Washington v. Com.

• Decision Date: 15 September 2006
• Docket Number: Record No. 051875.
• Citation: 634 S.E.2d 310
• Court: Virginia Supreme Court
• Parties: Phillip Morris WASHINGTON v. COMMONWEALTH of Virginia.

634 S.E.2d 310

Phillip Morris WASHINGTON v. COMMONWEALTH of Virginia.

Record No. 051875.

Supreme Court of Virginia.

September 15, 2006.

Joseph T. Brown (Simmons & Brown, on brief), for appellant.

Eugene Murphy, Senior Asst. Atty. Gen. (Robert F. McDonnell, Atty. Gen., on brief), for appellee.

Present: All the Justices.

OPINION BY Justice G. STEVEN AGEE.

Phillip Morris Washington was convicted in the Circuit Court of Stafford County of one count of malicious wounding "after having been twice convicted of a violent felony" and one count of "stabbing, cutting or wounding another person in the commission of a felony." On appeal to the Court of Appeals, Washington contended the trial court erred in allowing the Commonwealth to present evidence of his two prior felony convictions during the guilt phase of the trial. A panel of the Court of Appeals reversed the judgment of the trial court, but upon a rehearing en banc, the judgment of the trial court was affirmed. For the reasons set forth below, we will affirm the judgment of the Court of Appeals.

I. FACTS AND MATERIAL PROCEEDINGS BELOW

Washington was indicted for one count of malicious wounding "after having been twice convicted of a violent felony" in violation of Code § 18.2-51 and § 19.2-297.1, and one count of violating Code § 18.2-53, for an attack on his girlfriend, Kathleen A. Monroe, on January 13, 2001. Prior to trial, the Commonwealth notified Washington that "should [he] be convicted of a felony, the Commonwealth intends to introduce into evidence at sentencing copies of the following convictions." The list included separate felony convictions for robbery in 1970 and 1976.

During his opening statement before the jury, the Commonwealth's Attorney noted that the indictment "charged not just . . . a malicious wounding but a malicious wounding as a recidivist." He asserted that "[t]he evidence in this case and one of the elements of this offense is that the defendant has twice been convicted of a violent felony in the past."

Washington objected on the grounds that "the recidivist issue is an issue for sentencing" and that "it's highly prejudicial . . . to mention it at this time." Washington also alleged that the Commonwealth did "not have sufficient documentation [of the 1976 robbery]" because one of the documents purporting to be a conviction order was "not signed . . . as an order by a judge." Washington made an oral motion in limine to prevent the Commonwealth from introducing evidence regarding Washington's prior felony acts of violence.

Agreeing that "there's no indication that [the purported 1976 conviction order] has been entered by the Court," the trial court sustained Washington's motion in limine. Washington moved for a mistrial, the Commonwealth did not object, and the trial court granted the motion. The trial court did not determine at which phase of a bifurcated proceeding prior convictions were to be introduced into evidence.

In preparation for the second trial upon the same indictments, Washington filed a written "Motion in Limine to Prohibit Introduction of Defendant's Prior Conviction Record Before Sentencing." After a hearing on the motion, the trial court found that "the Commonwealth has the burden of proving two prior convictions of felonious acts of violence, as charged in the indictment against Mr. Washington" and that such findings must "be made by the fact finders in this case, that is the jury, and it is to be made during the guilt or innocence phase of the proceeding."

In its case in chief, the Commonwealth introduced the sentencing and conviction orders for the two robberies.¹ At the conclusion of the evidence, the Commonwealth offered a jury instruction on the indicted offense which stated that the jury must find the Commonwealth proved beyond a reasonable doubt the elements of the crime of malicious wounding and "[t]hat the defendant has been previously convicted of two violent felonies." Washington objected to the Commonwealth's instruction arguing that "even though the Commonwealth is permitted to introduce [Washington's prior convictions] before sentencing . . . it is not actually an element of the offense, and, therefore, does not belong in the instruction." Washington offered another instruction which included only the elements of malicious wounding as they appear in Code § 18.2-51.² The trial court overruled Washington's objection and instructed the jury using the language of the Commonwealth's proposed instruction.

After a two-day trial, a jury convicted Washington as charged and fixed his sentence at life imprisonment. The trial court entered judgment affirming the verdict and imposing a sentence consistent with the jury's determination.

The Court of Appeals granted Washington an appeal as to whether the "trial court err[ed] in permitting the Commonwealth to introduce evidence of two prior robbery convictions in its case-in-chief."³ A majority of a three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals reversed the trial court's judgment, finding that nothing in Code § 18.2-51 "provides that the occurrence of prior, separate acts of violence are elements of the offense of malicious wounding." Washington v. Commonwealth, 44 Va.App. 157, 161, 604 S.E.2d 92, 94 (2004).

Upon rehearing en banc, a majority of the Court of Appeals affirmed the judgment of the trial court. Washington v. Commonwealth, 46 Va.App. 276, 285, 616 S.E.2d 774, 779 (2005). Finding that Code § 19.2-297.1 did not specifically state whether a defendant's prior convictions should be introduced in the guilt or punishment phase of a trial, the en banc majority noted that neither Code § 19.2-295.1, which allows for bifurcated felony trials, nor Rule 3A:17.1(e)(1), allows "the prosecution to present substantive evidence [necessary to meet its] burden of proof under Code § 19.2-297.1(A)" during the punishment phase. Id. at 283, 616 S.E.2d at 778. Thus, the majority held "that the recidivism evidence necessary to implicate the terms of Code § 19.2-297.1 may be admitted during the guilt phase of a bifurcated jury trial." Id. at 285, 616 S.E.2d at 779.

The dissenting opinion rejected the majority's reading of Code §§ 19.2-297.1 and 19.2-295.1. The dissent concluded that "[r]ead together, Code § 19.2-297.1 and Code § 19.2-295.1 manifest the conclusion that the legislature intended that prior convictions be proved only during the punishment phase when the purpose is to establish a sentencing factor." Id. at 297, 616 S.E.2d at 785.⁴

We awarded Washington an appeal on the following assignments of error: (1) Whether "the interaction between § 19.2-297.1 and § 19.2-295.1 . . . require[s] that the prior convictions be admitted during the guilt phase of the trial;" (2) Whether the Court of Appeals erred in refusing "to consider the issue that the requirements of § 19.2-297.1 were not met at trial where the trial court ruled that the jury would have to impose a mandatory life sentence;" and (3) Whether the "requirements of § 19.2-297.1 were required to be proven in the trial court with the exception of the introduction of prior violent convictions where the Court of Appeals ruled that the statute's requirements had to be proven during the guilt phase of the trial."⁵

II. ANALYSIS

Statutory interpretation presents a pure question of law and is accordingly subject to de novo review by this Court. Ainslie v. Inman, 265 Va. 347, 352, 577 S.E.2d 246, 248 (2003). Under basic principles of statutory construction, we must determine the General Assembly's intent from the words contained in a statute. Commonwealth v. Diaz, 266 Va. 260, 264-65, 585 S.E.2d 552, 554 (2003). This general rule applies except when the language of the statute is ambiguous or would lead to an absurd result. Tiller v. Commonwealth, 193 Va. 418, 420, 69 S.E.2d 441, 442 (1952); Cummings v. Fulghum, 261 Va. 73, 77, 540 S.E.2d 494, 496 (2001).

When a given controversy involves a number of related statutes, our rules of statutory construction direct that those statutes be read and construed together in order to give full meaning, force, and effect to each. Ainslie, 265 Va. at 353, 577 S.E.2d at 249 (citation omitted). Moreover, appellate courts read related statutes in pari materia in order to give, when possible, consistent meaning to the language used by the General Assembly. Industrial Dev. Auth. v. Board of Supervisors, 263 Va. 349, 353, 559 S.E.2d 621, 623 (2002).

With these basic principles in mind, we review Washington's assignments of error.

A. CODE § 19.2-297.1 AND THE BIFURCATED TRIAL STATUTE

Washington asks us to determine, as a question of first impression, the relationship between Code § 19.2-297.1 and § 19.2-295.1 in the context of when the evidence of prior criminal convictions is to be introduced at trial. These statutes were contained in the same bill enacted during the 1994 session of the General Assembly. See 1994 Acts ch. 828 (S.B. 115).

Code § 19.2-297.1, commonly denominated as the Three Strikes Law, reads in pertinent part as follows:

A. Any person convicted of two or more separate acts of violence when such offenses were not part of a common act, transaction or scheme, and who has been at liberty as defined in § 53.1-151 between each conviction, shall, upon conviction of a third or subsequent act of violence, be sentenced to life imprisonment and shall not have all or any portion of the sentence suspended, provided it is admitted, or found by the jury or judge before whom he is tried, that he has been previously convicted of two or more such acts of violence. For the purposes of this section, "act of violence" means (i) any one of the following violations of Chapter 4 (§ 18.2-30 et seq.) of Title 18.2:

. . . .

d. Any malicious felonious assault or malicious bodily wounding under Article 4 (§ 18.2-51 et seq.);

e. Robbery under § 18.2-58 and carjacking under § 18.2-58.1;

. . . .

B. . . . . The Commonwealth shall notify the defendant in writing, at least thirty days prior...