State Of Washington, V Charles Tewee, 46159-5

In 2008 Tewee received suspended sentences and 48 months’ probation for two gross misdemeanors (fourth-degree assault), supervised by the Department of Corrections.
Tewee committed first-degree child molestation between Jan 1 and Feb 28, 2010; convicted and originally sentenced to an exceptional term of 220 months to life.
This court affirmed the conviction but remanded for full resentencing. On remand the sentencing court recalculated Tewee’s offender score as 10 (adding one point) rather than 9 and again imposed 220 months to life.
The State added one offender-score point under RCW 9.94A.525(19) because Tewee committed the current offense while on "community custody."
The dispute turned on which statutory definition of "offender" (pre-2009 vs post-2009 amendment) controlled: whether a gross-misdemeanor probationer counts as an "offender" for community custody purposes.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the court erred by adding 1 offender-score point for committing the offense while on community custody	Tewee: use the pre-amendment definition of "offender" (2008) in effect when he was sentenced for the misdemeanors; that definition excludes gross-misdemeanor probationers, so no point should be added	State: apply the law in effect when the current offense was committed (2010); the 2009 amendment included gross-misdemeanor probationers as "offender" for community custody, so the point is proper	The court applied RCW 9.94A.345 (law at time of current offense). The 2009 definition controlled; Tewee was an "offender" on community custody, so adding one point was proper

State v. Coombes, 191 Wn. App. 241 (sentence must follow law in effect when offense committed)
State v. Jones, 172 Wn.2d 236 (appellate review of SRA interpretation is de novo)
State v. Tewee, 176 Wn. App. 964 (prior appeal affirming conviction and remanding for resentencing)