THE CRIME OF RECKLESS ENDANGERMENT

In addition to assault, harassment, and violations of no-contact orders, reckless endangerment is another crime that is frequently charged as domestic violence. Washington State law defines reckless endangerment as an act of recklessly creating a substantial risk of death or serious bodily injury to anther person. There used to be two degrees of reckless endangerment, but what used to be 1st degree reckless endangerment is now called "drive-by shooting." In all other cases not amounting to a drive-by shooting, a person will be charged with reckless endangerment, which is a gross misdemeanor.

An important thing to remember about this charge is the element of intent. To be charged with this crime, you do not have to intend to commit any act that may cause harm to someone else; you merely need to act recklessly. What does "reckless" mean? Ultimately, that is a question for the jury. In criminal law we have three different levels of intent: criminal negligence, recklessness, and malice. "Criminal negligence" is a gross deviation from the ordinary care you would expect the average person to exercise. "Malice" means that you specifically intended to commit a certain act or crime. "Recklessness" falls somewhere in between criminal negligence and malice.

So although it is a crime where no one is actually harmed, reckless endangerment is not an attempt crime like attempted murder. That is because you only need to be acting recklessly- no specific intent to carry out any act is necessary to be charged with this crime.

It is also important to note that the Washington statute says that reckless endangerment means you created a substantial risk of serious bodily injury. That means you must of created a risk of harm that is beyond the sort of harm that occurs in a 4th degree assault.

Another important thing to note about the crime of reckless endangerment is that you can be charged mulitple times for a single act if you created a substantial risk of serious harm to more than one person. In State v. Graham, the Washington State Supreme Court held that charging a person more than once for a single act is constitutional and separate charges can be justified when more than one person is endangered.

Let's say you are driving a vehicle with your spouse and three children after leaving a holiday party. Let's say you had a few drinks at the party and your blood alcohol content is .28. A police officer notices you swerving on the road and decides to stop you. Here, in addition to DUI, you could be charged with FOUR counts of reckless endangerment- one for each passenger. Not only that, but the charges would be considered to be domestic violence because the victims here are family members.

Whether or not the charges of reckless endangerment would stand depends on whether your driving and whether your level of intoxication rose beyond criminal negligence to the level of recklessness and whether the risk you created to the passengers in your vehicle was substantial.

INTERFERING WITH A REPORT OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

In domestic violence cases, there is frequently a charge of assault, harassment, or malicious mischief. In addition, defendants are also frequently charged with the crime of interfering with a report of domestic violence, which is a gross misdemeanor in Washington State. The statue that defines this particular offense states:

1) A person commits the crime of interfering with the reporting of domestic violence if the person:
      (a) Commits a crime of domestic violence, as defined in RCW 10.99.020; and
      (b) Prevents or attempts to prevent the victim of or a witness to that domestic violence crime from calling a 911 emergency communication system, obtaining medical assistance, or making a report to any law enforcement official.

Note that a crime of domestic violence must have been committed first before an allegation of interfering with a report of domestic violence can be supported. Alleged victims often make false allegations for a variety of reasons and if there is not sufficient evidence to prove that you committed a crime against the person who has accused you, than you cannot be convicted of interfering with a report of domestic violence.

There are some situations where the defendant may try to prevent someone from calling 911 when there has been no act of domestic violence committed and the person accused knows that the person attempting to make the phone call is going to make a false allegation. In this situation, it would not be considered to be interfering with a report of domestic violence because there was no actual crime to report.

RCW 10.99.020 also requires the alleged victim to be a family member or household member in order for a crime to be domestic violence. If you are accused of assaulting someone who is not a family member or a member of your household, you cannot be convicted of interfering with a report of domestic violence even if you do attempt to prevent them from calling 911.

This particular crime is separate from the underlying domestic violence allegation and, if the case goes to trial, this charge is usually brought to a jury in the same case as the underlying offense. The prosecutor will have to prove this charge apart from the underlying charge and the court will require separate jury instructions for each charge.