The State of Washington v. Hussain Adel

Summary

The Washington Supreme Court held that Hussain Adel's two convictions for simple possession of marijuana — one based on 0.1 gram found in his car and one on less than 0.2 gram found in his store — violated double jeopardy because the unit of prosecution under RCW 69.50.401(e) is possession of 40 grams or less regardless of location, and the statute's ambiguity on multiple stashes is resolved by the rule of lenity. The court further held that the same evidence test and Blockburger's same elements test apply only to multiple convictions under several statutory provisions, not to multiple convictions under a single statute, where the proper inquiry is legislative intent as to the unit of prosecution. It reversed one conviction and remanded for resentencing on the other, disapproving McFadden and Lopez insofar as they applied the same evidence test to the unit of prosecution context. Judge Talmadge, concurring, emphasized that the unit of prosecution analysis must develop case by case and that temporal or spatial separation might support distinct units of prosecution in future cases.