The State of Washington, Petitioner v. Shane Michael Vangerpen, Respondent

Summary

The Washington Supreme Court held that the trial court erred in allowing the State to amend the information after both sides had rested to add the inadvertently omitted element of premeditation, because the amendment changed the charge from attempted second degree murder to attempted first degree murder and was per se prejudicial error under State v. Pelkey without any defense showing of prejudice. The court reaffirmed that the remedy for a conviction based on a constitutionally insufficient charging document is dismissal without prejudice to refiling, refusing to enter a conviction for attempted second degree murder because that was not the crime the jury found. It also held that independent evidence that the defendant reached quickly toward a loaded, cocked, concealed gun prima facie established the corpus delicti, so his inculpatory statements were properly admitted. The court affirmed the Court of Appeals' reversal of the conviction, its dismissal without prejudice, and its corpus delicti ruling.