Gaitor v. State

801 P.2d 1372, 106 Nev. 785, 1990 Nev. LEXIS 154
CourtNevada Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 28, 1990
Docket19986
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 801 P.2d 1372 (Gaitor v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nevada Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gaitor v. State, 801 P.2d 1372, 106 Nev. 785, 1990 Nev. LEXIS 154 (Neb. 1990).

Opinions

[787]*787OPINION

By the Court,

Mowbray, J.:

Sometime around 8:30 p.m. on September 9, 1988, the victim, James Lockhart was approached by two men while walking in a parking lot near 7th and Carson Streets in Las Vegas, Nevada. One of the men called, “Hey, you!” and Lockhart turned and saw the faces of the men who were standing about an arm’s length away.

Lockhart was grabbed by one of the men and an altercation ensued. He felt a hand go into his back pocket where he kept his wallet, and the wallet either fell out of his pocket, or was taken by the assailants. Lockhart was then thrown to the earth, and his glasses fell off making it difficult for him to see. As the assailants fled from the scene, Lockhart located his glasses and retrieved his wallet. Putting his glasses back on, Lockhart looked down the alley to see the two men as they ran.

Lockhart gave chase after he discovered $50.00 was missing from his wallet, and was fortunate enough to run by a police car, which he flagged down. Lockhart gave a description of the assailants to the police officer, and a perimeter was established around the crime scene. Within fifteen minutes, a police dog located appellant, Jamie Gaitor inside the perimeter hiding under a Cadillac automobile.

Gaitor was immediately taken to Lockhart who positively identified Gaitor as one of the two men who had attacked him. According to the police report, after Gaitor was Mirandized, he identified co-appellant, Donald Allen as the other male involved in the assault. Approximately five days later, Allen was located at the Clark County Detention Center where he was incarcerated for an unrelated offense.

Allen was taken from his cell and placed in a line-up. The public defender’s office was notified of the line-up, but did not send an attorney to view the line-up proceedings. After photographs were taken of the individuals in the line-up, Lockhart selected Allen as the other man who had attacked him in the parking lot on September 9, 1988.

The appellants’ first trial was declared a mistrial by the district court judge because a juror saw one of the State’s witnesses in handcuffs outside the courtroom and mentioned this to the jury foreman, as well as some fellow jurors. At a retrial, Lockhart positively identified Gaitor and Allen as the assailants without objection from defense counsel. Another witness also positively identified Gaitor and Allen as the assailants. After hearing the [788]*788evidence, the jury returned verdicts of guilty against both Gaitor and Allen on one count each of robbery and conspiracy to commit robbery. Thereafter, both defendants were sentenced as habitual criminals.

In his appeal, Gaitor contends his retrial offended the United States and Nevada constitutional prohibitions against double jeopardy where the original trial was aborted without an explicit request from Gaitor to do so. We reject this argument.

“No person shall be subject to be twice put in jeopardy for the same offense. . . .” Nev. Const, art. I, § 8. See also, U.S. Const, amend. V. However, in general, a mistrial declared at the request of defense counsel or with defense counsel’s consent, does not bar a retrial under this double jeopardy rule. Melchor-Gloria v. State, 99 Nev. 174, 178, 660 P.2d 109, 111 (1983). Gaitor’s counsel did not explicitly request the mistrial, but was silent when the trial judge informed counsel that he did not believe the court had any other alternative but to declare a mistrial. The failure of defense counsel to object or express an opinion to the district court regarding the propriety of the mistrial implied consent and indicated tacit approval.

Furthermore, the double jeopardy rule does not apply in cases of “manifest necessity” where trial courts, in the exercise of sound discretion under established legal principles, have the power to declare a mistrial and discharge a jury without the consent of the defendant. Williamson v. Sheriff, 89 Nev. 507, 508, 515 P.2d 1028, 1029 (1973). In this case, manifest necessity made it incumbent upon the district judge to declare a mistrial when a juror saw one of the State’s witnesses in handcuffs outside the courtroom and discussed this event with the jury foreman and fellow jurors.

Next, both appellants argue on appeal that the victim’s eyewitness identification at the trial should have been excluded by the trial judge because the pre-trial, police supervised identifications violated the appellants’ sixth amendment right to counsel and tainted the in-court identifications. We disagree.

A photographic display of Allen’s line-up at the detention center was created and was made available at trial. Allen’s counsel was allowed to examine the photographs but did not register an objection or make an offer of proof to indicate to the district court how the pre-trial, police supervised line-up at the detention center was suggestive. Likewise, there is nothing in this [789]*789appeal to indicate how the line-up identification of Allen was suggestive. This court is not obligated to hear issues on appeal where a contemporaneous objection was not made to the district court. McKague v. State, 101 Nev. 327, 330, 705 P.2d 127, 129 (1985). Furthermore, since Allen’s counsel had an opportunity to cross-examine the officer who created the photographic display of the line-up, as well as any witness involved with the identification, the exclusion of Lockhart’s eyewitness identification at the trial was not required by the sixth amendment. French v. State, 95 Nev. 586, 590, 600 P.2d 218, 221 (1979).

With respect to Gaitor’s appeal, the pre-trial, police supervised confrontation between Gaitor and the victim at the scene of the crime was inherently suggestive because it implied the officers believed Gaitor was one of the assailants. Jones v. State, 95 Nev. 613, 617, 600 P.2d 247, 250 (1979). However, such a confrontation can be justified by countervailing policy considerations, where a victim’s memory will be fresher minutes after the crime, and prompt identifications may expeditiously exonerate innocent persons. Id. at 617, 600 P.2d at 250. Further, the facts of this case indicate the police supervised confrontation at the scene of the crime was not “so unnecessarily suggestive and conducive to irreparable mistaken identification that [Gaitor] was denied due process of law.” Stovall v. Denno, 388 U.S. 293, 301-302 (1967). Lockhart saw his assailants’ faces at a short distance just prior to, and during the assault, and Lockhart’s attention was drawn to both of the assailants when one called out “Hey you!”. Furthermore, Lockhart was able to make a positive identification of Gaitor to the police within minutes of the assault. These facts indicate Lockhart’s trial identification of Gaitor was reliable. Manson v. Braithwaite, 432 U.S. 98, 114 (1977). Also, while a defendant is entitled to an attorney when the prosecutorial process shifts from an investigatory to an accusatory stage and focuses upon the defendant, Thompson v. State, 85 Nev.

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Gaitor v. State
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Bluebook (online)
801 P.2d 1372, 106 Nev. 785, 1990 Nev. LEXIS 154, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gaitor-v-state-nev-1990.