Petersen v. State

594 P.2d 978, 1979 Wyo. LEXIS 411
CourtWyoming Supreme Court
DecidedMay 15, 1979
Docket5060
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 594 P.2d 978 (Petersen 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
Petersen v. State, 594 P.2d 978, 1979 Wyo. LEXIS 411 (Wyo. 1979).

Opinion

ROSE, Justice.

Defendant appeals the district court af-firmance of his justice of the peace court conviction, following a jury trial, for driving while under the influence of alcohol. We will affirm.

He raises two issues:

1. Whether the district court erred in affirming the denial of defendant’s challenge to his justice of the peace court jury panel.
2. Whether the trial court erred in receiving into evidence the results of a blood test administered to the defendant.

We are unable, due to the state of the record on appeal, to reach the defendant’s second issue. As required by Rule 10(k), W.R.Cr.P.J.C., the defendant’s jury trial was electronically recorded, resulting in two cassette tape recordings. Subsequent to the jury trial and during preparation of his appeal to the district court, it was discovered that the second cassette tape was broken and unusable. The testimony which defendant alleges was inadmissible is purportedly contained on this second tape.

Rule 75(c), W.R.C.P (now Rule 4.03, WRAP), provides:

*980 “If no report of the evidence or proceedings at a hearing or trial was made, or if a transcript is unavailable, the appellant may prepare a statement of the evidence or proceedings from the best available means, including his recollection. The statement shall be served on the appellee, who may serve objections or propose amendments thereto within ten (10) days after service. Thereupon the statement and any objections or proposed amendments shall be submitted to the district court for settlement and approval and as settled and approved shall be included by the clerk of the district court in the record on appeal.”

We have previously noted that while the use of Rule 75(c) is permissive, not mandatory, the failure to use this procedure may have adverse effects on an appeal. Minnehoma Financial Company v. Pauli, Wyo., 565 P.2d 835, 838 (1977). In Maynard v. Maynard, Wyo., 585 P.2d 1201 (1978), we held that where a trial judge did not approve a statement of the record, pursuant to Rule 75(c), we could not reach an issue as to the admissibility of evidence which was not, therefore, a part of the record.

In this case, the defendant made no attempt to have the record settled, thus enabling him to present this court with the allegedly inadmissible evidence and his objection thereto. We will not, under such circumstances, discuss the issue.

Defendant’s first issue concerns the manner in which the panel of trial jurors was drawn. Although the record is silent as to this fact, the State concedes that the jury panel — utilized for the defendant’s February 22, 1978, trial — was drawn from the 1978 jury list on January 18, 1978. Furthermore, the State does not deny that the defendant was not notified of the date when the drawing of the jury panel was to be held. The record discloses an order dated January 30, 1978, which is a setting of the defendant’s trial date, that states that a list of the jury panel was available for inspection. On the day of trial, the defendant presented two challenges to the jury panel and moved the justice of the peace to quash the jury panel. The first challenge alleged that the jury panel had not been chosen in accordance with §§ 1 — 85 and 1— 86.1, W.S.1957, 1975 Cum.Supp. [now §§ 1-11-106 and 1-11-108, W.S.1977], 1 be *981 cause the jury panel was not selected ten days prior to trial and because the defendant had not received notice of the empaneling. The second challenge alleged that the jury panel had not been chosen in accordance with Rule 10(a), W.R.Cr.P.J.C., 2 because the jury panel was not drawn from jury box number one at the beginning of the October, 1977, justice of the peace court term. The justice of the peace denied both challenges, indicating that the minor court rules applied. On appeal to the district court, the district court found a conflict between the statutes and the rules — as to when the panel should be drawn — but determined there was no showing of prejudice to the defendant.

On appeal to this court, the defendant does not argue against a determination that Rule 10 provides the controlling rule, but he asserts there was substantial noncompliance with Rule 10. The State, on the other hand, urges that the statute controls, and that the defendant failed to show any prejudice resulting from noncompliance with those provisions. In order, therefore, to dispose of this appeal, we must answer two questions:

1. Do the statutes or rules govern the process of empaneling a justice of the peace court jury?
2. Was there reversible error in empaneling the jury in this case?

THE APPLICABLE LAW

Effective January 1, 1975, this court promulgated and adopted civil and criminal rules applicable to justice of the peace and municipal courts. This adoption of rules was in accordance with the statutes (§ 5-2-114, W.S.1977) and the plenary power of this court.

In the process of adopting these so-called minor court rules, certain statutory provisions relating thereto were expressly superseded. Rule 29, W.R.Cr.P.J.C.; and Rule 11, W.R.C.P.J.C. In Rule 29, two statutory provisions, that have significance to this case, were superseded: § 7 — 220, W.S. 1957 [now § 7-11-101, W.S.1977]; and § 7-421, W.S.1957 [now § 7-16-113, W.S. 1977]. Section 7-220 provided that trial juries for criminal actions were to be formed in the same way as juries for civil actions. Section 7-421 provided the manner of empaneling a jury in a justice of the peace criminal action. In place of these statutes, we adopted Rule 10, W.R.Cr.P.J.C. There should be no doubt that Rule 10 provides the manner for empaneling juries in justice of the peace criminal actions, and that the statutes in conflict with these procedural matters are no longer applicable.

The State suggests, however, that this court issues rules of practice and procedure through authority delegated by the legislature and, therefore, in the case of conflict between our rules and the statutes, the statutes control, citing a portion of 2 Sutherland, Statutory Construction, § 36.06 (1973). In a more pertinent portion of the same section, the editor observes:

“Where there is constitutional authority for the judicial department of government to issue rules of practice and procedure or if, in the absence of a constitutional provision, such authority is assumed to be an inherent part of the judicial power, then courts which exercise such authority may be regarded as the legislative authority of the state having jurisdiction to ‘enact’ law on that subject, *982 just as the legislature makes law on the subjects entrusted to its jurisdiction.

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Bluebook (online)
594 P.2d 978, 1979 Wyo. LEXIS 411, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/petersen-v-state-wyo-1979.