In the Matter of the Personal Restraint Petition of Harry N. Carrier

Summary

The Washington Supreme Court considers Harry Carrier’s untimely personal restraint petition challenging a mandatory life sentence imposed under the Persistent Offender Accountability Act. The court holds that a dismissal order may be considered in determining whether the judgment and sentence is facially invalid, and examines whether a pre-SRA conviction dismissed under former RCW 9.95.240 may count as a strike. The opinion addresses the effect and retroactivity of a 2003 amendment requiring an additional vacation procedure for certain pre-SRA convictions.

Holdings

1. A court may consider an authenticated court document attached to a personal restraint petition when the document bears directly on the trial court's authority to impose the challenged sentence; therefore, the 1985 dismissal order could be considered in determining whether Carrier's judgment and sentence was valid on its face.
2. A conviction dismissed under former RCW 9.95.240 may remain a conviction for some purposes, but the dismissal has the same legal effect as vacation under the SRA and removes the conviction from criminal history; consequently, the conviction may not be counted as a strike under the POAA.
3. The 2003 amendment to former RCW 9.95.240 applies retroactively to Carrier, but it cannot be applied to impair Carrier's vested right in the vacated status of his conviction.
4. Carrier established a fundamental defect resulting in a complete miscarriage of justice because the trial court imposed an unauthorized life sentence by counting the dismissed conviction as a POAA strike.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the court could consider the authenticated 1985 dismissal order attached to Carrier's petition in determining whether his judgment and sentence was valid on its face.
2. Whether a conviction dismissed under former RCW 9.95.240 could be included in a defendant's criminal history and counted as a POAA strike.
3. Whether the 2003 amendment to former RCW 9.95.240 applied retroactively to Carrier and defeated any vested right in the vacated status of his conviction.
4. Whether Carrier was entitled to relief from his unlawful life sentence despite filing his personal restraint petition more than one year after the judgment became final.

Disposition

remanded