State v. Rainey
State v. Rainey
Opinion of the Court
¶1 During a hearing on Rickey Rainey’s motion for a new trial, the trial court closed the
¶2 Additionally, as conceded by the State, the admission of certified copies of Rainey’s driving records at trial violated his Sixth Amendment
FACTS
¶3 On May 17, 2009, Officer Chris Sylvain with the Snoqualmie Police Department observed Rickey Rainey driving Rainey’s mother’s truck. He also observed a female passenger in the truck. He checked Rainey’s driving records and discovered that Rainey’s driver’s license was suspended. Officer Sylvain attempted to pull Rainey over, but Rainey led Officer Sylvain on a high speed chase back to Rainey’s mother’s home. When officers approached the home, the truck was parked and Fallon Mayhew, the pas
¶4 The State charged Rainey by amended information with one count of attempting to elude a pursuing police vehicle and one count of DWLS in the third degree.
¶5 The State’s witnesses included Officer Sylvain and two other responding police officers. Mayhew had given a sworn statement to the police but could not be located to testify at trial. Rainey did not testify. During the trial, the court admitted, over Rainey’s objection, a letter from a records custodian saying that Rainey’s driving privilege had been suspended. A jury convicted Rainey on both counts and returned a special verdict that he endangered one or more persons other than himself or the pursuing law enforcement officer while eluding a police vehicle.
¶6 Rainey obtained new defense counsel and moved for a new trial on several grounds, including that there was newly discovered evidence that he was not driving the truck. This new evidence consisted of exculpatory statements made by Mayhew to his new defense counsel. At a hearing on the motion, Rainey indicated that he intended to call Mayhew as a witness. Concerned that Mayhew’s testimony might be self-incriminating, the trial court appointed an attorney to represent Mayhew.
¶7 After consulting with Mayhew, her counsel told the court that he advised her not to testify “because there is a possibility of a Fifth Amendment issue.”
¶8 After the closed hearing, the trial court reopened the courtroom and held that Mayhew did have a Fifth Amendment privilege and that she chose to exercise that privilege and not testify. Mayhew never took the stand or claimed the privilege herself in open court. The trial court granted the State’s motion to strike Rainey’s exculpatory evidence theory for a new trial and denied his other theories for a new trial.
¶9 Rainey appeals.
DISCUSSION
Right to a Public Trial and Open Proceedings
¶10 Rainey argues that Mayhew’s failure to personally assert her Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimi
¶11 The appellant bears the burden of establishing a public trial right violation.
fl2 To determine whether the public trial right applies, the Supreme Court in State v. Sublett adopted an experience and logic test.
¶13 In Sublett, our Supreme Court concluded that the public trial right did not attach to an in-chambers proceeding where the trial court answered a jury question with only counsel present.
¶14 Moving to the logic prong, the lead opinion concluded that none of the values served by the public trial right were violated by an in-chambers review of a jury
¶15 As a matter of first impression, Rainey argues that both experience and logic dictate that a witness must assert her Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination in open court after being called to the stand. We agree.
¶16 As to the experience prong, State v. Lougin provides a clear statement of the procedure to be followed when a witness wishes to assert the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination.
Lougin suggests that the proper procedure would have been to allow him to call [his codefendant] and question her. If at any point she claimed a privilege against answering a question, the trial court could rule on her claim as it related to the specific question asked. Lougin is correct that [the codefendant] had a right to invoke the Fifth Amendment privilege in response to specific questions and that because she was not a defendant in Lougin’s trial, she had no right to decline to testify altogether. It is impossible to know what [his codefendant] would have done if confronted with specific substantive questions. Conceivably, if properly advised as to the scope of her privilege, she could have testified on Lougin’s behalf and still have avoided incriminating herself. Therefore, the trial court erred in not requiring [the codefendant] to take the stand and then claim the privilege as to specific questions.[33 ]
This result is consistent with other Washington cases.
¶18 Moreover, logic requires that the assertion of the privilege happen in open court because it implicates the values served by the public trial right. In State v. Wise, decided the same day as Sublett, our Supreme Court explained:
A public trial is a core safeguard in our system of justice. Be it through members of the media, victims, the family or friends of a party, or passersby, the public can keep watch over the administration of justice when the courtroom is open. The open and public judicial process helps assure fair trials. It deters perjury and other misconduct by participants in a trial. It tempers biases and undue partiality. The public nature of trials is a check on the judicial system, which the public entrusts to adjudicate and render decisions of the highest import. It provides for accountability and transparency, assuring that whatever transpires in court will not be secret or unscrutinized. And openness allows the public to see, firsthand, justice done in its communities.[36 ]
¶19 Assertion of the privilege against self-incrimination often occurs in a trial or trial-like setting during the taking
¶20 Here, Mayhew did not take the stand, was not sworn, and did not assert the privilege against self-incrimination in open court, as the experience and logic test requires. Rather, Mayhew’s attorney told the court that she would assert the privilege and the trial court closed the courtroom without considering the Bone-Club factors on the record in open court. Therefore, both Rainey’s right to a public trial and the public’s right to open proceedings were violated.
¶21 Having determined that Rainey’s public trial rights were violated during this posttrial hearing, the next question is what remedy is appropriate. Without citation to any authority applicable to a posttrial hearing, Rainey argues that the violation of his public trial rights during this posttrial hearing was a structural error and the proper remedy is reversal of his conviction, not remand for a new
Sixth Amendment Right to Confrontation
¶22 Rainey argues, and the State concedes, that the admission of certified copies of Rainey’s driving records violated his Sixth Amendment right to confrontation, as established in State v. Jasper,
¶24 The Sixth Amendment’s confrontation clause confers on the accused the right “to be confronted with the witnesses against him.”
¶25 Here, the trial court admitted a certified copy of Rainey’s driving record without affording him the opportunity to cross-examine the witness who prepared the record. The records included a document stating that as of May 17, 2009, Rainey’s driver’s license was “[s]uspended in the third
¶26 The State’s concession is well taken. Consistent with the holding in Jasper, the document stating that Rainey’s license was suspended was testimonial hearsay. Therefore, the trial court erred in admitting the evidence, that error was not harmless, and the proper remedy is to vacate Rainey’s third degree DWLS conviction and remand for a new trial on that count.
¶27 We reverse Rainey’s conviction for DWLS in the third degree and remand for a new trial on that count. We affirm Rainey’s conviction for attempting to elude a pursuing police vehicle but remand for a new hearing on his motion for a new trial.
U.S. Const, amend. V.
State v. Bone-Club, 128 Wn.2d 254, 906 P.2d 325 (1995).
U.S. Const, amend. VI.
Report of Proceedings (RP) (Mar. 10, 2010) at 57.
RP (Aug. 27, 2010) at 60.
Id. at 61.
The Bone-Club factors are:
“1. The proponent of closure or sealing must make some showing [of a compelling interest], and where that need is based on a right other than an accused’s right to a fair trial, the proponent must show a ‘serious and imminent threat’ to that right.
“2. Anyone present when the closure motion is made must be given an opportunity to object to the closure.
“3. The proposed method for curtailing open access must be the least restrictive means available for protecting the threatened interests.
“4. The court must weigh the competing interests of the proponent of closure and the public.
“5. The order must be no broader in its application or duration than necessary to serve its purpose.”
Bone-Club, 128 Wn.2d at 258-59 (alteration in original) (quoting Allied Daily Newspapers of Wash. v. Eikenberry, 121 Wn.2d 205, 210-11, 848 P.2d 1258 (1993)).
The State argues that we should decline to reach this argument because it was raised by Rainey for the first time during oral argument. Rainey identified this issue in his opening brief but did not support it with any specific persuasive argument or citation to authority. Because the right to a public trial implicates the fundamental fairness of a criminal proceeding, we reach the merits of this argument.
State v. Sublett, 176 Wn.2d 58, 75, 292 P.3d 715 (2012) (plurality opinion).
State v. Momah, 167 Wn.2d 140, 147, 217 P.3d 321 (2009).
State v. Lormor, 172 Wn.2d 85, 90-91, 257 P.3d 624 (2011); U.S. Const, amend. VI; Wash. Const, art. I, § 22.
Lormor, 172 Wn.2d at 91; U.S. Const, amend. I; Wash. Const, art. I, § 10.
Momah, 167 Wn.2d at 148.
176 Wn.2d 58,72-73,292 P.3d 715 (2012) (plurality opinion). The lead opinion in Sublett was a plurality opinion by four justices. Chief Justice Madsen’s concurrence agreed with both the lead opinion’s conclusion that not all trial proceedings closed to the public implicate the public trial right and its adoption and application of the experience and logic test. Id. at 92-94 (Madsen, C.J., concurring). Therefore, a majority of the court supports these holdings.
State v. Burdette, 178 Wn. App. 183, 191-92, 313 P.3d 1235 (2013) (“the plain force of Sublett is that we use the experience and logic test to determine whether an event triggers the protections of either set of constitutional rights securing open trials”).
Sublett, 176 Wn.2d at 73 (quoting Press-Enter. Co. v. Superior Court, 478 U.S. 1, 8, 106 S. Ct. 2735, 92 L. Ed. 2d 1 (1986)).
Id. (quoting Press-Enter. Co., 478 U.S. at 8).
Id.
Id. at 70, 77.
Id. at 75-77.
Id. at 77.
Id.
id.
id.
Id.
50 Wn. App. 376, 749 P.2d 173 (1988).
See State v. Parker, 79 Wn.2d 326, 329-33, 485 P.2d 60 (1971) (witness properly asserted the privilege after he was called to the stand and answered more than 25 preliminary questions); Eastham v. Arndt, 28 Wn. App. 524, 525-26, 624 P.2d 1159 (1981) (in proceedings supplemental to a judgment, appellant claimed the privilege under oath and refused to answer questions regarding his assets); Seventh Elect Church in Israel v. Rogers, 34 Wn. App. 105, 107-08, 660 P.2d 280 (1983) (in proceedings supplemental to a judgment, appellant took the stand and claimed the privilege in response to specific questions); State v. White, 152 Wn.
Rainey’s argument focuses on the assertion of the privilege in an evidentiary hearing and not in other contexts. Other jurisdictions have concluded, and Rainey concedes, that there are circumstances where an attorney may assert the privilege on behalf of a witness, typically when there is a hearing on written materials without formal testimony. See United States v. Judson, 322 F.2d 460 (9th Cir. 1963) (attorney retained by income taxpayers under investigation by the United States Internal Revenue Service had standing to invoke taxpayers’ privilege against self-incrimination and to suppress as against government’s subpoena cancelled checks and bank statements that taxpayers had turned over to him at his request); In re Marcario, 2 Cal. 3d 329, 466 P.2d 679, 85 Cal. Rptr. 135 (1970) (defendant’s attorney had standing to assert the privilege against self-inerimination on the defendant’s behalf to restrain the enforcement of a discovery order). But, such exceptions do not alter the well established historical experience in Washington that a witness claiming the privilege in an evidentiary hearing must assert that privilege under oath in open court.
176 Wn.2d 1, 5-6, 288 P.3d 1113 (2012).
The State argues that Mayhew’s attorney properly asserted the privilege for her in open court. It cites Judson, 322 F.2d 460, and Olson v. Haas, 43 Wn. App. 484, 718 P.2d 1 (1986), in support of this argument. Both cases involved an attorney’s assertion of the privilege against self-incrimination on behalf of his client in response to an order for the production of documents. Because those cases do not consider the process required when a witness wishes to assert the privilege during her testimony in court, they do not require a different result.
See State v. Young, 89 Wn.2d 613, 625, 574 P.2d 1171 (1978) (courts may assume that where no authority is cited, counsel has found none after search).
Wise, 176 Wn.2d at 19.
See Waller v. Georgia, 467 U.S. 39, 50, 104 S. Ct. 2210, 81 L. Ed. 2d 31 (1984) (holding that the appropriate remedy for a public trial violation was a new suppression hearing, not a new trial, because “the remedy should be appropriate to the violation”).
Wise, 176 Wn.2d at 19.
174 Wn.2d 96, 271 P.3d 876 (2012).
State v. Lynch, 178 Wn.2d 487, 494, 309 P.3d 482 (2013).
U.S. Const, amend. VI.
Jasper, 174 Wn.2d at 104, 115.
541 U.S. 36, 124 S. Ct. 1354, 158 L. Ed. 2d 177 (2004).
557 U.S. 305, 129 S. Ct. 2527, 174 L. Ed. 2d 314 (2009).
Jasper, 174 Wn.2d at 115.
Ex. 2.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- The State of Washington v. Rickey Mitchell Rainey
- Cited By
- 7 cases
- Status
- Published