State Of Washington v. Cameron L. Chudy, 48175-8

On April 30, 2015, police observed a reported-stolen Honda elude them; within minutes officers found the unoccupied car parked and encountered two nearby pedestrians, Cameron Chudy and Micah Frasu.
Officers contacted Chudy; he appeared sweaty, nervous, and then ran and was detained and handcuffed; shortly after he made incriminating statements after receiving Miranda warnings.
The State charged Chudy with unlawful possession of a stolen vehicle and attempting to elude a pursuing police vehicle (with an enhancement for threatening another during the elude); a campus surveillance video showing the car being driven away was admitted at trial.
During trial a juror (juror 8) appeared to fall asleep briefly; the court questioned the juror, who said she had been taking notes and could follow the evidence, and the court declined to excuse her.
The trial court gave WPIC 4.01 but a clerk mistakenly omitted the sentence, “The defendant has no burden of proving that a reasonable doubt exists as to these elements.” Neither party objected; both counsel’s closings affirmed that the State bore the burden of proof.
The jury convicted Chudy on both counts; he was sentenced to 50 months (consecutive to earlier sentences). He appealed raising ineffective assistance, juror sleeping, admission of surveillance video, and WPIC 4.01 error. The Court of Appeals affirmed.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument (State)	Defendant's Argument (Chudy)	Held
Ineffective assistance for failing to move to suppress statements	Counsel had no duty to file futile motions; statements were admissible because seizure lawful	Counsel was deficient for not moving to suppress statements as seizure unlawful, causing prejudice	Not deficient; seizure was supported by reasonable suspicion, so suppression motion would have been denied, no Strickland relief
Juror who appeared to sleep should have been excused	Trial court properly assessed juror; questioning showed juror could follow evidence	Trial court abused discretion by retaining a juror who slept, compromising deliberations	No abuse of discretion; record supports court's finding juror was attentive and fit to serve
Admission of surveillance video (ER 403)	Video was probative to show the car was stolen and where it was parked; minimal risk of unfair prejudice	Video was more prejudicial than probative (driver looked different), risked misidentification	No abuse of discretion; probative value (stolen car, parking location, victim’s lack of permission) outweighed minimal prejudice
Departure from WPIC 4.01 (omitted sentence about defendant’s burden)	Omission was harmless because instruction and counsel’s arguments made State’s burden clear	Omission prejudiced jury by leaving ambiguity that defendant bore burden of proof	Error under Bennett but harmless beyond a reasonable doubt given instruction language and counsel's closing statements

Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (ineffective assistance two-prong test)
Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1 (investigative stop reasonable-suspicion standard)
State v. Grier, 171 Wn.2d 17 (presumption counsel’s performance reasonable; need to show absence of legitimate strategic reasons)
State v. Jones, 183 Wn.2d 327 (standard of review for ineffective assistance mixed question)
State v. Bennett, 161 Wn.2d 303 (use of WPIC 4.01 for reasonable doubt instruction)
State v. Lundy, 162 Wn. App. 865 (harmless-error analysis for WPIC modifications)
State v. Castillo, 150 Wn. App. 466 (Division One: modified reasonable-doubt instruction reversible error — distinguished)
State v. McFarland, 127 Wn.2d 322 (legitimate strategic reasons may justify not seeking suppression)
State v. Ladson, 138 Wn.2d 343 (Terry and investigative-stop exceptions to warrant requirement)
State v. Z.U.E., 183 Wn.2d 610 (reasonable-suspicion requirement for Terry stops)