Bird v. State

908 P.2d 12, 184 Ariz. 198, 197 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 28, 1995 Ariz. App. LEXIS 187, 1995 WL 495789
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arizona
DecidedAugust 22, 1995
Docket1 CA-CV 94-0010
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 908 P.2d 12 (Bird v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arizona primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bird v. State, 908 P.2d 12, 184 Ariz. 198, 197 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 28, 1995 Ariz. App. LEXIS 187, 1995 WL 495789 (Ark. Ct. App. 1995).

Opinion

OPINION

GRANT, Judge.

This appeal requires us to decide whether the Arizona statute forbidding wagering on the outcome of an election runs afoul of constitutional freedom-of-speech protections. We hold that the statute, Ariz.Rev.Stat.Ann. (“A.R.S.”) section 16-1015, is not unconstitutionally vague or overbroad. We reverse the superior court’s ruling to the contrary.

Facts and Procedural History

On March 23, 1993, the state charged the plaintiffs/appellees Jack Bird and Charles Lofton “Loft” Hollamon with violating the statute prohibiting betting on the outcome of an election:

§ 16-1015. Election wagers; classification
A person who, before or during an election provided by law, knowingly makes, offers or accepts a bet or wager, or takes a share or interest in, or in any manner becomes a party to the bet or wager, or provides or agrees to provide money to be used by another in making the bet or wager, upon any contingency whatever arising out of such election, is guilty of a class 2 misdemeanor.

The charges were made after the following announcement appeared in the Verde Independent:

PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT
Jack Bird Challenges Loft Hollamon with a bet. Jack says he will wipe us out at the voting booth. Jack will pay $100 for each man in our group who gets more votes than his councilmen. Loft took him up on *201 it, and will also pay $100 for each of his men that get less votes than Jack Bird’s councilmen.
Jack Bird’s councilmen are:
Tap Parsons
Pat Kaminsky
Marvin Reynolds
Woody Diehl
Jerry Taylor
Loft Hollamon’s potential councilmen are:
Loft Hollamon
Norma Wolford
William Yates
Gary Thompson
Raymond Coon
Both agree to this challenge on December 12, 1992 and will be paid within twenty-four hours after the final counting of the votes of the February 2nd election.
M Jack Bird
Jack Bird
M Loft Hollamon
Loft Hollamon
NOTE: It could cost $500 to determine who has a vested interest in this election. Jack Bird is our local real estate agent and Loft Hollamon is our well driller. I have always stuck by Camp Verde, now it is your turn to stick by me.
Loft Hollamon

Bird and Hollamon moved to dismiss the charges, arguing that section 16-1015 is unconstitutionally vague and overbroad. The Camp Verde Justice Court, the Honorable Carl Colie, Justice of the Peace pro tem., denied the motion. Bird and Hollamon then filed a petition for special action in the Yavapai County Superior Court, seeking an order of that court requiring the charges be dismissed.

In their petition, Bird and Hollamon argued that the statute was vague and over-broad, and that they were the victims of selective prosecution. They based the latter claim on the following facts. The September 22,1993, issue of the Prescott Sun carried on its front page a story about the reelection of Prescott Mayor, Daiton Rutkowski. Next to the story was a photograph bearing this caption: “City of Prescott Public Information Officer Greg Fister, left, pays Mayor Daiton Rutkowski $1. The two bet earlier in the day on the election. Rutkowski won.” The Prescott City Attorney, John R. Moffitt, referred the matter to the Coconino County Attorney, Terrence C. Hance, for possible prosecution. The Coconino County Attorney refused to prosecute. In a letter to the City Attorney, then Chief Deputy Coconino County Attorney Fred Newton wrote:

I have reviewed all the material provided and AR.S. § 16-1015. It is my conclusion that no criminal charges be filed. There does not appear to be any criminal intent, and the costs of prosecution would far outweigh any public policy reason for filing charges.
Clearly, our decision to decline prosecution should not be considered as an endorsement for betting on elections. If the amount of the wager had been substantially more, then the interests of justice would require prosecution, as the statute prohibiting gambling on public elections has substantial merit.

At the hearing on the petition for special action, the plaintiffs argued that the statute should have been drawn more narrowly; that it could be improperly used to prosecute supposedly harmless bets, such as two people whose bet required the loser to push the other around the courthouse in a wheelbarrow. The superior court accepted jurisdiction and granted the requested relief. From the bench the judge stated his reasons for granting relief. He rejected the plaintiffs’ contention about selective prosecution, and acknowledged that the “legislature has a legitimate interest in maintaining the integrity of free elections in this country and attempting to see to it that the elections are not in any way tainted____” He then stated:

So you understand clearly what I determined that I’m here to decide, counsel, I’m here to decide whether AR.S. 16-1015 is constitutional, whether that statute violates perhaps Article II Section 6 of the Arizona Constitution, which it may or may not do; ultimately, though, whether it violates the First Amendment to the United States Constitution as applied to this case and the *202 14th Amendment, and that’s what I’m here to decide.
One in reading the statute, which is relatively short, could infer, from one clause “or provides or agrees to provide money to be used by another in making the bet or wager” that the statute is designed to prevent serious gambling or money being exchanged by which an election might be perhaps influenced. When we’re talking about the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, you better not sit around and infer____
Here we have a one-sentence statute, and it doesn’t take a great deal of imagination to come up with dozens and dozens of ways that that statute can be violated in the favorite national pastime, the process of engaging in the favorite national pastime of citizens of the United States of America, namely politics. I’ll betcha the bond election passes. I’ll betcha it doesn’t. You know. I’ll come over and thin out your iris bulbs if Charlie wins the election. For goodness sake, it goes on and on, over-the-back-fence kinds of exchanges between people having nothing whatsoever to do with the election, indeed people who are not even registered voters.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
908 P.2d 12, 184 Ariz. 198, 197 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 28, 1995 Ariz. App. LEXIS 187, 1995 WL 495789, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bird-v-state-arizctapp-1995.