State v. Slighte
State v. Slighte
Opinion of the Court
¶1 On August 24, 2010, we issued an opinion affirming Jason Ronald Slighte’s jury conviction for methamphetamine possession with intent to deliver. We held that under our decision in State v. Millan, 151 Wn. App. 492, 212 P.3d 603 (2009), reversed sub nom. State v. Robinson, 171 Wn.2d 292, 253 P.3d 84 (2011), because Slighte had failed to move to suppress the methamphetamine seized from his car, which police had searched incident to his arrest, he had failed to preserve for appeal whether this seizure was illegal under Arizona v. Gant, 556 U.S. 332, 129 S. Ct. 1710, 173 L. Ed. 2d 485 (2009).
¶2 In Robinson, our Supreme Court held that (1) Gant applies retroactively to appellants whose cases were pending on direct appeal when the United States Supreme
The United State Supreme Court issued Gant after Slighte’s trial but before his direct appeal.
More specifically, the court stated:
We hold that principles of issue preservation, as embodied in RAP 2.5(a), do not apply where (1) a court issues a new controlling constitutional interpretation material to the defendant’s case, (2) that interpretation overrules an existing controlling interpretation, (3) the new interpretation applies retroactively to the defendant, and (4) the defendant’s trial was completed prior to the new interpretation.
Robinson, 171 Wn.2d at 307-08.
In addition to conceding that Slighte is entitled to raise the Gant issue for the first time on appeal and that the vehicle search here was improper under Gant, the State also concedes the “fact” that there was no justification for the vehicle search other than the improper search incident to arrest and asks us to vacate Slighte’s conviction and to dismiss the charge. Because we reverse on legal grounds and remand for further proceedings, we do not consider the State’s factual concession, which is more appropriate for the parties and the trial court to address on remand.
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