James Joe Nordwall v. State

2015 WY 144, 361 P.3d 836, 2015 Wyo. LEXIS 161, 2015 WL 7077315
CourtWyoming Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 13, 2015
DocketS-15-0004
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 2015 WY 144 (James Joe Nordwall v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wyoming Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
James Joe Nordwall v. State, 2015 WY 144, 361 P.3d 836, 2015 Wyo. LEXIS 161, 2015 WL 7077315 (Wyo. 2015).

Opinion

BURKE, Chief Justice.

[11] Appellant, James Joe Nordwall, challenges his convictions of four counts of first-degree rape in violation of Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 6-63 (1957) and three counts of first-degree sexual assault in violation of Wyo. Stat. Ann. $ 6-2-302(a)(). He contends he was denied his constitutional right to a speedy trial and that the State violated the terms of a 1994 plea agreement. We affirm.

ISSUES

[12] Appellant presents the following issues:

1. Did the trial court violate Mr. Nord-wall's constitutional right to a speedy trial?

2. Did the prosecution violate the 1994 plea agreement when it did not dismiss the charges in the present case?

FACTS

[13] In 1994, Appellant was charged with four counts of first-degree sexual assault and one count of aggravated assault and battery *838 after he kidnapped and repeatedly assaulted PW. Appellant entered a plea pursuant to a plea agreement with the State. Under the terms of the agreement, the State agreed to dismiss all but one of the counts, reduce the remaining count to second-degree sexual assault, and recommend that Appellant serve a prison term of three to five years. In exchange, Appellant pled no contest to the remaining reduced count.

[T4] At the time of the plea agreement, the county attorney's office was aware of police reports from 1992 indicating that JN and JLN had been sexually assaulted by Appellant. However, before Appellant entered into plea negotiations for the 1994 crimes against PW, another attorney in the office had decided not to file charges with respect to possible erimes committed against JN and JLN. The prosecutor handling Appellant's case was aware of that decision and also knew that Appellant had admitted to assaulting other women when he was interviewed by law enforcement officers.

[T5] In 20183, JLN's boyfriend notified the Sweetwater County Sheriffs Office that Appellant was not registered as a sex offender as mandated by the sentence following his 1994 conviction. When the Sheriff's Office investigated the matter, it discovered the JN and JLN police reports as well as the interview in which Appellant stated that there were other victims. Further investigation followed and, ultimately, criminal charges were brought against Appellant.

[T6] On August 19, 2018, a criminal information was filed charging Appellant with crimes involving six different victims. The final amended information charged Appellant, in Counts I, II, and III, with three counts of first-degree rape against TN and LW. Appellant had advised law enforcement of these incidents when interviewed in 1993. The information also charged Appellant, in Counts IV and V, with first-degree rape committed against newly-identified victims LVW and AL. Finally, the information charged Appellant, in Counts VI, VII, and VIII, with three counts of first-degree sexual assault against JN and JLN. Those charges related to the incidents reflected in the 1992 police reports.

[T7] The matter proceeded to trial. During trial, Appellant moved to dismiss the charges against him. He claimed that the 1994 plea agreement barred the prosecution. The court and the parties agreed to hold an evidentiary hearing on the matter after trial. The jury returned a guilty verdict on four out of five counts of first-degree rape and on all three counts of first-degree sexual assault. 1

[T8] After trial, a hearing on the motion to dismiss was held. Appellant claimed the 1994 plea agreement contained an understanding that the State would not prosecute him for prior sexual assaults. The State argued that the plea agreement did not include any such term. Appellant and the prosecutor from the 1994 case testified about the plea agreement. After considering the testimony, as well as the transcript of the change of plea hearing, the district court denied Appellant's motion to dismiss. The court ruled that the plea agreement did not contain any term that barred prosecution for the crimes alleged in the current case.

[19] The court sentenced Appellant to forty-five to fifty years imprisonment for each conviction of first-degree rape and first-degree sexual assault. The court ordered the sexual assault sentences to be served concurrently, but consecutive to the rape sentences, which were also ordered to be served concurrently. This appeal followed.

DISCUSSION

Issue 1: Speedy Trial

[¥10] In his first issue, Appellant contends that he was fdenied his constitutional right to a speedy trial. Appellant notes that, in 1994, he was charged with crimes similar to those he was convicted of in the present case, and he claims that his convictions in the present case "were a part of that 1994 case." Consequently, according to Ap *839 pellant, the charges against him should have been brought in 1994. He claims that the speedy trial clock began running on August 1, 1994, when he signed the plea agreement. Using this date as a starting point, Appellant asserts that he experienced a delay in excess of 19 years, or 6,985 days. 2 The issue of whether the defendant has received a speedy trial is reviewed de move. Rhodes v. State, 2015 WY 60, ¶ 9, 348 P.3d 404, 407 (Wyo.2015).

[T11] We have consistently held that a defendant's constitutional right to a speedy trial attaches only when he has been arrested or charged with a specific erime by the State. "The law is well-settled that the speedy trial right attaches upon the filing of a criminal complaint or the arrest of the defendant, whichever occurs first." Humphrey v. State, 2008 WY 67, ¶ 21, 185 P.3d 1236, 1244 (Wyo.2008); see also United States v. Marion, 404 U.S. 307, 320, 92 S.Ct. 455, 463, 30 L.Ed.2d 468 (1971) ([I]t is either a- formal indictment or information or else the actual restraints imposed by arrest and holding to answer a criminal charge that engage the particular protections of the speedy trial provision of the Sixth Amendment."). We have stated that "the Speedy Trial Clause has no application to the period of time in which a defendant is neither under arrest nor formally charged." Humphrey, ¶ 21, 185 P.3d at 1244.

[112] As indicated above, the county attorney was aware, in 1994, that Appellant may have sexually assaulted multiple women. At that time, however, Appellant was not arrested or charged for crimes committed against victims other than PW. The instant charges were filed on August 19, 2018. The speedy trial clock for those charges began on that date. 3 We find no violation of Appellant's constitutional right to a speedy trial.

Issue 2: Plea Agreement

[113] In his second issue, Appellant contends that the filing of charges in the present case violated the terms of the 1994 plea agreement. A dispute over whether a plea agreement condition exists is a question of fact to be resolved by the trial court. Cavender v. State, 860 P.2d 1162, 1164 (Wyo.1993); Clouse v. State, 809 P.2d 791, 794 (Wyo.1991); see also Doles v.

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Bluebook (online)
2015 WY 144, 361 P.3d 836, 2015 Wyo. LEXIS 161, 2015 WL 7077315, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/james-joe-nordwall-v-state-wyo-2015.