State v. Weekly
| Decision Date | 23 February 2022 |
| Docket Number | 53583-1-II |
| Court | Washington Court of Appeals |
| Parties | STATE OF WASHINGTON, Respondent, v. JACOBI LYNN WEEKLY, Appellant. |
UNPUBLISHED OPINION
Jacobi Lynn Weekly physically assaulted his girlfriend, Jasmine Vanguilder, and had sexual intercourse with another woman AI, twice against her will. The State charged him with two counts of second degree rape of AI and one count of second degree assault of Vanguilder. Based on calls he made to Vanguilder from jail, the State later charged Weekly with three counts of witness tampering. The trial court denied Weekly's motions to sever the witness tampering charges and a jury convicted Weekly of all counts. The trial court imposed an exceptional upward sentence of 340 months to life.
Weekly appeals his convictions and sentence. He argues the trial court abused its discretion by denying his motions to sever his offender score includes unconstitutional prior convictions for possession of controlled substances, and the trial court erred by failing to enter written findings supporting the exceptional sentence. He also filed a statement of additional grounds for review (SAG).
We affirm Weekly's convictions, but we reverse his sentence and remand for the trial court to remove his unconstitutional prior convictions from his offender score and resentence him.
AI went to her friend John P. Ingersoll's house in August 2018. The two later drove to a store to purchase cigarettes. At the store, they encountered Weekly and Vanguilder, who did not have a permanent residence at the time. Neither AI nor Ingersoll had met Weekly or Vanguilder before. Ingersoll invited Weekly and Vanguilder to his house.
At Ingersoll's home, Ingersoll, AI, Weekly, and Vanguilder stayed up late into the night talking. Ingersoll and Weekly drank alcohol and the women used methamphetamine together. Over the course of the evening, Weekly bragged that he controlled Vanguilder, that she did whatever he asked, and that he could demand sexual intercourse with her whenever he wanted. AI argued with him about his treatment of Vanguilder.
Early the next morning, Ingersoll went to bed. The three guests remained in his house. Ingersoll was a heavy sleeper and also took medication that helped him sleep. He did not wake until late morning. AI remained at Ingersoll's home after he went to bed because she was afraid Weekly and Vanguilder might steal from Ingersoll while he was sleeping because she had seen them looking through his possessions.
Weekly told Vanguilder to ask whether AI would be interested in having sexual intercourse with both Weekly and Vanguilder. AI declined. Weekly began to move toward Ingersoll's bedroom, and when AI attempted to stop him, they engaged in a struggle that ended when Weekly pushed AI hard enough to knock her to the floor, dislodging and breaking her glasses and hearing aid. After pushing AI to the floor, Weekly had intercourse with her.
Weekly then drove Ingersoll's Jeep to the store and other errands, bringing AI and Vanguilder with him. Weekly and Vanguilder got into several arguments throughout the trip, and Weekly choked Vanguilder in the car in front of AI.
Upon returning to Ingersoll's house, Weekly parked the Jeep in the garage and Vanguilder went into the house. Weekly demanded that AI have intercourse with him, and he threatened to harm Vanguilder further if AI refused. AI complied.
Weekly and Vanguilder then left for an appointment with Weekly's probation officer, again in Ingersoll's Jeep, leaving AI in Ingersoll's house. AI eventually left Ingersoll's house on her motorcycle. Upon reaching her home, she called her husband and told him that she had been raped; her husband called 911.
After an interview with police, AI went to the hospital for a forensic sexual assault examination. She had multiple bruises and lacerations, and the nurse collected swabs for DNA testing.
The State charged Weekly with two counts of second degree rape in August 2018. At his arraignment, he was ordered not to contact Vanguilder, AI, or Ingersoll. Weekly made 140 calls from jail to Vanguilder between August 2018 and March 2019. In the calls, he asked Vanguilder to come to court to testify for him, as well as speak to police and his attorney to "[l]et the motherf[*****]s know what happened," and he asked her what she had told investigators. Clerk's Papers (CP) at 203. In one call, Weekly told Vanguilder that "you wouldn't be talking to me like this, b[****], if I was out there, because you know I would smack the fire out of you." CP at 231-32. In another call, he told Vanguilder to tell AI to "clean that s[***] up" and to threaten to tell AI's husband that AI was having an affair with Ingersoll and using methamphetamine. Verbatim Report of Proceedings (VRP) (May 22, 2019) at 1595. Weekly also told Vanguilder to inform Ingersoll that Weekly and '"his people'" knew where Ingersoll lived. Id. at 1598.
The State amended the charges against Weekly on March 15, 2019 to include two counts of second degree rape of AI, one count of second degree assault of Vanguilder, and three counts of witness tampering involving Vanguilder, AI, and Ingersoll. Our record does not indicate when Weekly was arraigned on the amended information.
Weekly moved pretrial to sever the witness tampering charges from the rape and assault charges. Weekly argued that his consent defense to the rapes and his general denial defense to the witness tampering conflicted and that the evidence for the two sets of charges was not cross admissible. The State argued there would be no prejudice from trying the charges together, while severing the charges would waste resources.
The trial court denied the motion to sever, noting that the evidence relevant to the two sets of charges was cross admissible. The trial court explained that the recordings of the jail calls would be relevant to the rape and assault charges because they showed consciousness of guilt, and the recordings were admissible because they were admissions of a party opponent. The trial court concluded, "There doesn't seem to me that there is any economy saved by splitting the case up, and I don't see how there is any prejudice saved, if you will, to the defense because this information was all coming in anyway." VRP (May 2, 2019) at 80.
AI, Vanguilder, and Weekly all testified that AI and Weekly had a struggle that ended when Weekly shoved AI with enough force to knock her to the floor and dislodge and break her glasses and hearing aid. AI testified that while she was on the ground, Weekly grabbed her by the throat and told her "everything was going to be okay as long as [she] just cooperated." VRP (May 15, 2019) at 848. AI testified that she did not further resist intercourse with Weekly Id. at 864.
Vanguilder testified that when AI was on the ground, Weekly whispered something to AI that Vanguilder could not hear, at which point AI began undressing. The trial court admitted photos of bruises to AI's breast, wrist, and legs, as well as scratches on her neck, which AIs husband testified had not been present before AI went to Ingersoll's house. Ingersoll testified that he woke up the next day to a house containing obvious signs of a struggle, including damage to a kitchen cabinet that looked as if someone had been pushed into it.
Weekly testified that after some encouragement from Vanguilder, AI agreed to intercourse with him and Vanguilder and that AI's initial hesitance was because she did not want to disrespect Ingersoll. Weekly testified that he approached Ingersoll's room to ask him for a ride after AI initially declined intercourse, that AI physically intervened to keep him from waking Ingersoll, and that he only pushed AI to the ground after she grabbed and pushed him first. He testified that as soon as AI got up from the floor and found her hearing aid and glasses, she began undressing. AI then started with a sexual encounter with Vanguilder before Weekly had intercourse with AI. Weekly never asked AI for her consent because VRP (May 29, 2019) at 1840.
AI testified that after the altercation with Weekly, she hoped to tell Weekly that she was out of cigarettes and wanted to go to the store to buy more, but she really intended to take Ingersoll's Jeep to her house to call the police. She testified that she did not think she would be able to leave without an excuse because Weekly "had already taken [her] phone and thrown it when [she] had tried to leave once," and he had overpowered her. VRP (May 15, 2019) at 871. In addition, AI had arrived at Ingersoll's house on her motorcycle, which required 10 minutes to warm up. Id. AI's plan did not work, however, because Weekly insisted on driving Ingersoll's Jeep to the store.
AI Weekly, and Vanguilder all testified that Weekly and Vanguilder got into an argument during the trip. AI testified that, while at a drive-through window, Weekly asked Vanguilder for money and did not believe that Vanguilder gave him all of her money. AI testified that "they went back and forth," escalating the argument until Weekly "grabbed [Vanguilder] by the throat and started strangling her," while Vanguilder was "grabbing at his hand, trying to get his grip loose." Id. at 880. AI testified that Vanguilder began "to turn a...
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