Jaramillo v. State

823 N.E.2d 1187, 2005 WL 580296
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 11, 2005
Docket76S03-0503-CR-93
StatusPublished
Cited by55 cases

This text of 823 N.E.2d 1187 (Jaramillo v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Jaramillo v. State, 823 N.E.2d 1187, 2005 WL 580296 (Ind. 2005).

Opinion

ON PETITION TO TRANSFER FROM THE INDIANA COURT OF APPEALS, NO. 76A083-08306-CR-209.

SULLIVAN, Justice.

At issue in this appeal is whether the Double Jeopardy Clause of the U.S. Con *1188 stitution bars re-trial of a habitual offender enhancement set aside on appeal for insufficient evidence. Although this Court has often held that it does, we conclude that those holdings are no longer good law in light of Monge v. California, 524 U.S. 721, 118 S.Ct. 2246, 141 L.Ed.2d 615 (1998).

Background

Following a collision in August, 2002, in which a man was killed, Defendant Valentin Jaramillo was charged with Operating While Intoxicated Causing Death, 1 a Class C felony. The State sought to have the offense enhanced to a Class B felony on grounds that he had been convicted of operating a vehicle while intoxicated in March, 1998, and sought to have Defendant adjudicated a habitual substance offender on grounds of the instant charge, the March, 1998, conviction, and a third conviction for operating while intoxicated in June, 1997 2 In a bifurcated proceeding, a jury first found Defendant guilty of the Class C felony and then the Class B felony and to be a habitual substance offender.

Defendant appealed the convictions, arguing that there was insufficient evidence to support the enhancement of his conviction for driving while intoxicated from a Class C felony to a Class B felony and that there was insufficient evidence to support the determination that he is a habitual substance offender. 3

The Court of Appeals resolved both claims in Defendant's favor, finding that the State had failed to prove that a convietion was entered on Defendant's March, 1998, guilty plea. That offense was the predicate offense for the Class B enhancement and a necessary predicate for the habitual substance offender enhancement. Jaramillo v. State, 803 N.E.2d 248 (Ind.Ct.App.2004). The State does not challenge this determination on transfer,. However, the Court of Appeals also held that federal double jeopardy principles did not bar the State from retrying the defendant on the Class B and habitual substance offender enhancements. Id. at 250. Defendant seeks transfer on this issue.

Discussion

The Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment, applicable to the States through the Fourteenth Amendment, provides, "Nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb." U.S. Const. amend. V. It protects against sue-cessive prosecutions for the same offense after acquittal or conviction and against multiple criminal punishments for the same offense. See United States v. Dixon, 509 U.S. 688, 695-96, 113 S.Ct. 2849, 125 L.Ed.2d 556 (1998); North Carolina v. Pearce, 395 U.S. 711, 717, 89 S.Ct. 2072, 23 L.Ed.2d 656 (1969).

I

Both parties, as well as the Court of Appeals, suggest that the resolution of this issue turns upon Monge v. California, 524 U.S. 721, 118 S.Ct. 2246, 141 L.Ed.2d 615 (1998).

Monge arose under California's so-called "three-strikes" law. After the defendant in Monge had been convicted, the trial *1189 court judge enhanced his sentence based on prior convictions and prison terms. Monge, 524 U.S. at 725, 118 S.Ct. 2246. The California Court of Appeal ruled that the evidence had been insufficient to trigger the sentence enhancement because the prior conviction allegations had not been proved beyond a reasonable doubt, and that a remand for retrial on the sentence enhancement would vidlate double jeopardy principles. Id. at 725-26, 118 S.Ct. 2246. After the California Supreme Court reversed the California Court of Appeal, the United States Supreme Court affirmed the California high court and held that the Double Jeopardy Clause did not preclude retrial on the prior conviction allegation. Id. at 734, 118 S.Ct. 2246. As such, Monge resolves in the State's favor the issue presented in this case.

Monge was decided before Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 120 S.Ct. 2348, 147 L.Ed.2d 485 (2000), and contains a debate that foreshadows that momentous decision. In dissent in Monge, Justice Scalia argued that the prior offense enhancement constituted an element of the defendant's offense and, therefore, implicated Double Jeopardy principles. Monge, 524 U.S. at 740, 118 S.Ct. 2246 (Scalia, J., dissenting). A majority of the Court rejected Justice Scalia's argument, both because the issue was not raised by the defendant and because the argument was contrary to the Court's then-controlling precedent on what constituted "elements of an offense," Almendares-Torres v. United States, 523 U.S. 224, 118 S.Ct. 1219, 140 L.Ed.2d 350 (1998). Monge, 524 U.S. at 728, 118 S.Ct. 2246 (Almendarez-Torres, as well as Monge, involved the question of whether the fact of prior conviction used to support a recidivist enhancement constitutes an "element of an offense."). In 2000, the Supreme Court decided Apprendi, largely adopting Justice Scalia's views of what constitute elements of an offense as expressed in his prior dissents in Monge and Almendares-Torres. Apprendi, 530 U.S. at 488-89 nn. 14 & 15, 120 S.Ct. 2348. The question then, is whether Monge and Almendares-Torres were overruled by Apprendi or are distinguishable from it.

Defendant contends that the practical effect of Apprendi was to overrule Monge, because, according to his count, a majority of the members of the Court have now taken positions contrary to its holding. The Court of Appeals found Defendant's argument to be "plausible" but refused to speculate as to whether a majority of the Supreme Court would vote to overturn Monge. 4 See Jaramillo v. State, 803 N.E.2d 243, 250 (Ind.Ct.App.2004). In point of fact, Apprendi discusses Monge without suggesting that it is no longer good law. Apprendi, 530 U.S. at 488 n. 14, 120 S.Ct. 2348. And last year, the Court cited Monge in an opinion as standing for the proposition that the "Double Jeopardy Clause does not preclude retrial on a prior conviction used to support recidivist enhancement." Dretke v. Haley, 541 U.S. 386, 124 S.Ct. 1847, 1853, 158 L.Ed.2d 659, -- (2004). Given that Apprendi exempts from its reach the fact of a prior conviction, it makes sense that Monge, involving as it does a fact of a prior convietion, would be distinguishable from Apprendi. See Apprendi, 530 U.S. at 490, 120 *1190 S.Ct.

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Bluebook (online)
823 N.E.2d 1187, 2005 WL 580296, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jaramillo-v-state-ind-2005.