State of Washington v. Joseph Mario Zamora


FILED JUNE 8, 2021 In the Office of the Clerk of Court WA State Court of Appeals, Division III IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON DIVISION THREE STATE OF WASHINGTON, ) ) No. 37019-4-III Respondent, ) ) v. ) ) JOSEPH MARIO ZAMORA, ) UNPUBLISHED OPINION ) Appellant. ) SIDDOWAY, J. — After a 911 caller’s dog barked at a person walking down the private road in front of her home, she reported that the person appeared to be looking into cars. Joseph Zamora turned out to be walking to the home of his niece. He proved to be high on drugs, however, and the State concedes that after police responded to the 911 call, a confrontation with Mr. Zamora “escalated far beyond what should have happened when a lone officer confronted a suspicious trespasser on a cold, icy winter night.” Br. of Resp’t at 32. Mr. Zamora’s near death while resisting arrest resulted in an internal police investigation and prompts him to make some novel arguments on appeal. We affirm the convictions but remand for resentencing. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND On Super Bowl Sunday, February 5, 2017, Joseph Zamora, who was homeless at the time, spent time at the home of his brother, James Murphy. That evening, he decided No. 37019-4-III State v. Zamora to walk to where his niece, Alyssa Murphy lived, a few blocks away. Mr. Zamora later admitted to smoking methamphetamine two or three days earlier, but he could not recall if he smoked any meth that day. At around 9:30 p.m. that evening, then-Moses Lake Police Officer Kevin Hake1 was on patrol when he received a report of a suspicious person carrying a suitcase and looking into vehicles on Space Street. The complaint had been phoned in by Brandi Moncada, who lived on Space Street and reported that an individual wearing “darkish clothes” and carrying some sort of bag was lurking around cars parked on the street. Report of Proceedings (RP) at 288. Because of the lack of street lighting, Ms. Moncada could not tell if the individual was male or female. It had been snowing and road conditions were bad, but Officer Hake was only a quarter mile away, so he was able to respond quickly. When he arrived at Space Street he immediately saw what turned out to be Joseph Zamora, carrying some kind of case, walking down the road. Officer Hake and Mr. Zamora were traveling in the same direction, so the officer drove beyond him, pulled over, and got out of his patrol car. He signaled with his hand at Mr. Zamora, who was then about 20 feet away, and told Mr. Zamora he needed to speak with him. Mr. Zamora continued to walk toward Officer Hake and stopped when he reached him. 1 Hake was no longer a police officer at the time of trial and was addressed at trial as “Mr. Hake.” We refer to him as Officer Hake in recounting the events of February …

Original document
Source: All recent Immigration Decisions In All the U.S. Courts of Appeals