Rainesalo v. P.A.

1997 ND 146, 566 N.W.2d 422
CourtNorth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 17, 1997
DocketCivil Nos. 960308, 960362
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 1997 ND 146 (Rainesalo v. P.A.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering North Dakota Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Rainesalo v. P.A., 1997 ND 146, 566 N.W.2d 422 (N.D. 1997).

Opinion

MARING, Justice.

[¶ 1] P.A., a juvenile, appeals from the July 3, 1996, order adjudicating him a delinquent child, and the September 19, 1996, order of confirmation, alleging there was not sufficient evidence to prove he committed the offenses of reckless endangerment and conspiracy to commit reckless endangerment, both class C felonies. We affirm the orders of the juvenile court.

[¶ 2] On May 18, 1996, at approximately' 1:00 a.m., Sergeant Ted Rainesalo was approached by Aaron Black and Nathan Trottier in downtown Devils Lake. Black told Rain-esalo someone “shot at” Trottier’s truck as they were driving along Fourth Avenue near the Locke Block apartment building. It was later determined the object that broke the truck windshield was a rock. Black told Rainesalo he believed the rock came from a window or the roof of the Locke Block building.

[¶ 3] Based on this information, Rainesalo climbed on top of a neighboring building and surveyed the adjoining rooftops of Paul’s Appliance building and the Locke Block building with binoculars. He saw four young men “jumping up and down” and throwing rocks off the roof onto the street below. Rainesalo recognized two of the youths from prior encounters, but did not recognize the other two. P.A. was not one of the youths Rainesalo recognized. Rainesalo did see all four of the youths throwing rocks into the street. While observing the youths, Rainesalo heard a “big [424]*424clunking noise” and looked over the edge of the building and saw a brick land in the street.

[¶4] Immediately after the brick landed, he heard a person in the street moan. The moan was determined to come from Chris VanSlyk, a mentally disabled man who was known to Rainesalo. VanSlyk has difficulty communicating verbally. Rainesalo questioned VanSlyk and VanSlyk “piek[ed] up the bricks and was giving them to [Rainesalo].” VanSlyk also pointed up to the building where the youths were seen and said to Rainesalo, “you better stop.”

[¶ 5] Rainesalo yelled up to the boys, “[a]re we having fan yet?” and all four boys quickly entered an open window in the Locke Block building. Based on his familiarity with the building, Rainesalo determined the window through which the boys entered led into apartment 30. Rainesalo and another officer watched apartment 30 to ensure no one left while a search warrant was obtained. The search warrant was executed at approximately three o’clock in the morning. When the officers entered the apartment, there were eighteen people inside, ten of them teenage boys. Rainesalo took into custody the two youths he recognized as throwing rocks off the roof. These two boys identified the other two youths on the roof, one of them being P.A. “Four or five” of the teenage girls in the apartment agreed with that identification.

[¶ 6] Rainesalo escorted the boys from the apartment to his patrol car, and during the walk the boys “were blabbing about how they all agreed that they had been there.” Rain-esalo testified he also overheard the boys’ conversation while they were in the back of the patrol car and “they more or less admitted to each other that .they were there and it was fun.”

[¶ 7] During the adjudication hearing, Black and Rainesalo were the only witnesses to testify. P.A. did not object to Rainesalo’s testimony regarding the identification statements of the “four or five” girls, nor did he object to Rainesalo’s testimony about what he overheard the boys saying in the back of the patrol ear.

[¶ 8] P.A. and his mother appeal, claiming there was not sufficient competent evidence to find, beyond a reasonable doubt, that P.A. committed the acts of conspiracy to commit reckless endangerment and reckless endangerment.

[¶ 9] This court reviews a juvenile court’s order similar to a trial de novo. In Interest of A.E., 1997 ND 9, ¶ 3, 559 N.W.2d 215. This court’s review is not limited to a determination of whether the juvenile court’s findings are clearly erroneous, but we independently review the evidence, giving appreciable weight to the juvenile court’s findings. Id. at ¶ 3, 559 N.W.2d 215.

N.D.C.C. § 12.1-06-04(1) defines conspiracy as follows:

A person commits conspiracy if he agrees with one or more persons to engage in or cause conduct which, in fact, constitutes an offense or offenses, and any one or more of such persons does an overt act to effect an objective of the conspiracy. The agreement need not be explicit, but may be implicit in the fact of collaboration or existence of other circumstances.

Two elements must be proved under this statute: an agreement, and an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy. In Interest of J.C.S., 1997 ND 126, ¶ 10, 565 N.W.2d 759. An explicit agreement need not be proved, and the agreement may be implied by the existence of other supporting circumstances. Id.

[¶ 10] P.A. claims there is insufficient evidence to prove conspiracy to commit reckless endangerment. We do not agree. Sergeant Rainesalo testified he observed four boys on the roof of Paul’s Appliance building, and all four were throwing handfuls of rocks to the ground. Immediately after seeing the boys throw rocks, he heard louder “clunking” noises, and observed a brick land in the street. At the same time, he heard a person in the street moan. Rainesalo observed Chris VanSlyk on the street below, holding his hands over his head and attempting to move away from where the rocks and bricks were landing. When Rainesalo called out to the boys, they all dove through a window into an apartment. After entering the apartment [425]*425with a search warrant, Rainesalo found the two boys he recognized on the roof and took them into custody. Rainesalo testified when he asked about the identities of the other two boys, they identified P.A. as one of them. Several of the girls in the apartment agreed with this identification. P.A. did not object to the admission of this testimony. Rainesa-lo also testified that while he walked the boys to the patrol car, they were “blabbing about how they all agreed that they had been there.” While the four were in the patrol car, the boys “more or less admitted to each other that they had been there and it was fun.” This testimony was also admitted without objection. Based on these facts, the court properly inferred the boys, including P.A., had agreed to throw rocks and bricks from the roof of a building onto a public sidewalk and street. We conclude this evidence satisfies the first element of conspiracy.

[¶ 11] The second element of conspiracy is an overt act in furtherance of the object of the conspiracy. This overt act need not be a crime in itself. J.C.S., 1997 ND 126, at ¶ 12, 565 N.W.2d 759. It is also not necessary that the defendant commit the act himself; it is sufficient that one of the other conspirators committed the act with the defendant’s knowledge. Id. Nearly any act will fulfill the overt act requirement. Id. Raines-alo testified that while the four boys were on the roof he saw all of them throwing rocks, and he observed three or four bricks thrown into the street at the same time a person was walking in front of the building. Regardless of whether P.A. himself or one of the other boys threw the bricks, this evidence is sufficient to satisfy the second element of the conspiracy statute.

[¶ 12] Reckless endangerment is defined in N.D.G.C. § 12.1-17-03 as follows:

A person is guilty of an offense if he creates a substantial risk of serious bodily injury or death to another.

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1997 ND 146, 566 N.W.2d 422, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rainesalo-v-pa-nd-1997.