. In August 2014, Santos went to the emergency room and complained of severe pain in his spleen. The emergency room physician diagnosed Santos with gastritis.
For two years before his death on November 15, 2014, Manuel Jaime, with a criminal record, worked for money as a confidential informant for a drug task force. The task force had recently employed Jaime to conduct a controlled buy of narcotics from an individual named "Fajardo." 7 Report of Proceedings (RP) at 623, 646-47. The buy led to Fajardo's arrest and prosecution.
We begin the facts of the slaying of Manuel Jaime from the perspective of ear witness, twelve-year-old Andrew Fernandez, a pseudonym. On November 14, 2014, Andrew, five siblings, and one cousin enjoyed a sleepover at Andrew's Grandview home. Andrew lived at the residence with his mother, grandmother, and uncle, Manuel Jaime. That evening, Andrew's mother worked a night shift, and his grandmother visited Texas.
Appellant Santiago Santos had seen, before November 14, 2015, children playing in Manuel Jaime's yard. He knew Andrew Fernandez and other children lived in the home. Santos testified at trial:
They stayed there and lived there. It's obvious. It's obvious.
Andrew Fernandez fell asleep around 9:00 p.m. and awoke shortly before 3:00 a.m. Andrew heard a loud thump as if something fell to the ground. He then heard his uncle, Manuel Jaime, crying. While Jaime sobbed, Andrew heard a voice, which he recognized as Santiago Santos's voice, say 5 RP at 383. Andrew knew Santos from earlier contact. Santos told Jaime that Jaime owed him something, while Santos mentioned the name "Fajardo." 5 RP at 383.
Andrew Fernandez panicked, awoke the other sleeping children in the room, and tried to open the bedroom window. The window would not open. Minutes later, a frightened Fernandez retrieved his phone from his backpack and called law enforcement. Fernandez told the 911 operator that someone was harming his uncle, and he asked for help.
According to Andrew Fernandez, Santiago Santos used the residence's restroom next door to the room in which the children had slept. Santos returned to the room in which Manuel Jaime lay, and remarked: "I'm going to come back for your family." 5 RP at 383.
When officers arrived at the Grandview residence, they found Manuel Jaime lying near the front doorway of the home and bleeding profusely. While fearing the culprit might flee from the residence, Grandview Police Officer John Arraj circled the house and observed a man, later identified as Santiago Santos, through a bedroom window. Officer Arraj illuminated Santos with his flashlight, and Santos immediately drooped to the floor. Arraj returned to the residence's doorway, entered the abode, and hurried past a bloodyJaime. Arraj found Santos lying face down with his fingers interlaced behind his head. Officer Arraj secured Santos in handcuffs and escorted him from the home.
Officer John Arraj swept the house for more victims and found the seven children inside a bedroom. Officer Arraj instructed the youths to stay inside the bedroom, and he closed the door. Officer Arraj and other officers then provided medical aid to Manuel Jaime. Jaime suffered from numerous stab wounds, puncture wounds to his chest, and a large incision in his abdomen. Officers heard sucking noises. Jaime pled with officers: "let's go; let's go; let's go." 5 RP at 448. Officer Arraj concluded that Jaime would likely die from blood loss, so Arraj asked Jaime who stabbed him. Jaime replied: "Santiago." 5 RP at 449. Officer Arraj asked a second time, and Jaime answered again: "Santiago." 5 RP at 449. Officer Arraj questioned: "Santiago who's in the house?" 5 RP at 449. Jaime responded yes. 5 RP at 449. Andrew Fernandez overheard the officers questioning his uncle Manuel Jaime, and the twelve-year-old heard his uncle say "Santiago." 5 RP at 387-88. Medics transported Jaime to the hospital, where he perished less than one hour later.
Grandview Police Officer Jose Martin assisted at the crime scene. In a bedroom closet, Officer Martin found a bloody folding knife located on top of a stack of books.
Officer John Arraj transported Santiago Santos to the Grandview Police Department. He collected Santos's clothing and took photographs of Santos while in his cell. Santos wore four sets of underwear. Santos bore blood on his hands, clothing, and boots. Officer Travis Shepard assisted Officer Arraj in evidence gathering and found blood on Santos's arms and shoulders. The officers took blood swabs from various parts of Santos's body.
After leaving the jail cell, Officer John Arraj realized he mistakenly left the camera in the jail cell. When Arraj returned to the cell, he found the camera placed in the cuffing port of the cell. Santiago Santos remarked to Arraj: "you left something behind." 5 RP at 453. Officer Arraj discovered the camera's memory card missing and the photos of Santos deleted. During his contact with Santos, Officer Arraj never smelled intoxicants.
Police officers took the children sleeping at the Grandview home with Andrew Fernandez to the Grandview police station. Alma Guillen, Manuel Jaime's sister and Andrew Fernandez's aunt, retrieved her ten-year-old daughter and the six other children from the station. She found her daughter in tears, distraught, and fearful. According to Guillen, her daughter, the daughter's cousins, and Guillen herself thereafter "had problems" returning to the Grandview home.
Later during the morning of November 15, 2014, officers served a warrant on Santiago Santos in order to swab his mouth for DNA. Detective Mitchell Fairchild audio and video recorded the interaction. Officers also sought to interview Santos.
Before questioning Santiago Santos, Detective Mitchell Fairchild read Santos the Miranda warnings. In reply, Santos requested an attorney. Officers ceased all questioning of Santos and served the warrant. Detective Fairchild read the DNA search warrant in its entirety to Santos. The warrant read, in part, that the DNA evidence was "material to the prosecution of homicide the result of the death of Manuel Ezequiel Jaime." Ex. 208 at 1. Fairchild asked Santos if Santos understood the warrant. Santos sat silent. Fairchild requested that Santos swab the inside of a cheek. Santos remained momentarily quiet. Then Santos commented: "I don't see no signature of no judge on this." Ex. 208 at 2. Detective Fairchild explained that he had garnered the warrant telephonically. After a colloquy concerning the validity of the warrant, Santos swabbed his mouth.
Jeffrey Reynolds, a forensic pathologist, performed an autopsy on Manuel Jaime. Dr. Reynolds counted 59 stab wounds and an unspecified number of smaller superficial injuries. Nearly all wounds were above the waist, with most being on Jaime's back and sides of the chest. A severe wound to Jaime's abdomen exposed some internal organs. To his surprise, Reynolds found no defensive wounds. Dr. Reynolds concluded thatJaime bled to death. The autopsy also revealed that Manuel Jaime had more than one milligram per liter of ketamine in his system at the time of death.
Law enforcement sent the blood stained knife found in the Grandview residence to the Washington State Patrol Crime Laboratory, where forensic testing revealed a fingerprint matching Santiago Santos's print. The testing also detected the presence of Manuel Jaime's blood. The laboratory also confirmed the presence of Manuel Jaime's DNA on Santos's shirt. The laboratory never completed a DNA analysis of the buccal swabs from Santos's mouth.
Law enforcement officers interviewed Andrew Fernandez on the day of the slaying. Officers also interviewed Andrew on another unidentified day. By the time of the later interview, Andrew had calmed down. Still, a school counselor attended the interview with Andrew to provide him support.
The State of Washington charged Santiago Santos with murder in the first degree and, in the alternative, murder in the second...
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