State of Arizona v. Miguel Francisco Inzunza

316 P.3d 1266, 234 Ariz. 78, 679 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 4, 2014 WL 294485, 2014 Ariz. App. LEXIS 15
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arizona
DecidedJanuary 27, 2014
Docket2 CA-CR 2012-0273
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 316 P.3d 1266 (State of Arizona v. Miguel Francisco Inzunza) 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
State of Arizona v. Miguel Francisco Inzunza, 316 P.3d 1266, 234 Ariz. 78, 679 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 4, 2014 WL 294485, 2014 Ariz. App. LEXIS 15 (Ark. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

OPINION

ECKERSTROM, Judge.

¶ 1 Following a jury trial, appellant Miguel Inzunza was convicted of two counts of sexual abuse and sentenced to consecutive prison terms totaling 4.5 years. On appeal, he contends the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress and in precluding evidence relevant to his defense. He also challenges the out-of-state conviction used to enhance his sentences. 'We affirm his convictions and sentences but vacate the criminal restitution order that was entered erroneously at sentencing.

Factual and Procedural Background

¶ 2 We view the evidence presented at trial in the light most favorable to upholding the *81 verdicts, drawing all reasonable inferences from the evidence against the defendant. See State v. Ramsey, 211 Ariz. 529, ¶ 2, 124 P.3d 756, 759 (App.2005). At the time of the offenses, the victim was a twenty-six-year-old woman who was moderately intellectually disabled and required twenty-four-hour care. 1 She did not understand most of the events happening around her, and she needed hands-on assistance for many daily tasks such as crossing the street, preparing food, and using the bathroom. Her communication skills were very limited, and the three-word sentences she could formulate were difficult to understand for someone who was unfamiliar with her. She was friendly and outgoing, with no sense of boundaries between strangers and non-strangers. The victim’s mother likened her to a two-year-old child.

¶ 3 On the morning of February 20, 2011, the victim was left alone in her mother’s apartment. The caregiver who was expected to supervise her that day did not do so, and when the mother returned home from work in the evening she found the victim missing. Law enforcement officers then began a search that lasted several hours.

¶4 At approximately 2:00 a.m. the next day, police entered Inzunza’s apartment, which was in the same complex, and discovered the victim lying next to him in his bedroom. The victim was partially undressed, and Inzunza was asleep next to her. When officers entered the bedroom, the victim jumped up, moved quickly toward them, and began pulling up her pants. She also said, “My baby, my baby,” and rubbed her belly. The victim had a bruise or “hickey” visible on her neck, and a subsequent examination revealed another on her breast. Tests revealed the presence of Inzunza’s DNA 2 on the victim’s breast, and the victim’s DNA was found on Inzunza’s penis.

¶ 5 Inzunza’s brother and his girlfriend, Gloria R., had been staying at Inzunza’s apartment on the date of the incident, and they were sleeping on the living room floor when the police knocked and entered. According to Gloria, the victim had wandered into the apartment earlier in the evening when the door had been open, and she did not speak to anyone once she was there. The victim simply ate a plate of food Inzunza gave her, watched television, listened to music, and then followed Inzunza into his bedroom. Gloria described it as a “weird situation,” and she said the victim seemed mentally disabled, because “all she did was laugh and wave.”

¶ 6 Inzunza was charged with one count of sexual assault and one count of sexual abuse. In his defense, he maintained the evidence was insufficient to show the vaginal penetration necessary to sustain the sexual assault charge, and he claimed his sexual contact with the victim had been consensual. The jury failed to reach a verdict on the sexual assault charge, but it found him guilty of sexual abuse as a lesser-included offense, and it also found him guilty of the other count of sexual abuse. The trial court imposed enhanced sentences based on Inzunza’s prior felony conviction from Washington, and this timely appeal followed.

Motion to Suppress

¶ 7 Inzunza first contends the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress that was based on the police officers’ warrantless entry into his apartment. In reviewing this issue, we consider only the evidence presented at the suppression hearing, which we view in the light most favorable to upholding the court’s ruling. State v. Butler, 232 Ariz. 84, ¶ 8, 302 P.3d 609, 612 (2013). We review the court’s ruling for an abuse of discretion, to the extent it involves a discretionary issue, State v. Moody, 208 Ariz. 424, ¶ 62, 94 P.3d 1119,1140 (2004), and we consequently defer to any factual findings that are *82 supported by the record. See State v. Davolt, 207 Ariz. 191, ¶ 21, 84 P.3d 456 (2004); State v. Rosengren, 199 Ariz. 112, ¶ 9, 14 P.3d 303, 307 (App.2000). But we review de novo the court’s legal conclusions drawn from the facts, as well as any constitutional issues. See Moody, 208 Ariz. 424, ¶ 62, 94 P.3d at 1140.

¶ 8 In his motion, Inzunza sought to suppress all evidence resulting from the warrantless entry under both the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and article II, § 8 of the Arizona Constitution. The state maintained the search was justified by the emergency aid exception to the warrant requirement. The trial court agreed and denied the motion on this ground. On appeal, Inzunza again contends the entry and search violated his federal and state constitutional rights.

¶ 9 The record shows that police officers responded to the report that the victim was missing just before 7:00 p.m. They were informed that she was a vulnerable adult with capabilities similar to a three-year-old child. The officers then went door to door in the apartment complex seeking information about her. One witness reported having seen a Hispanic man leading the victim around the complex. At 1:49 a.m., another witness reported seeing the victim earlier in Inzunza’s apartment.

¶ 10 Within five minutes of receiving this tip, officers gathered outside Inzunza’s apartment and knocked loudly on the door for several minutes. When they looked through the window, they saw two people — a man and a woman — lying on the living room floor. The officers could tell the people were breathing, but they were unresponsive to the officers’ repeated knocks and yells. Earlier in the evening, detectives had knocked on Inzunza’s door as part of their canvassing effort, but no one had responded. Concerned for the well-being of the individuals inside, and believing that the victim might be in the apartment, the officers picked the lock on the door and entered.

¶ 11 While one officer checked on the two people lying on the floor, another officer went into the adjoining room of the one-bedroom apartment, where he immediately found the victim and Inzunza. The man and woman in the living room — Inzunza’s brother and Gloria R. — subsequently were identified and found to be highly intoxicated.

¶ 12 Warrantless entries into and searches of homes are presumptively unreasonable and unconstitutional unless an exigent circumstance or “other clear necessity” justifies the action. State v. Cañez, 202 Ariz. 133, ¶ 52, 42 P.3d 564, 582 (2002).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
316 P.3d 1266, 234 Ariz. 78, 679 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 4, 2014 WL 294485, 2014 Ariz. App. LEXIS 15, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-of-arizona-v-miguel-francisco-inzunza-arizctapp-2014.