In Re The Personal Restraint Petition Of Javier Gonzalez-gonzalez


Filed Washington State Court of Appeals Division Two July 30, 2019 IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON DIVISION II In the Matter of the Personal Restraint of: No. 51438-9-II JAVIER GONZALEZ-GONZALEZ, a.k.a. JAVIER GONZALEZ GONZALEZ Petitioner. UNPUBLISHED OPINION LEE, A.C.J. — Javier Gonzalez-Gonzalez seeks relief from personal restraint imposed following his guilty plea convictions for second degree rape of a child and second degree child molestation. He argues that his defense attorney provided ineffective assistance of counsel by failing to (1) adequately investigate his case and the State’s evidence against him, and (2) adequately communicate with him to allow him to make a knowing, intelligent, and informed decision about whether to plead guilty. Gonzalez-Gonzalez also asserts that the trial court’s subsequent denial of an eight week continuance of his sentencing date so that counsel could be substituted is an extraordinary circumstance justifying relief from judgment. We deny Gonzalez- Gonzalez’s petition. No. 51438-9-II FACTS A. GUILTY PLEA Gonzalez-Gonzalez was originally charged with two counts of second degree rape of a child and four counts of second degree child molestation. Gonzalez-Gonzalez retained counsel to defend against the charges. The State provided Gonzalez-Gonzalez’s counsel with 86 pages of discovery, which included police interviews with the victim and her sisters, statements from the victim’s brother-in- law regarding incriminating statements Gonzalez-Gonzalez had made to him, a statement from the victim’s mother that she once found Gonzalez-Gonzalez nude in bed with the victim, and statements from the victim’s husband that the victim had disclosed the abuse several years earlier. Gonzalez-Gonzalez’s counsel reviewed the 86 pages of discovery. Gonzalez-Gonzalez eventually pleaded guilty to one count of second degree rape of a child and one count of second degree child molestation. Gonzalez-Gonzalez’s guilty plea was memorialized in a document entitled Statement of Defendant on Plea of Guilty to Sex Offense (Plea Statement). The Plea Statement shows that Gonzalez-Gonzalez was specifically informed that the standard sentencing range for the second degree rape of a child charge was between 102 and 136 months and the standard sentencing range for the second degree child molestation charge was between 31 and 41 months. The Plea Statement also stated that the judge did not have to follow anyone’s sentencing recommendation. In addition, the Plea Statement provided an 2 No. 51438-9-II explanation of the special sex offender sentencing alternative (SSOSA),1 which Gonzalez- Gonzalez specifically initialed. The Plea Statement also included the following statement: I am Javier Gonzalez-Gonzalez. Between 08/13/2002 and 08/12/2004, in Clark County, Washington: (1) I had sexual intercourse with L.G.-M., who was at least twelve years old but was less than fourteen years old at the time of the sexual intercourse. I was not married or in a State registered domestic partnership with L.G.-M. Further, L.G.- M. was at least thirty-six months younger than me at that time. L.G.-M. is my biological daughter, and we resided in the same home at that time. I used such position of power and trust to facilitate this crime. This act was ...

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