State v. Watson

• Decision Date: 05 April 2007
• Docket Number: No. 78052-8.,78052-8.
• Citation: 160 Wn.2d 1,154 P.3d 909
• Parties: STATE of Washington, Respondent, v. Eric Albert WATSON, Petitioner.
• Court: Washington Supreme Court

154 P.3d 909

160 Wn.2d 1

STATE of Washington, Respondent, v. Eric Albert WATSON, Petitioner.

No. 78052-8.

Supreme Court of Washington, En Banc.

Argued November 14, 2006.

Decided April 5, 2007.

Rebecca Wold Bouchey, Attorney at Law, Mercer Island, WA, for Petitioner.

Alicia Marie Burton, Pierce County Prosecutors Office, Tacoma, WA, for Respondent.

ALEXANDER, C.J.

¶ 1 Eric Albert Watson seeks reversal of his conviction for failure to register as a sex offender. Watson claims that the sex offender registration statute, RCW 9A.44.130, is unconstitutionally vague because it is unclear whether an offender must reregister upon release from incarceration, when incarceration was due to probation violations and the offender returned to the same address at which he or she had previously registered. We reject this argument because the statute, when combined with existing case law available to citizens, is sufficiently clear to provide the notice required under the due process clause of what conduct it requires. Thus, we affirm Watson's conviction.

I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶ 2 The parties stipulated to the facts of this case. In 1993, Watson was convicted of child molestation in the first degree, a crime that requires registration as a sex offender. Watson was informed "on several occasions . . . of both his duty to register as a sex offender and the requirements set forth in RCW 9A.44.130."¹ Clerk's Papers (CP) at 36. Watson was released from prison into community custody in January 2003. At that time, he registered with the Pierce County Sheriff's Department, giving his address as 7807 304th Street East, Graham, Washington.

¶ 3 On May 27, 2003, Watson was convicted of three community custody violations and sentenced to serve an additional 60 days in jail. On July 2, 2003, he was released from jail, having completed his sentence for the violations. There is no indication in the record that Watson was instructed by law enforcement to register again as a sex offender. Watson returned to his residence at 7807 304th Street East and did not reregister within 24 hours.²

¶ 4 Watson was subsequently charged with failure to register as a sex offender. He moved to dismiss the charges, alleging that the State lacked sufficient evidence to prove each element of his crime. Watson based his motion on the contention that the sex offender registration statute does not require reregistration when a sex offender returns to the same residence after incarceration for probation violations. The trial court denied the motion. Watson then waived his right to a jury trial, and a bench trial was held on the stipulated facts. The trial court found Watson guilty of failure to register and sentenced him to 30 days in jail, with credit for 31 days served.

¶ 5 Watson appealed his conviction to the Court of Appeals, arguing that the registration statute was unconstitutionally vague as to whether it required reregistration upon release from incarceration for probation violations. The Court of Appeals affirmed Watson's conviction. It rejected Watson's argument that the statute was vague or ambiguous, concluding that "[a] reasonable person would understand that later restraint based on probation violations was a continuing consequence of the original offense," requiring registration under the statute at issue. State v. Watson, 130 Wash.App. 376, 380, 122 P.3d 939 (2005). Watson then petitioned this court to accept discretionary review, and we granted the petition. State v. Watson, 157 Wash.2d 1016, 142 P.3d 608 (2006).

II. ANALYSIS

¶ 6 "The constitutionality of a statute . . . is an issue of law, which we review de novo." Kitsap County v. Mattress Outlet, 153 Wash.2d 506, 509, 104 P.3d 1280 (2005) (citing Ino Ino, Inc. v. City of Bellevue, 132 Wash.2d 103, 114, 937 P.2d 154, 943 P.2d 1358 (1997)). "If the statute does not involve First Amendment rights, then the vagueness challenge is to be evaluated by examining the statute as applied under the particular facts of the case." State v. Coria, 120 Wash.2d 156, 163, 839 P.2d 890 (1992) (citing City of Spokane v. Douglass, 115 Wash.2d 171, 182, 795 P.2d 693 (1990)). Because the sex offender registration statute does not involve First Amendment rights, we evaluate its constitutionality as applied to Watson.

¶ 7 We have repeatedly laid out the test for whether a statute is unconstitutionally vague:

"`Under the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, a statute is void for vagueness if either: (1) the statute "does not define the criminal offense with sufficient definiteness that ordinary people can understand what conduct is proscribed"; or (2) the statute "does not provide ascertainable standards of guilt to protect against arbitrary enforcement."'"

State v. Williams, 144 Wash.2d 197, 203, 26 P.3d 890 (2001) (quoting City of Bellevue v. Lorang, 140 Wash.2d 19, 30, 992 P.2d 496 (2000) (quoting State v. Halstien, 122 Wash.2d 109, 117, 857 P.2d 270 (1993) (quoting Douglass, 115 Wash.2d at 178, 795 P.2d 693)))). Watson challenges the sex offender registration statute only on the first of these grounds.

¶ 8 The due process clause of the fourteenth amendment to the United States Constitution requires statutes to provide fair notice of the conduct they proscribe. Papachristou v. City of Jacksonville, 405 U.S. 156, 162, 92 S.Ct. 839, 31 L.Ed.2d 110 (1972); United States v. Harriss, 347 U.S. 612, 617, 74 S.Ct. 808, 98 L.Ed. 989 (1954); Lanzetta v. New Jersey, 306 U.S. 451, 453, 59 S.Ct. 618, 83 L.Ed. 888 (1939); Connally v. Gen. Constr. Co., 269 U.S. 385, 391-93, 46 S.Ct. 126, 70 L.Ed. 322 (1926); Halstien, 122 Wash.2d at 118, 857 P.2d 270; Coria, 120 Wash.2d at 163, 839 P.2d 890; Douglass, 115 Wash.2d at 182, 795 P.2d 693. To this end, the language of a penal statute "must be sufficiently explicit to inform those who are subject to it what conduct on their part will render them liable to its penalties." Connally, 269 U.S. at 391, 46 S.Ct. 126. The United States Supreme Court has explained, "The underlying principle is that no man shall be held criminally responsible for conduct which he could not reasonably understand to be proscribed." Harriss, 347 U.S. at 617, 74 S.Ct. 808; see also Douglass, 115 Wash.2d at 178, 795 P.2d 693. A statute fails to provide the required notice if it "either forbids or requires the doing of an act in terms so vague that men of common intelligence must necessarily guess at its meaning and differ as to its application." Connally, 269 U.S. at 391, 46 S.Ct. 126 (citing Collins v. Kentucky, 234 U.S. 634, 638, 34 S.Ct. 924, 58 L.Ed. 1510 (1914); Int'l Harvester Co. v. Kentucky, 234 U.S. 216, 221, 34 S.Ct. 853, 58 L.Ed. 1284 (1914)); see also Coria, 120 Wash.2d at 163, 839 P.2d 890 (quoting Douglass, 115 Wash.2d at 179, 795 P.2d 693); Haley v. Med. Disciplinary Bd., 117 Wash.2d 720, 739, 818 P.2d 1062 (1991) (quoting Connally, 269 U.S. at 391, 46 S.Ct. 126).

¶ 9 We have noted, however, that "[s]ome measure of vagueness is inherent in the use of language." Haley, 117 Wash.2d at 740, 818 P.2d 1062. Because of this, we do not require "`impossible standards of specificity or absolute agreement.'" Coria, 120 Wash.2d at 163, 839 P.2d 890 (quoting Douglass, 115 Wash.2d at 179, 795 P.2d 693); Haley, 117 Wash.2d at 740, 818 P.2d 1062; see also Am. Dog Owners Ass'n v. City of Yakima, 113 Wash.2d 213, 215, 777 P.2d 1046 (1989); City of Seattle v. Eze, 111 Wash.2d 22, 26, 759 P.2d 366 (1988) (citing Kolender v. Lawson, 461 U.S. 352, 361, 103 S.Ct. 1855, 75 L.Ed.2d 903 (1983)). "`[V]agueness in the constitutional sense is not mere uncertainty.'" Douglass, 115 Wash.2d at 179, 795 P.2d 693 (quoting State v. Smith, 111 Wash.2d 1, 10, 759 P.2d 372 (1988)). Thus, "`a statute is not unconstitutionally vague merely because a person cannot predict with complete certainty the exact point at which his [or her] actions would be classified as prohibited conduct.'" Halstien, 122 Wash.2d at 118, 857 P.2d 270 (alteration in original) (quoting Eze, 111 Wash.2d at 27, 759 P.2d 366). Instead, a statute meets constitutional requirements "[i]f persons of ordinary intelligence can understand what the ordinance proscribes, notwithstanding some possible areas of disagreement." Douglass, 115 Wash.2d at 179, 795 P.2d 693 (citing State v. Motherwell, 114 Wash.2d 353, 369, 788 P.2d 1066 (1990)).

¶ 10 RCW 9A.44.130(4)(a)(i) requires, in relevant part:

Sex offenders who committed a sex offense on, before, or after February 28, 1990, and who, on or after July 28, 1991, are in custody, as a result of that offense, of the state department of corrections, ... or a local jail ... must register at the time of release from custody with an official designated by the agency that has jurisdiction over the offender The offender must also register within twenty-four hours from the time of release with the county sheriff for the county of the person's residence....

It is clear from the statute that convicted sex offenders must register upon release from custody, if they were in custody "as a result of" the sex offense that triggered the applicability of the statute. Watson does not dispute this. Rather, he argues that the statute is ambiguous about whether reregistration is required when a sex offender was in custody due to violating conditions of his or her community custody for the sex offense.

¶ 11 Because of the inherent vagueness of language, citizens may need to utilize other statutes and court rulings to clarify the meaning of a statute. Douglass, 115 Wash.2d at 180, 795 P.2d 693. Such sources are considered "`[p]resumptively available to all citizens.'" Id. (quoting Smith, 111 Wash.2d at 7, 759 P.2d 372). Several sources are available that shed additional light on the sex offender registration statute and its application to offenders in Watson's position, including case law regarding the nature of incarceration for probation violations and the legislature's explanation of the statute's purpose.

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