## Facts

- After discovering his houseboat had been burglarized, Richard Lee Wheeler and a companion drove with a shotgun looking for suspects described as two Black males.
- They confronted three young Black males; two fled, and Wheeler and his companion seized a 15-year-old.
- Wheeler struck the youth, forced him into a truck, drove him to a secluded area, threatened and beat him, and fired a shot as the youth fled.
- Wheeler was charged with kidnapping, second-degree assault with a firearm, and a firearms offense.
- A deputy prosecutor offered a plea deal: Wheeler would plead guilty to assault; the State would dismiss the kidnapping and firearms counts and recommend a short jail term.
- Before Wheeler entered any plea, the chief prosecutor withdrew the offer; Wheeler went to trial, was convicted of second-degree assault with a firearm, and received a three-year sentence.
- On direct appeal, Wheeler sought specific performance of the withdrawn plea offer and raised additional evidentiary and jury-instruction claims.

## Issues

1. Whether the State may withdraw a plea-bargain offer before the defendant enters a guilty plea or otherwise detrimentally relies on the offer, or whether specific performance is required.
2. Whether allowing a witness to alter or correct earlier testimony was error warranting reversal.
3. Whether certain out-of-court statements were improperly admitted as hearsay warranting reversal.
4. Whether the jury instruction defining “knowledge” misstated the law or misled the jury, requiring reversal.

## Decision

- The court affirmed the conviction and sentence.
- The State could withdraw the plea offer before entry of a guilty plea because Wheeler neither pleaded guilty nor showed detrimental reliance.
- The challenged admission of altered testimony and alleged hearsay did not amount to reversible error.
- The “knowledge” instruction, considered as a whole, did not misstate the law or mislead the jury; any defect was not reversible.

## Legal Principles

- Absent detrimental reliance by the defendant, the State may withdraw from a plea agreement before the actual entry of a guilty plea.
- A plea offer is treated as a unilateral contract: acceptance occurs upon entry of the guilty plea or other materially detrimental reliance by the defendant.
- Trial-court evidentiary rulings warrant reversal only if erroneous and prejudicial to the verdict.
- Jury instructions are reviewed in context; reversal is required only if the instructions misstate the law or mislead the jury in a way that affects the verdict.

## Conclusion

The court held that a plea offer is not specifically enforceable when revoked before a guilty plea and without detrimental reliance, and it found no reversible error in the evidentiary rulings or the instruction defining “knowledge,” affirming Wheeler’s conviction.


State v. Wheeler, 95 Wn. 2d 799, 631 P.2d 376 (Wash. 1981)