In State v. Olsen, the WA Supreme Court held that a defendant’s knowing and validly entered guilty plea to a 2003 drug possession charge did not become unknowing and involuntary simply because the State v. Blake decision in 2021 declared Washington State’s drug possession statute unconstitutional.
FACTUAL BACKGROUND
In 2003, Olsen pled guilty to Forgery and Unlawful Possession of Controlled Substance in two separate matters at the same time. In 2005, Olsen pled guilty to unlawful possession of firearm second degree and unlawful possession of controlled substance from the same incident. He completed his sentences on both matters.
In 2021, Olsen filed CrR 7.8 motions to withdraw his guilty pleas as being involuntary pleas to nonexistent crimes and that the pleas were part of indivisible agreements, pursuant to State v. Blake. The superior court denied the motions and only vacated the drug possession convictions.
COURT’S ANALYSIS & CONCLUSIONS
The Supreme Court held that while Blake invalidated Olsen’s simple drug possession convictions, it did not open the door to untimely challenges to the voluntariness of guilty pleas.
“A motion to withdraw a plea after judgment has been entered is a collateral attack,” said the Court. “Criminal defendants seeking to collaterally attack their judgment and sentence must do so within one year of the judgment and sentence becoming final.”
The Court acknowledged that RCW 10.73.100(7) provides an exception to the one-year time bar when there has been a significant, retroactively applicable change in the law that is material to the defendant’s conviction or sentence. However, the defendant must show the law changed in a way that entitles him to relief, such as by changing the process or result of their case. Here, Blake is not material to Olsen’s due process claim challenging the voluntariness of his drug possession pleas.
Olsen’s guilty pleas, knowingly and validly entered, did not become unknowing and involuntary simply because Blake declared the drug possession statute unconstitutional. The validity of the pleas turns on whether Olsen was inadequately informed of the law and the consequences at the time he pleaded. State v. Lamb, 175 Wn.2d 121, 129, 285 P.3d 27 (2012). Blake does not provide new legal grounds for determining whether he voluntarily and knowingly pleaded guilty to drug possession, a valid crime in 2003 and 2005. Olsen cannot use Blake to circumvent the time bar under RCW 10.73.100(6) and belatedly challenge his guilty pleas.
With that, the WA Supreme Court affirmed the Superior Court’s rulings denial of Olsen’s motions to withdraw guilty pleas and upheld Olsen’s drug conviction.
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