Commonwealth v. Cabrera

4 N. Mar. I. 240, 1995 N. Mar. I. LEXIS 12
CourtSupreme Court of The Commonwealth of The Northern Mariana Islands
DecidedApril 7, 1995
DocketAppeal No. 93-026; Criminal Case No. 92-0090
StatusPublished

This text of 4 N. Mar. I. 240 (Commonwealth v. Cabrera) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of The Commonwealth of The Northern Mariana Islands primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Commonwealth v. Cabrera, 4 N. Mar. I. 240, 1995 N. Mar. I. LEXIS 12 (N.M. 1995).

Opinions

VILLAGOMEZ, Justice:

Francisco M. Cabrera appeals his conviction and sentence for the offense of delivery of methamphetamine hydrochloride, a crystalline, controlled substance more commonly known as “ice.” The jury rejected Cabrera’s defense of entrapment.

We have jurisdiction over this appeal pursuant to 1 CMC § 3102(a). We affirm Cabrera’s conviction but vacate the sentence imposed because of our belief that the trial court misinterpreted the sentencing statute.

ISSUES

Cabrera raises six issues for our review:

1. Whether the court erred in admitting Cabrera’s confession.

2. Whether the court erred in admitting into evidence: (a) two packets of ice allegedly sold by Cabrera (Exhibit 8); (b) a list of serial numbers of the $100 bills allegedly used to buy the ice sold by Cabrera (Exhibit 1); or (c) the $100 bills themselves (Exhibit 3).

3. Whether the court erred in denying Cabrera’s motion for a judgment of acquittal.

4. Whether the court erroneously instructed the jury as to the burden of proof for the defense of entrapment.

5. Whether the trial court erred in sentencing Cabrera under 6 CMC § 2141(b)(1).

6. Whether Cabrera’s conviction and sentence should be reversed due to cumulative error.1

FACTUAL &

PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

On May 20, 1992, Cabrera approached Frank Camacho, a friend and fellow Department of Public Works employee with whom Cabrera had smoked ice in the past. Cabrera offered to sell Camacho some ice.

Camacho, it turned out, was a police informant (“the informant”). The informant called Officer Norita of the Department of Public Safety (DPS) and told him about Cabrera’s offer. The informant, Norita, and DPS agents planned a “buy-bust,” or police-controlled purchase of the ice by the informant, for that afternoon. Under the scheme, the informant would “buy” three packets of ice from Cabrera with money provided by the police. The police would monitor the transaction from a nearby location and then arrest Cabrera upon completion of the “sale.”

DPS Agent Sokau gave the informant fifteen $100 bills, totaling $1,500. Sokau prepared a receipt that listed the serial number of each bill.

The informant proceeded to a location pre-arranged with Cabrera. In the informant’s car, Cabrera gave him at least two packets containing a crystalline substance,2 and the informant paid Cabrera $1,500.

At a signal from the informant, nearby DPS agents approached the scene and arrested Cabrera. They took him to DPS headquarters, strip-searched him, and found another packet of what appeared to be ice in his sock.

A DPS officer read Cabrera his constitutional rights from a DPS standard rights form. Cabrera initialed each paragraph of the form to indicate that he understood his rights, then signed at the bottom of the form to signify that he wanted to waive his rights.

Sokau questioned Cabrera for two-and-one-half hours. Cabrera confessed to having sold ice to the informant. Sokau reduced Cabrera’s statement to writing and Cabrera signed it.

A DPS agent recovered two packets containing a crystalline substance from the informant’s car. The informant said that they were the packets he purchased from Cabrera. Tests at DPS headquarters and later at the Guam Crime Laboratory indicated that the crystalline substance was ice.

By a three-count amended information, the government charged Cabrera with the following drug offenses: possession of a controlled substance (ice) with intent to [244]*244deliver,3 delivery of a controlled substance (ice),4 and possession of a controlled substance (marijuana).5 Cabrera pleaded not guilty at his arraignment on May 22, 1992.

At trial, Cabrera objected to the admission of his confession into evidence.6 The court heard arguments and overruled the objection, concluding that DPS’s rights form adequately advised Cabrera of his rights, and that he confessed voluntarily after being apprised of his rights.7

Cabrera also objected to the admission of the ice, list of serial numbers of the fifteen $100 bills, and the $100 bills themselves. The court overruled these objections.

After the government rested its case-in-chief, Cabrera moved for a judgment of acquittal on all three counts. The court granted the motion as to Count III (possession of marijuana).

Cabrera presented evidence and testified that he was entrapped. He then rested and renewed his motion for acquittal on Counts I and II at the close of all the evidence. The court again denied the motion.

The court instructed the jury on the defense of entrapment. The jury found Cabrera not guilty of possession of a controlled substance (ice) with intent to deliver, but found him guilty of delivery of a controlled substance (ice).

At sentencing, the government argued that, under the applicable sentencing statute, the court was required to sentence Cabrera to at least a five-year prison term without suspension, probation or parole. Cabrera contended, however, that the applicable statute did not mandate a prison term, but that, if the court chose to impose a prison term, there was a mandatory minimum.

The court sentenced Cabrera to an eight-year prison term, with three years suspended and five years to be served without parole, probation, or suspension. Cabrera timely appealed.

ANALYSIS

I. Admission of Cabrera’s Confession

Cabrera contends that DPS’s “Your Constitutional Rights” form is constitutionally defective and inadequate, rendering his confession inadmissible per se. He also argues that, assuming the form is adequate, the totality of circumstances made his confession involuntary and it should not have been admitted into evidence.

Whether DPS’s constitutional rights form is adequate, for purposes of Miranda v. Arizona,8 is a question of law reviewable de novo.9 The issue of the voluntariness of one’s confession, under a totality of the circumstances test, is a mixed question of law and fact,10 but the ultimate issue of voluntariness is a legal question. Our review of either issue is de novo.11

The U.S. Supreme Court established in Miranda “a procedural mechanism that safeguards the exercise of the [U.S. Constitution’s] Fifth Amendment privilege against the inherently coercive effects of custodial interrogation.”12 In order for the government to introduce Cabrera’s confession, the confession must have been obtained with proper Miranda safeguards.13

We must first examine the adequacy of the constitutional rights form, and then the totality of the circumstances surrounding Cabrera’s waiver and confession.

A. Adequacy of the Constitutional Rights Form

Miranda requires, among other things, that an accused be adequately apprised of his or her rights to remain silent and to the presence of retained or appointed [245]

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Bluebook (online)
4 N. Mar. I. 240, 1995 N. Mar. I. LEXIS 12, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-cabrera-nmariana-1995.