Rathbun v. State

2011 WY 116, 257 P.3d 29, 2011 Wyo. LEXIS 120, 2011 WL 3432867
CourtWyoming Supreme Court
DecidedAugust 8, 2011
DocketS-10-0245
StatusPublished
Cited by27 cases

This text of 2011 WY 116 (Rathbun 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
Rathbun v. State, 2011 WY 116, 257 P.3d 29, 2011 Wyo. LEXIS 120, 2011 WL 3432867 (Wyo. 2011).

Opinion

VOIGT, Justice.

[T1] The appellant was convicted of attempted kidnapping and sentenced to life in prison. He appeals the denial of two pretrial motions to dismiss, and raises two issues concerning sentencing. Finding no error, we affirm.

ISSUES

[T2] 1. Was the appellant's prosecution for attempted kidnapping barred by the doe-trine of double jeopardy due to his earlier guilty plea to battery?

2. Was the State barred by the doctrine of res judicata from refilling the attempted kidnapping charge and seeking a second preliminary hearing after that charge was dismissed following a preliminary hearing where the circuit court judge found a lack of probable cause?

8. Did the district court apply the proper penalty range in imposing sentence?

4. Did the district court's determination of the penalty range in imposing sentence violate the appellant's right to trial by jury?

FACTS

[T3] On August 8, 2009, the appellant accosted a woman near her car in the State of Wyoming employee parking garage, and struck her on the head. He was charged with attempted kidnapping, a felony, and battery, a misdemeanor. After a preliminary hearing in circuit court, the attempted kidnapping charge was dismissed without prejudice. Although the reason for the dismissal does not appear in the court order, questions and comments of the cireuit court judge during the preliminary hearing indicated a concern that the State had failed to prove probable cause as to all the elements of the charged crime.

[14] After the felony was dismissed, the misdemeanor battery case proceeded in circuit court. The appellant pled guilty and was sentenced to 180 days in jail. Subsequently, the appellant was charged anew with attempted kidnapping, and a second preliminary hearing took place, before a different circuit court judge. This time, the *32 appellant was bound over to district court for trial, where he was convicted and sentenced as noted above.

DISCUSSION

Was the appellant's prosecution for attempted kidnapping barred by the doe-trine of double jeopardy due to his earlier guilty plea to battery?

[15] "This Court reviews de novo the question of whether a defendant's constitutional protection against double jeopardy has been violated." Daniel v. State, 2008 WY 87, ¶ 7, 189 P.3d 859, 862 (Wyo.2008). In that review, we consider the protections provided by the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution and by article 1, section 11 of the Wyoming Constitution to be equivalent. Id. at ¶ 8, at 862. Of particular relevance to the present discussion is the precept that the "double jeopardy clause prohibits prosecution of a defendant for a greater offense when he has been previously convicted of the lesser included offense." Id.

[T6] The constitutional principle, on its face, is simple: no person may be placed in jeopardy more than once for the same criminal offense. The word "jeopardy" re fers to "the risk of conviction and punishment." Black's Law Dictionary 912 (9th ed. 2009). This simplicity, however, has been illusory; see, e.g., Ohio v. Johnson, 467 U.S. 493, 104 S.Ct. 2536, 81 L.Ed.2d 425 (1984); Brown v. Ohio, 432 U.S. 161, 97 S.Ct. 2221, 53 L.Ed.2d 187 (1977); and Ashe v. Swenson, 397 U.S. 436, 90 S.Ct. 1189, 25 L.Ed.2d 469 (1970). Federal double jeopardy law appears to have been settled in United States v. Dixon, 509 U.S. 688, 696, 113 S.Ct. 2849, 2856, 125 L.Ed.2d 556 (1993), with the Supreme Court's holding that "[iln both the multiple punishment and multiple prosecution contexts, this Court has concluded that where the two offenses for which the defendant is punished or tried cannot survive the 'same-elements' test, the double jeopardy bar applies." The inquiry under the same-elements test is "whether each offense contains an element not contained in the other; if not, they are the 'same offence' and double jeopardy bars additional punishment and successive prosecution." Id. Like the United States Supreme Court, this Court recognizes and follows the same-elements test. See, e.g., Granzer v. State, 2010 WY 130, ¶ 13, 239 P.3d 640, 645 (Wyo.2010); Snow v. State, 2009 WY 117, ¶ 16, 216 P.3d 505, 510 (Wyo.2009); and Najera v. State, 2009 WY 105, ¶ 11, 214 P.3d 990, 994 (Wyo.2009).

[17] The two offenses at issue in the present case are misdemeanor battery, in violation of Wyo. Stat. Ann. $ 6-2-501(b) (LexisNexis 2011) and attempted kidnapping, a felony, in violation of Wyo. Stat. Ann. §§ 6-1-801(a) and 6-2-201(a)@fii) and (d) (Lexis-Nexis 2011). The statutory elements of battery, as charged in this case, are:

1. On or about August 8, 2009.
In Laramie County, Wyoming.
The appellant.
Intentionally.
Caused bodily injury to the victim.
By use of physical force.

On the other hand, the statutory elements of attempted kidnapping, as charged in this case, are:

1. On or about August 8, 2009.
2. In Laramie County, Wyoming.
3. The appellant.
4. With the intent to commit the crime of kidnapping.
5. Did an act which is a substantial step towards commission of the crime of kidnapping.

[T8] -It is clear that each of these statutes contains an element not contained in the other. Battery requires both the use of physical force and resultant bodily injury, neither of which element is contained in the crime of attempted kidnapping. Attempted kidnapping requires the intent to commit the crime of kidnapping, and a substantial step toward commission of that erime-which substantial step logically may or may not involve physical foree or bodily injury-neither of which element is contained in the crime of battery. In cases such as this, where two crimes each contain elements not contained in the other, there is no preclusive effect, and the subsequent prosecution does not violate double jeopardy. Dixon, 509 U.S. at 704-09, *33 113 S.Ct. at 2860-63; Ohio v. Johnson, 467 U.S. at 501-02, 104 S.Ct. at 2542; State v. King, 2002 WY 93, ¶¶ 18-20, 48 P.3d 396, 404-05 (Wyo.2002).

Was the State barred by the doctrine of res judicata from re-filing the attempted kidnapping charge and seeking a second preliminary hearing after that charge was dismissed following a preliminary hearing where the circuit court judge found a lack of probable cause?

[19] "The application of the doe-trine of res judicata is a question of law that we review de novo." Osborn v. Kilts, 2006 WY 142, ¶ 6, 145 P.3d 1264, 1266 (Wyo.2006); see also Willis v. Davis, 2010 WY 149, ¶ 10, 243 P.3d 568, 570 (Wyo.2010). Before we address the issue as it has been presented in this case, we believe it may be helpful to state some general rules about res judicata and its juridical cousin, collateral estoppel.

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Bluebook (online)
2011 WY 116, 257 P.3d 29, 2011 Wyo. LEXIS 120, 2011 WL 3432867, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rathbun-v-state-wyo-2011.