Lemke v. Rayes

141 P.3d 407, 213 Ariz. 232, 484 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 23, 2006 Ariz. App. LEXIS 93
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arizona
DecidedAugust 15, 2006
Docket1 CA-SA 06-0130
StatusPublished
Cited by44 cases

This text of 141 P.3d 407 (Lemke v. Rayes) 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
Lemke v. Rayes, 141 P.3d 407, 213 Ariz. 232, 484 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 23, 2006 Ariz. App. LEXIS 93 (Ark. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinion

OPINION

HALL, Judge.

¶ 1 Robert David Lemke seeks special action review of the superior court’s order denying his motion to dismiss his felony-murder charge before retrial as barred by double jeopardy and collateral estoppel principles. In denying Lemke’s motion, the superior court determined that: (1) there are no less *235 er-included offenses of felony murder and therefore no other offenses constitute the “same offense” as felony murder for double jeopardy purposes; and (2) Lemke failed to meet his burden of demonstrating that the jury decided an ultimate issue of fact in his favor as required under collateral estoppel to bar retrial.

¶ 2 In the exercise of our discretion, we previously accepted jurisdiction because Lemke has no adequate remedy by appeal. See State v. Moody, 208 Ariz. 424, 438, ¶ 22, 94 P.3d 1119, 1133 (2004) (“[A] petition for special action is the appropriate vehicle for a defendant to obtain judicial appellate review of an interlocutory double jeopardy claim. Because the Double Jeopardy Clause guarantees the right to be free from subsequent prosecution, the clause is violated by the mere commencement of retrial.”) (citations omitted); see also Ariz. R.P. Spec. Act. 1(a). Because Lemke’s retrial on the felony-murder charge is not barred by the doctrines of double jeopardy or collateral estoppel, we denied Lemke’s request for relief with a written decision to follow. We now issue this opinion.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

¶ 3 On August 9, 2002, Charles Richard Chance was shot once in the chest and robbed while at a hotel. He died at the scene from the gunshot wound.

¶ 4 On November 1, 2002, Lemke was indicted for his involvement in the robbery and murder as follows: (1) Count I — first degree (felony) murder, a class one dangerous felony, in violation of Arizona Revised Statutes (A.R.S.) sections 13-1105(A)(2) and -604(P) (Supp.2005); (2) Count II — armed robbery, a class two dangerous felony, in violation of A.R.S. §§ 13-1904 (2001) and -604(P); and (3) Count III—conspiracy to commit armed robbery, a class two dangerous felony, in violation of A.R.S. §§ 13-1003 (2001), -1904, and -604(P). On November 5, 2002, Lemke’s codefendant, Brandi Lynn Hungerford, entered a plea agreement in which she agreed to plead guilty to second degree murder, armed robbery, and conspiracy to commit armed robbery and to cooperate with the State in its prosecution of Lemke.

¶ 5 Lemke’s trial commenced on August 15, 2005. During trial, Hungerford testified that she and Lemke conspired only to rob Chance at gunpoint and then to bind and leave him at the motel, not to shoot him. Lemke testified that he had no involvement in the robbery or murder, but admitted helping Hungerford sell a piece of Chance’s jewelry.

¶ 6 On September 7, 2005, during discussion of final jury instructions, Lemke requested that instructions for the lesser-included offenses of theft (as to Count II) and conspiracy to commit theft (as to Count III) be submitted to the jury. The State did not object and the trial court incorporated the LeBlanc 1 instructions for the lesser-included offenses in the final jury instructions:

The crime of Conspiracy to Commit Armed Robbery includes the lesser offense of Conspiracy to Commit Theft. You may consider the lesser offense of Conspiracy to Commit Theft if either:
1. you find the defendant not guilty of Conspiracy to Commit Armed Robbery; or
2. after full and careful consideration of the facts, you cannot agree on whether to find the defendant guilty or not guilty of Conspiracy to Commit Armed Robbery.
The crime of Armed Robbery includes the lesser offense of Theft. You may consider the lesser offense of Theft if either:
1. you find the defendant not guilty of Armed Robbery; or
2. after full and careful consideration of the facts, you cannot agree on whether *236 to find the defendant guilty or not guilty of Armed Robbery.

¶ 7 On September 16, 2005, after seven days of deliberation, the jury returned verdicts of guilt on theft, the lesser-included offense of Count II, and conspiracy to commit theft, the lesser-included offense of Count III. The jury was unable to reach a verdict on Count I, the felony-murder charge. The trial court sentenced Lemke to terms of imprisonment totaling twenty-seven years for the theft and conspiracy convictions.

¶ 8 Four months later, Lemke filed a motion to dismiss the felony-murder count claiming retrial is barred by double jeopardy and collateral estoppel principles. After hearing oral argument, the superior court issued a minute entry denying the motion. In addressing the double jeopardy claim, the court stated in relevant part:

In the present case, [Lemke] was charged with First Degree Murder under the theory of felony-murder, pursuant to A.R.S. § 13-1105(2). Only lesser included offenses of felony-murder would be deemed the “same offense” for purposes of the Double Jeopardy Clause. Brown v. Ohio, 432 U.S. 161, 168 [97 S.Ct. 2221, 53 L.Ed.2d 187] (1977). There are no lesser-included offenses of felony-murder. State v. LaGrand, 153 Ariz. 21, 30, 734 P.2d 563, 572, cert denied, 484 U.S. 872 [108 S.Ct. 207, 98 L.Ed.2d 158] (1987). This is because the “mens rea necessary to satisfy the premeditation element of first degree murder is supplied by the specific intent required for the felony.” Id. (citing State v. Arias, 131 Ariz. 441, 443-44, 641 P.2d 1285, 1287-88 (1982)). Because the jury did not return a verdict of guilty on any lesser offense of felony-murder, there can be no “implied acquittal” from the jury’s silence as to that charge, and there is no double jeopardy bar to retrying [Lemke] for felony murder.

The court then resolved Lemke’s claim of collateral estoppel by noting that he failed to satisfy his burden of demonstrating that the issue was actually decided in the first trial because, under the LeBlanc instruction, “the jury’s silence as to the armed robbery charge can serve neither as evidence of an acquittal nor as evidence of a hung jury.”

DISCUSSION

¶ 9 Lemke contends that the superior court erred by denying his motion to dismiss the felony-murder charge because retrial is barred by double jeopardy and collateral es-toppel. Specifically, he argues that the jury’s guilty verdicts on the lesser-included offenses of theft and conspiracy to commit theft constitute “implicit acquittals” of the greater offenses of armed robbery and conspiracy to commit armed robbery.

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Bluebook (online)
141 P.3d 407, 213 Ariz. 232, 484 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 23, 2006 Ariz. App. LEXIS 93, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lemke-v-rayes-arizctapp-2006.