PORT ANGELES — A state appellate court vacated one of two charges for a woman who gave her daughter a toxic drink in a murder-suicide attempt on Christmas in 2006.
The decision, which was released by the three-judge panel Tuesday, vacates a first-degree assault conviction and retains the first-degree attempted murder conviction for Rhonda L. Marchi.
The mother of three gave her then-10-year-old daughter a concoction of crushed prescription pills partially dissolved in grape juice in a failed attempt to kill her during a Christmas Day visit in 2006.
Marchi also drank the same drug cocktail. She awoke several hours later and phoned 9-1-1 after finding her daughter unconscious.
The appeals court judges determined that because both convictions resulted from the same action, it constituted double jeopardy for her to be convicted on both charges.
Concurrent sentences
Marchi is currently serving 12 years for attempted murder and 10 years for assault in the Washington Corrections Center for Women in Gig Harbor, with the sentences being served concurrently.
The case will be sent back to Clallam County Superior Court for resentencing.
Although Marchi also appealed the attempted murder conviction, saying her poor mental health left her unable to understand the consequences of her actions, the appeals court let that conviction stand.
Greg Link, Marchi’s attorney in the appeals case, said that he would have to discuss it with Marchi but that he expected to appeal the decision not to vacate the attempted murder conviction to the state Surpreme Court.
“I think their analysis of diminished capacity is not correct,” Link said.
“I’m not sure it is entirely legally sound.
Review considered
“We disagree, and we will probably ask for further review.”
Brian Wendt, who argued for Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney Deb Kelly’s office, said that he believed that the judges’ decision to retain the attempted murder conviction was legally sound.
He said in his brief that he cited several other cases dealing with the same issue and that the court had ruled in favor of the state.
“Take, for example, self-defense — self-defense adds a new element, and it would make the actions of the person lawful,” Wendt said.
“But in diminished capacity, it goes to intent — it doesn’t make the actions lawful.
“The defense was arguing that the burden of proof was on the state to prove lack of diminished capacity.
“She has every constitutional right to seek review, but it becomes a much steeper uphill battle because she is basically asking them to overturn the established authority on the very same issue.”
The case must be appealed within 30 days starting Tuesday, Wendt said.
If it is not appealed, a hearing will be set in Superior Court to remove the assault conviction and sentencing.
“It won’t change the length of her sentence or the crime she was convicted of committing,” Wendt said.
“It is a clerical issue.”
Not a complete defense
In the opinion, Appeals Court Judge Marywave Van Deren wrote that diminished capacity was something for the jury to take in mind rather than something that would exonerate someone from a crime.
“Neither diminished capacity nor intoxication is a complete defense but, rather, is evidence the jury may take into account when determining whether the defendant could form the requisite mental state to commit the crime,” Van Deren wrote.
Appeals Court Judges Lisa Worswick and David Armstrong concurred in the opinion.
Marchi — diagnosed as having major depressive disorder and borderline personality disorder — claimed she was trying to protect her daughter from the child’s father, who lived in Idaho.
The child testified during sentencing that her father had never harmed her.
Friends and family of Marchi said during trial that her depression had peaked in the month before the murder-suicide attempt.
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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladailynews.com.
