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STATE v. BROWN
940 P.2d 546 (1997)
Supreme Court of Washington, En Banc.
July 24, 1997.


 

 

[ 940 P.2d 556 ]

On the morning of May 23, 1991, Ms. Holly C. Washa was at the Wyndham Garden Hotel near the Seattle-Tacoma Airport where she had just quit her part-time job. As she was driving out of the parking lot in her 1985 Oldsmobile, Appellant pointed to one of the tires on her automobile suggesting something was wrong. She stopped. Appellant then forced his way into her automobile, stuck a knife3 in her face, and grabbed her by the hair. He demanded that she "drive or die," and began rummaging through her purse for money. Finding only a small amount of change, he looked at her checkbook. He then forced her to write a check for $350.00, the entire balance in her checking account. They went through the drive-up window at a Seafirst Bank in Federal Way and cashed the check. Then they went to the Seattle waterfront area where Appellant tied Ms. Washa's hands behind her back with her purse strap and forced her into the passenger seat of her automobile. He asked her several questions concerning her schedule on a typical day, who her roommates were and what they did.4 He then purchased some handcuffs at a gun shop while leaving Ms. Washa tied up in the automobile.5
After purchasing the handcuffs, Appellant took Ms. Washa back to his room at the Shadow Motel where he paid for an extra night. He demanded that she remove all her clothing, after which he tied her to the bed with his neckties and her purse strap. He cut up her shirt and stuffed it into her mouth for a gag. He then ordered her to get dressed again and took her to get something to eat. While at a Burger King drive-through, he held the knife in a threatening position where she could see he might use it. Upon their return to the motel room, he ordered her to remove her clothing and lie face down on the bed. He also told her not to scream or do anything. Appellant said Ms. Washa began fellating him, which he took as her consent for sexual activity.6
Appellant then engaged in sexual intercourse with Ms. Washa for about two hours, during which time he noticed she was looking at the door and possibly thinking of escape. Appellant decided it was time "to have a little control, ... make her a little more scared of me, basically." He then tied her in a face up, spread eagle position, with her hands behind her back and her mouth gagged, and whipped her "maybe half a dozen times...."7
Appellant allowed Ms. Washa to get dressed again, tied her hands behind her back, and drove her to Federal Way for pizza. When they returned to the motel, Appellant again forced her to undress and tied her to the bed in a face down, spread eagle position with her hands tied behind her back. He then had sexual intercourse with her again. At about 11:00 p.m. that evening, he telephoned Ms. Susan J. Schnell in California to reconfirm their weekend plans in Palm Springs. After that, he crawled into bed with Ms. Washa, who was still bound and gagged, and they "dozed."8
The next day, Friday, May 24, 1991, Appellant forced Ms. Washa to drive him to her apartment where he hoped to find checks belonging to her roommates that he could forge. He found some checks and attempted to cash them in $500.00 amounts, but was thwarted when the banks wanted to compare signatures with signature cards on file. Appellant became irritated with Ms. Washa when the check-cashing plan did not go as he had hoped. She began to drive somewhat erratically, making him even angrier.9
When they returned to the motel, Appellant again tied Ms. Washa to the bed face down in a spread eagle position with her hands handcuffed behind her back and her mouth gagged with a washcloth. He penetrated
[ 940 P.2d 557 ]

her vaginally and anally with an aftershave lotion bottle.10 He shaved her pubic hair and held a hot hair dryer close to her vagina, breasts and stomach. He also shocked her by using an electric extension cord with the end cut off. He described these acts as "torture" and acknowledged that the electric shock was particularly painful.11
At 8:45 on the evening of May 24, 1991, Appellant left for the Seattle-Tacoma Airport to embark on his trip to California. He forced Ms. Washa into the trunk of her blue 1985 Oldsmobile automobile with her hands handcuffed behind her back and drove to the Doug Fox Travel Agency parking lot where he momentarily parked the automobile. Because shuttle buses were driving around the lot, Appellant was concerned that someone might discover Ms. Washa since "she could just bang and clang and crunch and scream and be out very quickly."12 He then went to the trunk and cut her throat with "three swipes" and stabbed her several times in the chest and abdominal areas.13 Because Ms. Washa's blood began leaking from the trunk of the automobile, Appellant moved from the Doug Fox lot to the Budget Park and Ride lot near Shumsky's Restaurant in the airport area. He told detectives:


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