State Of Washington, V. Abebe Richard Hehn, 80864-8

Hehn, adopted from Ethiopia, pleaded guilty as a youth to third-degree rape of a child and was required to register as a sex offender; he later had two convictions for failure to register.
In 2018 Hehn was charged with failure to register and, after missing an omnibus hearing, with bail jumping; a bench trial found him guilty of both counts.
Prior convictions (including the sex-offense multiplier) produced high offender scores: standard ranges were 43–57 months for failure to register and 33–43 months for bail jumping.
The trial court viewed a documentary about Hehn, found the presumptive sentence "clearly excessive," imposed an exceptional downward sentence of 25 months concurrent and reduced community custody from 36 to 12 months.
The State appealed. The Court of Appeals held the trial court erred in using the offender-score multiplier as a mitigating basis and in reducing community custody, but held the bail-jumping effect could justify mitigation; the case was remanded for resentencing and reinstatement of the full community-custody term.

Issue	State's Argument	Hehn's Argument	Held
Waiver of appellate challenge	State preserved challenge; did not waive by offering drafting help	State waived by not objecting to trial court findings	No waiver; State preserved appellate claims
Sufficiency of evidence that bail-jumping did not affect prosecution	No substantial evidence supports trial court finding	Bail-jumping did not hinder State; evidence supports finding	Finding supported by substantial evidence
Whether multiplier effect of prior sex offenses can be mitigating	Multiplier is already reflected in offender score; cannot justify departure	Multiplier produces excessive jump; should mitigate	Multiplier effect cannot be a mitigating factor
Whether multiple-offense policy / bail-jumping can justify downward departure	Court failed to make required factual showing; misapplied mitigation	Multiple-offense policy and bail-jumping effect can justify mitigation	Multiple-offense policy may mitigate if sentence is clearly excessive; bail-jumping effect here can justify mitigation but court misapplied it (sentence reduced too far)
Reduction of community custody	Reduction improper; statute mandates 36 months for repeat failure-to-register sex offenses	Court may consider same mitigation to reduce community custody	Court erred; must impose full 36-month community custody unless reduction needed to avoid exceeding statutory maximum

State v. France, 176 Wn. App. 463 (Wash. Ct. App. 2013) (standards for reviewing exceptional sentences)
State v. Graham, 181 Wn.2d 878 (Wash. 2014) (interpreting RCW 9.94A.535(1)(g) and directing SRA-policy analysis)
State v. Hortman, 76 Wn. App. 454 (Wash. Ct. App. 1994) (multiple-offense policy mitigates when cumulative effect is de minimis)
State v. Pascal, 108 Wn.2d 125 (Wash. 1987) (cannot base departure on factors already accounted for in presumptive range)
State v. Nordby, 106 Wn.2d 514 (Wash. 1986) (same principle limiting departures)
State v. Bruch, 182 Wn.2d 854 (Wash. 2015) (mandatory community custody for certain sex offenses)
State v. Law, 154 Wn.2d 85 (Wash. 2005) (mitigating factors must relate to the crime)
State v. Ha'mim, 132 Wn.2d 834 (Wash. 1997) (remand guidance when trial court misapplies law)
State v. Ferguson, 142 Wn.2d 631 (Wash. 2001) (definition and standard for substantial evidence)