The State of Washington, Petitioner v. Robert James Hill, Respondent

Summary

The Washington Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeals and affirmed Robert James Hill's conviction for possession of cocaine, holding that sweatpants an officer picked up off the bedroom floor while executing a premises narcotics warrant were part of the premises rather than an extension of Hill's person, so searching the pockets did not violate the Fourth Amendment. Because Hill assigned no error to the trial court's CrR 3.6 findings, those findings bound the court as verities, and the undisputed facts showed the pants lay on the floor near the door, were not obviously associated with Hill, and were not shown to be kept private. The opinion also clarifies Washington's standard of review for suppression findings, discarding the independent-evaluation rule as an anomaly misappropriated from federal practice: appellate courts will review only facts to which error is assigned, and challenged findings supported by substantial evidence are binding on appeal.