State v. Roggenkamp

Summary

The Washington Supreme Court, en banc, held in consolidated review that 'in a reckless manner' in the vehicular homicide (RCW 46.61.520) and vehicular assault (RCW 46.61.522) statutes means operating a vehicle in a 'rash or heedless manner, indifferent to the consequences,' not the 'willful or wanton disregard for the safety of persons or property' standard of the reckless driving statute, resting on noscitur a sociis, the different-words canon, statutory structure, and legislative history. It further held that a challenge to a jury instruction that misdefines an element of a charged crime may be raised for the first time on appeal, and that the other driver's conduct in Roggenkamp was at most a concurring cause, not a superseding cause, of the fatal crash; the Court of Appeals was affirmed in both cases. Justice Sanders dissented, arguing that RCW 46.98.020's in pari materia command requires 'reckless' to carry identical meaning throughout the Motor Vehicle Code and that the instructional errors were not harmless beyond a reasonable doubt; Justice Chambers concurred in the dissent.