Law Of Pimping Criminal Liability Clarified
The Washington State Supreme Court has held that pimps are subject to multiple counts of promoting prostitution per the number of prostitutes in their employ
At issue in this case is whether a pimp can be convicted on multiple counts of promoting prostitution when multiple prostitutes are involved. We have not previously considered the unit of prosecution for second degree promoting prostitution. In light of the statute’s plain language and prior decisions of this court, we affirm the Court of Appeals and hold that the legislature expressed its clear intent to authorize multiple convictions when one pimp exploits multiple individuals.
The facts
Shacon Barbee was a pimp that made money from prostitutes working under his supervision. Three young women that Barbee “supervised” during 2010 were SE, BK, and CW.
SE met Barbee when she was 13 and began working for him as a prostitute when she was 16. Along with posting ads on websites such as Backpage.com, SE would also work “the track” (a slang term for working on the streets) in popular Seattle-area prostitution locations including Aurora Avenue and Pacific Highway South. SE thought that Barbee cared about her and that they would spend their lives together. She testified at trial that she was expected to make $1,000 a day or stay up at night until she met that quota. All of her earnings went to Barbee. Barbee required SE to recruit other girls or young women to work for him as prostitutes. SE would peruse websites like MySpace or Facebook, looking for attractive girls who might be interested in “escorting.” During 2010, two of the women she recruited on Barbee’s behalf were two 18-year-olds, BK and CW.
He claimed that multiple punishments for promoting BK and CW violated double jeopardy.
Divisions One and Two of the Court of Appeals have come to different conclusions regarding whether the statute evinces a clear legislative intent to impose multiple punishments when one individual employs two or more prostitutes in the same time frame.
Resolving the division split
…the text of the statute is clear. The legislature authorized charges premised on either operating a prostitution enterprise or promoting individual prostitutes. Although not necessary to resolve the issue, an examination of the statute’s legislative history also confirms that a defendant may face multiple convictions when he or she “promotes” multiple prostitutes. The history of Washington’s promoting prostitution statute indicates that the statute is “victim-centered” and focused on criminalizing the promotion of prostitution as it related to each individual exploited.
…while the plain language of the statute is unambiguous, the legislative history also clearly reflects that the legislature intended the crime to be, in part, a crime against individual persons.
In sum, in light of the plain language of the statute and consistent with our prior construction of similarly worded statutes, we hold that the legislature, by use of the language “a person,” unambiguously authorized a unit of prosecution for each person promoted. When a defendant promotes prostitution of more than one individual, he or she may be prosecuted for more than one count.
(Mike Frisch)