State Of Washington, V. Jeremy Ian Frieday, 565 P.3d 139

Jeremy I. Frieday was arrested for felony DUI and failure to have a court-ordered ignition interlock device following several prior DUI convictions.
At trial, the jury was instructed on both a charged and an uncharged alternative basis for felony DUI (“under the influence” and blood alcohol ≥0.08, respectively).
Frieday’s motion to sever the ignition interlock charge from the DUI charge was denied; he argued joinder was prejudicial.
The trial court included two prior Oregon DUII convictions in Frieday’s offender score, impacting his sentence length.
On appeal, Frieday challenged: (1) jury instruction error, (2) denial of severance, (3) inclusion of Oregon convictions, and (4) whether a jury, not judge, must decide comparability of out-of-state convictions, relying on a recent US Supreme Court decision.

Issue	Frieday’s Argument	State’s Argument	Held
Jury instructed on uncharged alternative for felony DUI	Error was prejudicial as jury could have convicted on basis not charged/defended against	Error was harmless; jury unanimously found guilt under charged alternative	Error was harmless—conviction affirmed
Denial of motion to sever ignition interlock from DUI charge	Joinder was manifestly prejudicial, leading to unfair inference of guilt	Evidence was strong; prejudice mitigated by jury instructions; judicial economy favored joinder	No abuse of discretion—denial affirmed
Inclusion of Oregon DUII convictions in offender score	Convictions not legally/factually comparable to WA offenses (differences in statute/interp.)	Statutes are comparable; plea statements admit conduct that matches WA law	Convictions are factually comparable—proper inclusion
Jury vs. judge decides out-of-state conviction comparability (post-Erlinger)	Sixth Amendment and Erlinger require jury determination; lack of notice violates due process	Erlinger limited to ACCA statute, not controlling; judge determination still valid	Existing WA law stands—judge decides comparability, no notice error

State v. Brewczynski, 173 Wn. App. 541 (charging document must inform defendant of charges)
State v. Bythrow, 114 Wn.2d 713 (joinder/severance standard for multiple offenses)
State v. Russell, 125 Wn.2d 24 (factors for determining prejudice in joined cases)
State v. Olsen, 180 Wn.2d 468 (standards for out-of-state conviction comparability)
State v. Arndt, 179 Wn. App. 373 (differences in legal comparability between OR and WA DUI statutes)
State v. Thiefault, 160 Wn.2d 409 (judge vs. jury determination of prior convictions’ impact on sentencing)
State v. Clark, 187 Wn.2d 641 (juries presumed to follow instructions)