In thе Matter of the Personal Restraint of David GREENING, Petitioner.
Supreme Court of Washington, En Banc.
*207 David L. Greening, Walla Walla, pro se.
Sheryl Gordon McCloud, Seattle, for Petitioner.
John Ladenburg, Pierce County Prosecutor, John Christopher Hillman, Deputy Pierce County Prosecutor, Tacoma, for Respondent.
BRIDGE, J.
The only contested issues in this case are procedural. Both parties agree that, on the merits, nearly one-third of David Greening's 18 ¼ year sentence was unlawfully imposed. Specifically, his firearm enhancements were to run consecutively to each other, contrary to former RCW 9.94A.310(3)(e) (Laws of 1995, ch. 129, § 2), as subsequently construed *208 by this court. Greening's attempt to raise this issue in his first, timely filed pro se personal restraint petition (PRP), however, was inarticulate and ineffective. At issue here is whether this second petition, filed more than a year after Greening's sentence, is time barred, improperly successive, or abusive of the writ. Bеcause we find none of these procedural barriers applicable here, we grant the petition.
FACTS
On August 28, 1997, David Greening, a.k.a. Nathan Johnson, pleaded guilty to, and was sentenced for, three offenses: second degree assault, first degree burglary, and first degree theft. The Pierce County Superior Court found no aggravating factors, and Greening was given concurrent standard-range sentences of 63 months, 87 months, and 33 months, respectively. Pursuant to the "Hard Time for Armed Crime" initiative codified at RCW 9.94A.310(3), firearm enhancements were added to all three offenses: 36 months, 60 months, and 36 months, respectively. Section 4.2(b) of the judgment and sentence provided, "Sentence enhancements in Counts I, II & III shall run consecutive to each other." Suppl. Br. of Resp't, App. D, Judgment and Sentence at 6. Greening did not appeаl. Nine months after his sentencing, though, this court ruled in In re Post Sentencing Review of Charles,
On August 10, 1998, acting without counsel, Greening timely filed a PRP in the Court of Appeals, claiming, inter alia, "my charges werent [sic] ran [sic] together the proper way...." PRP at 2. One of his formal assignments of error was that "they chargеd me with three gun enhanc[e]ments, and three felony cases, when all the charges should have been ran [sic] together." Id. at 2b (second unnumbered page after 2). Nine days later, Division Two's chief judge summarily dismissed the PRP for presenting unsupported claims. Greening's one-year RCW 10.73.090 deadline for collaterally challenging his sentence expired on August 28, 1998.
On October 16, 1998, Greening filed an untimely motion for reconsideratiоn, this time expressly citing Charles as support for his consecutive enhancement claim. Treating the pro se pleading as a motion for discretionary review, the Court of Appeals transferred it to this court on October 20, 1998. On December 20, 1998, this court's commissioner rejected the motion as untimely filed. More than two months later, on February 24, 1999, Greening filed a pro se motion to modify the commissioner's ruling, which was аlso untimely and rejected on that basis. On September 20, 1999, Greening filed this second pro se petition with this court, requesting relief based on Charles. We granted review and appointed counsel to represent Greening.
ANALYSIS
This case raises three questions. First, is Greening entitled to relief on the merits under RAP 16.4(c)(2)? Second, is his petition time barred under RCW 10.73.090? And third, is it improperly successive under RCW 10.73.140, RAP 16.4(d), or the abuse of the writ doctrine?
I
While this petition's procedural viability is vigorously disputed, its merits are not. Our rules of appellate procedure entitle a petitioner to collateral relief if his or her "sentence... was imposed or entered in violation of the ... laws of the State of Washington[.]" RAP 16.4(c)(2). Prosecutors agree that Greening's sentence enhancements were unlawfully imposed: "The State does not contest the fact that the defendant's sentence in this case was imposed contrary to the laws of the State of Washington, particularly RCW *209 9.94A.400(1)(a)."[2] Suppl. Br. of Resp't at 11.
We faced a related situation in In re Personal Restraint of Carle,
Similarly, in In re Personal Restraint of Moore,
Most similar to Greening's case, though, is In re Personal Restraint of Johnson,
On the merits, Greening's claim is indistinguishable. When he was sentenced in August 1997, former RCW 9.94A.310(3)(e) mandated that "any and all firearm enhancements... shall not run concurrently with any other sentencing provisions." The parties and the sentencing judge interpreted that statute in accordance with a controlling Division Two case deсided just two months earlier, State v. Lewis,
II
However, the State claims that this petition is procedurally barred because it was filed on September 20, 1999, more than a year аfter Greening's sentence became final on August 28, 1997, and because none of the statutory exceptions applies. RCW 10.73.090(1) provides:
No petition or motion for collateral attack on a judgment and sentence in a criminal case may be filed more than one year after the judgment becomes final if the judgment and sentence is valid on its face and was rendered by a court of competent jurisdiction.
RAP 16.4(d) permits collateral relief only if allowable "under RCW 10.73.090, .100, and.130." While RAP 1.2(c) authorizes an appellate court to waive its own rules when necessary "to serve the ends of justice," RCW 10.73.090 is a statute, establishing a "mandatory rule" with no "good cause" or "ends of justice" exception. Shumway v. Payne,
Still, Greening argues, inter alia, that RCW 10.73.100(6) statutorily exempts this petition from the RCW 10.73.090 one-year time bar. RCW 10.73.100 reads, in relevant part:
The time limit specified in RCW 10.73.090 does not аpply to a petition or motion that is based solely on one or more of the following grounds:
. . . .
(6) There has been a significant change in the law, whether substantive or procedural, which is material to the conviction, sentence, or other order entered in a criminal or civil proceeding instituted by the state or local government, and either the legislature has expressly provided that the change in the law is to be applied retroactively, or a court, in interpreting a change in the law that lacks express legislative intent regarding retroactive application, determines that sufficient reasons exist to require retroactive application of the changed legal standard.
In 1993, when this court upheld the constitutionality of the one-year time bar for PRPs, we emphasized the "[b]road exceptions" provided in RCW 10.73.100, which *211 allows exceptions when later developments bring into question the validity of the petitioner's continuing detention. ... These exceptions are broader than is necessary to preserve the narrow constitutional scope of habeas relief. The Legislature, of course, is free to expand the scope of collateral relief beyond that which is constitutionally required, and here it has done so to include situations which affect the continued validity and fairness of the petitioner's incarceration.
In re Personal Restraint of Runyan,121 Wash.2d 432 , 440, 444-45,853 P.2d 424 (1993) (emphasis added). "In streamlining the postconviction collateral review process, RCW 10.73.090 et seq. have preserved unlimited access to review in cases where there truly exists a question as to the validity of the prisoner's continuing detention." Id. at 453,853 P.2d 424 (emphasis added). We added, "Faced with a virtually unlimited universe of possible postconviction claims, the Legislature wisеly chose to exempt those contentions which go to the very validity of the prisoner's continued incarceration." Id. at 449,853 P.2d 424 (emphasis added). Here, the State acknowledges that six years of this prisoner's prescribed incarceration period have been unlawfully imposed.
RCW 10.73.100(6) preserves access to collateral review in cases where there has been a "significant change in the law" that is material to a court order.[8] This court has repeatedly found that appellate decisions can effect such a change. See Johnson,
In Holmes, this court declined to view In re Personal Restraint of Pepperling,
In Olivera-Avila,
While litigants have a duty to raise available arguments in a timely fashion and may later be procedurally penalized for failing to do so, as occurrеd in Holmes and Olivera-Avila, they should not be faulted for having omitted arguments that were essentially unavailable at the time, as occurred here.[9] We hold that where an intervening opinion has effectively overturned a prior appellate decision that was originally determinative of a material issue, the intervening opinion constitutes a "significant change in the law" for purposes of exemption from procedural bars.
Here, when the Pierce County Superiоr Court sentenced Greening in August 1997, the Court of Appeals had just two months earlier, in Lewis,
For several reasons we reject the State's argument that the "significant change in the law" exemption should apply only to a petitioner's first collateral attack following that change, and only when that change takes place after the initial year. First, the statutory language in no way supports the State's rеading. As written, the exemption applies whenever "[t]here has been a significant change in the law, whether substantive or procedural, which is material to the conviction, sentence, or other order...." RCW 10.73.100(6) (emphasis added). Second, even were we to find the State's alternative construction reasonable, the rule of lenity would require resolving the alleged ambiguity in the petitioner's favor. Charles,
III
The State also contends that the successive petition limitations in RCW 10.73.140 require this PRP's dismissal. But as we noted in Johnson, "By its specific tеrms, RCW 10.73.140 relates only to the Court of Appeals and does not apply to the Supreme Court."
As for RAP 16.4(d), it provides, "No more than one petition for similar relief on behalf of the same petitioner will be entertained without good cause shown." A successive petition seeks "similar relief" if it either renews claims already "previously heard and determined" on the merits or raises "new" issues in violation of the abuse of the writ doctrine. Jeffries,
We must first determine whether Greening's consecutive enhancement claim was "previously heard and determined" on the merits. In his earlier petition, Greening *213 stated, without elaboration or support, that "[his] charges werent [sic] ran [sic] together the proper way[,]" because "they charged [him] with three gun enhanc[e]ments, and three felony cases, when all the charges shоuld have been ran [sic] together[.]" PRP at 2 and 2b. His appointed counsel commented,
This is not the most elegant language in the world. But it clearly shows that Mr. Greening attempted to raise a challenge to his three consecutive firearm enhancements, on the ground that they `should have been ran [sic] together,' in a timely manner in his first petition.
Second Suppl. Br. of Pet. at 2. We conclude, though, that Greening's attempt to raise the issue failed. He barely articulated the claim, citing no legal authority. Indeed, his first petition was summarily dismissed without any acknowledgment that the claim had been raised:
David L. Greening has filed a personal restraint petition challenging his 1997 Pierce County convictions for burglary and theft in the first degree and second degree assault. He contends that medications rendered his guilty plea invоluntary, that he had ineffective assistance of counsel, and that the State provided no proof to support a deadly weapon enhancement.
This petition clearly lacks merit and should be dismissed. The petitioner cites no authority to support his contentions. "Bare allegations unsupported by citation of authority, references to the record, or persuasive reаsoning cannot sustain [a petitioner's] burden of proof." State v. Brune,45 Wash.App. 354 , 363,725 P.2d 454 (1986), review denied,110 Wash.2d 1002 ,1988 WL 631904 (1998). See In re Cook,114 Wash.2d 802 , 813-14,792 P.2d 506 (1990). Accordingly, it is hereby
ORDERED that this petition is dismissed.
Unpublished Order Dismissing Petition, No. 23582-0-II (Aug. 19, 1998).
Because we find that (1) Greening's first attempt to raise the issue was "not sufficient to command judicial consideration and discussion in a personal restraint proceeding," see In re Personal Restraint of Webster,
Second, we examine whether this petition violates the abuse of the writ doctrine. Issues not "previously heard and determined" on their merits may be dismissed upon a showing that a petitioner is abusing the writ. Jeffries,
Contrary to the suggestions ... [in] Justice Brachtenbach's concurring/dissenting opinion, we are not creating "a per se rule that the advancing of new issues in successive petitions constitutes an abuse of the [writ]". We hold only that, if the petitioner was represented by counsel throughout postconviction proceedings, it is an abuse of the writ for him or her to raise, in a successive petition, a new issue that was "available but not relied upon in a prior petition".
*214 CONCLUSION
Finding that this petition is exempt from the one-year time bar under RCW 10.73.100(6), is not subject to RCW 10.73.140, and does not violate RAP 16.4(d) or abuse the writ, we grant Greening's petition on the merits under RAP 16.4(с)(2) and remand for resentencing, nunc pro tunc, in accordance with former RCW 9.94A.310(3)(e) as construed in Charles.
GUY, C.J., SMITH, JOHNSON, MADSEN, ALEXANDER, TALMADGE, SANDERS, and IRELAND, JJ., concur.
NOTES
Notes
[1] RCW 9.94A.310(3)(e) has since been amended to make "all firearm enhancements ... run consecutively to all other sentencing provisions, including other firearm ... enhancements." See Laws of 1998, ch. 235, § 1.
[2] Former RCW 9.94A.400(1)(a) mandated: "Sentences imposed under this subsection shall be served concurrently. Consecutive sentences may only be imposed under the exceptional sentence provisions of RCW 9.94A.120 and 9.94A.390(2)(g) or any other provision of RCW 9.94A.390."
[3] Cf. In re Personal Restraint of Fleming,
[4] In Carle and Moore, we had no need to address the one-year time bar and other RCW 10.73 restrictions, since those restrictions went into еffect in 1990, after the petitions were filed.
[5] To obtain collateral relief from an alleged nonconstitutional error, a petitioner must show "a fundamental defect which inherently results in a complete miscarriage of justice[,]" Cook,
[6] As it does here, the State argued in Moore that by pleading guilty, Moore had waived all possible objections. See Garrison v. Rhay,
[7] When this court construes a statute, its original meaning is clarified. Our ruling is thus automatically "retroactive." State v. Moen,
[8] The time bar question was not addressed in Johnson. Although RCW 10.73.090(1) was in effect and Johnson's petition wаs filed nearly a full decade after his sentence, it was clear that the RCW 10.73.100(6) time bar exemption applied, since we foundand the State conceded that Sietz represented a "material intervening change in the law." Johnson,
[9] While the State correctly notes that "Washington case law is replete with examples of defendants challenging standing case law and succeeding in reversing that law," Suppl. Br. of Resp't at 24, we do not believe procedural restrictions should penalize litigants who fail to do so.
[10] Since we find subsection (6) applies, we need not reach Greening's other grounds. As required, though, the petition was based "solely" on grounds listed in RCW 10.73.090 and .100.
[11] An "abuse of the writ" occurs "where a prisoner files a petition raising grounds that were available but not relied upon in a prior petition, or engages in other conduct that `disentitle[s] him to the relief he seeks....' Kuhlmann,
