State Of Washington, V. Raymond Erickson, 54736-8

On Aug. 6, 2019, two officers in a store parking lot observed occupants of a moving Dodge Dart throw garbage from the vehicle and initiated a stop for littering.
Erickson (front passenger) and the driver, Fullerton, were both on active Department of Corrections community custody; Erickson could not produce ID but gave his name.
Officer Olson checked identities in his vehicle; Grabski observed a glass pipe in the driver-side door pocket in plain view.
Grabski opened the trunk, picked up a locked backpack that felt consistent with containing firearms; Erickson said the backpack was his and acknowledged a gun inside.
Officers found two firearms, drug paraphernalia, and a small bag of methamphetamine; Erickson was charged with two counts of second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm and one count of unlawful possession of methamphetamine.
The trial court denied Erickson’s CrR 3.6 suppression motion; Erickson was convicted after a stipulated-facts bench trial. On appeal the court affirmed the firearm convictions but, relying on State v. Blake, reversed the meth possession conviction and remanded for resentencing.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument (State)	Defendant's Argument (Erickson)	Held
Whether the stop was pretextual	Stop was lawful: officers observed littering (civil infraction) and stopped to issue citation	Stop was a pretext for a criminal investigation and thus an unconstitutional seizure	Stop was not pretextual; substantial evidence supports the stop for littering and officers’ intent to cite
Whether officers exceeded the scope of a civil-infraction stop by checking custody status, running names, and removing driver	Identity checks and follow-up were reasonable for a moving-vehicle infraction; pipe in plain view and community-custody violation justified extension	Officers exceeded the limited scope/duration of a civil-infraction stop	Scope was not exceeded: moving-vehicle context and plain-view/community-custody violation permitted extension of the stop
Validity of methamphetamine possession conviction after Blake	Conceded that Blake voids convictions under former RCW 69.50.4013(1); remand and resentencing appropriate	Conviction under the statute is void under Blake; must be vacated and not counted in offender score	Conviction reversed; remand to vacate the drug conviction and resentence with updated offender score

State v. Ladson, 138 Wn.2d 343 (1999) (pretextual traffic-stop doctrine under Washington Constitution)
State v. Duncan, 146 Wn.2d 166 (2002) (distinguishes nontraffic civil-infraction stops from traffic/moving-vehicle stops)
Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1 (1968) (framework for investigative stops and permissible scope)
State v. Blake, 197 Wn.2d 170 (2021) (holding the statute criminalizing simple possession unconstitutional)
State v. Day, 161 Wn.2d 889 (2007) (limits on extending Terry to civil-infraction contexts)
State v. Betancourth, 190 Wn.2d 357 (2018) (suppression remedy for unconstitutional searches and seizures)