Williams v. State
| Decision Date | 24 November 2006 |
| Docket Number | No. A-9139.,A-9139. |
| Citation | 151 P.3d 460 |
| Parties | Thomas A. WILLIAMS, Petitioner, v. STATE of Alaska, Respondent. |
| Court | Alaska Court of Appeals |
Brian T. Duffy, Law Office of Dan Allan, Anchorage, for the Appellant.
Kenneth M. Rosenstein, Assistant Attorney General, Office of Special Prosecutions and Appeals, Anchorage, and David W. Marquez, Attorney General, Juneau, for the Appellee.
Cynthia M. Hora and Christine M. Pate, Alaska Network on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, Sitka, as amicus curiae aligned with the State.
Before: COATS, Chief Judge, and MANNHEIMER and STEWART, Judges.
This petition raises constitutional challenges to a statute, AS 12.30.027(b), that prohibits all persons charged with domestic violence from returning to the residence of the alleged victim while on pre-trial release— regardless of the circumstances of the offense and without any opportunity for judicial review.
Thomas A. Williams was charged almost two and one-half years ago with assaulting his wife of twenty-three years. He is apparently still awaiting trial. As required by AS 12.30.027(b), one of the conditions of his pre-trial release forbids him from returning to the residence he shared with his wife and daughter. Williams argues that this condition violates the equal protection clause of the federal and state constitutions because it burdens the liberty interests of individuals who pose no danger to the alleged victim. He also argues that his right to procedural due process was violated because he was deprived of a fundamental liberty interest— the right to live at home with his family— without the opportunity for a meaningful hearing. Because we agree that AS 12.30.027(b) violates Alaska's guarantee of equal protection of the laws, we reverse the decision of the district court.
Facts and proceedings
On April 21, 2004, the police responded to a report by a passerby that a man was strangling a woman in a house on Henderson Loop in Anchorage. When the police arrived at the house, they contacted Terese Williams. Williams said her husband, Thomas Williams, had grabbed her around the neck during an argument and pushed her to the ground. She said he kept a firm grip on her throat and squeezed for several minutes and that she was very scared. Then he let go and she got up. She was shaken and went to smoke a cigarette; her husband grabbed his bags and left. She said her husband worked in Point Mackenzie and stayed with a friend while he was there. She also told the police her husband had consumed some cough medicine and beers before the incident. The investigating officer noted that Terese Williams was "visibly shaken" and had a scratch on her chin, a finger impression under her right ear, and a small red mark on the left of her neck.
Based on these allegations, Thomas Williams was charged with fourth-degree assault.1 The conditions of his pre-trial release barred him from contacting his wife or returning to the residence they had shared.
Several weeks after his release, Williams asked the court to modify his release conditions so he could have contact with his wife. His attorney said Williams and his wife had been together for more than twenty years and that both parties wished to renew contact. The State did not oppose the request. The prosecutor told the court that "in looking at Mr. Williams's record and the facts in this case, the State [is] confident or at least hopeful that it was an isolated incident." The court modified the bail conditions to allow contact, but emphasized that, by statute, Williams was still barred from the residence.
Several months later, Williams asked the court for permission to stay in the residence to care for the house and dog while his wife and daughter were in London. Williams's wife supported the request, and the State did not oppose. The court also granted that request.
On December 23, 2004—eight months after the incident—Williams, again with his wife's support, asked the court for permission to return to the residence for Christmas. He also filed a motion challenging the constitutionality of AS 12.30.027(b). Williams argued that the statute infringed his fundamental right to maintain his marital relationship and violated his rights to both due process and equal protection of the laws. He also argued that the statute violated the constitutional right of victims to be treated with dignity and fairness.
In support of Williams's request to return home for Christmas, Terese Williams told the court that she and Williams had been in contact for seven months, that they had seen each other regularly, and that maintaining separate residences was a financial burden. She said she and her husband had taken vacations together outside Alaska while this case was pending and that she did not feel her husband was a threat. She said their older daughter was coming home for the holidays and that it would be costly to find a place outside the residence for the family to be together.
Relying on AS 12.30.027(b), District Court Judge Sigurd E. Murphy denied Williams's request to return to the residence. The court then scheduled a hearing on Williams's motion challenging the constitutionality of the statute.
That hearing was held in January 2005. At the hearing, Terese Williams reiterated that she had been in regular contact with her husband and that she did not feel he was a threat. She said Williams was in counseling and that it was her wish that he return to the residence. She also asserted that the police and witnesses had exaggerated the seriousness of the incident. The State opposed the motion but did not present any evidence. The prosecutor simply observed that the domestic violence in the home had escalated, noting that Williams had threatened his wife with a fire poker in 2002 (he was convicted of disorderly conduct for that offense), and was now charged with assault for strangling his wife.
On February 2, 2005, Judge Murphy denied the motion. Judge Murphy interpreted the residence restriction in AS 12.30.027(b) as applying only in cases in which the court had already determined under AS 12.30.020 and AS 12.30.027(a) that release of the accused on his or her own recognizance or with an unsecured appearance bond would pose a danger to the alleged victim or other household member or not reasonably assure the accused's appearance in court. Having construed the statute in this manner, Judge Murphy found no deprivation of equal protection or due process. He also found that the bail condition barring Williams from returning home was appropriate given the facts of this case and Williams's previous conviction for disorderly conduct. Williams filed a motion for reconsideration, which the court denied.
Williams then filed this petition for review, which we granted.
The residence restriction in AS 12.30.027(b) applies to all persons charged with or convicted of a crime involving domestic violence
As noted above, Judge Murphy held that the residence restriction in AS 12.30.027(b) does not apply to every person charged with a crime of domestic violence. He adopted a narrower reading of the statute, ruling that courts are only required to bar a person charged with domestic violence from the home of the alleged victim if the court first finds that the person is too dangerous, or too much of a flight risk, to be released on his or her own recognizance or with an unsecured appearance bond.
We disagree with this reading of the statute. By its plain language, AS 12.30.027 applies to the release of all persons charged with or convicted of crimes of domestic violence, including those released without conditions:
(a) Before ordering release before or after trial, or pending appeal, of a person charged with or convicted of a crime involving domestic violence, the court shall consider the safety of the alleged victim or other household member. To protect the alleged victim, household member, and the public and to reasonably assure the person's appearance, the court may impose bail and any of the conditions authorized under AS 12.30.020, any of the provisions of AS 18.66.100(c)(1)-(7) and (11),[2] and any other condition necessary to protect the alleged victim, household member, and the public, and to ensure the appearance of the person in court, including ordering the person to refrain from the consumption of alcohol.
(b) A court may not order or permit a person released under (a) of this section to return to the residence of the alleged victim or the residence of a petitioner who has a protective order directed to the person and issued or filed under AS 18.66.100-18.66.180.[3]
Under the first sentence of subsection (a), a court is required, in every domestic violence case, to consider the safety of the alleged victim or other household member before releasing the accused. Under the second sentence, the court may impose bail or any of the release conditions authorized under AS 12.30.020 or certain provisions of AS 18.66.100(c)—if those conditions are needed to protect the victim or others or to ensure the accused's appearance in court. Thus, both the first and second sentences of AS 12.30.027(a) encompass persons who are subjected to release conditions and persons who are released on their own recognizance or with an unsecured appearance bond. Because subsection (a) encompasses both groups, subsection (b), which applies to "a person released under (a)," does as well. We therefore conclude that AS 12.30.027(b) applies to all persons charged with or convicted of a crime involving domestic violence. However, in this case we are only asked to consider the application of AS 12.30.027(b) to a person on pre-trial release.
Why AS 12.30.027(b) violates Alaska's guarantee of equal protection to the extent that it categorically forbids a person on pre-trial release for domestic violence from returning to the home of the alleged victim
Williams argues that AS 12.30.027(b)...
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...that criminal protective orders may have a significant impact on a defendant's fundamental constitutional rights. See Williams v. State, 151 P.3d 460, 465 (Alaska App.2006) (defendant subject to criminal protective order "has a liberty interest in choosing his family living arrangements"); ......