State v. Aguero

2010 ND 210, 791 N.W.2d 1, 2010 N.D. LEXIS 221, 2010 WL 4456977
North Dakota Supreme Court·Decided November 9, 2010·No. Nos. 20090241, 20090254·Published·Cited by 20 cases

Opinions

SANDSTROM, Justice.

[¶ 1] Billy Joe Valdez Agüero and Joseph Daniel Moneada appeal from criminal judgments entered after a jury found they were each guilty of two counts of murder and two counts of conspiracy to commit murder. We affirm the judgments.

I

[¶ 2] At approximately 11:45 p.m. on September 7, 2001, the bodies of Robert Belgarde and his son, Damien Belgarde, were found in a rural area near Grand Forks. Robert and Damien Belgarde each had several gunshot wounds, and Robert Belgarde suffered from a blunt force injury to his head. Law enforcement recovered a broken beer bottle, a partially smoked cigarette, unspent 9 mm cartridges, bullet casings, and fired bullets from the crime scene.

[¶ 3] In August 2008, Agüero and Mon-eada were each charged with two counts of murder in violation of N.D.C.C. § 12.1-16-[5]*501, a class AA felony, and two counts of conspiracy to commit murder in violation of N.D.C.C. § 12.1-06-04, a class AA felony, for the deaths of Robert and Damien Belgarde. The State alleged the Bel-gardes contacted Moneada to purchase drugs, Agüero and Moneada met the Bel-gardes at a grocery store, and Agüero and Moneada took the Belgardes to a rural area near Grand Forks where they hit Robert Belgarde on the head with a beer bottle and shot the Belgardes multiple times.

[¶ 4] The cases were joined for trial. Moneada was in prison in Minnesota at the time he was charged with the murders and he filed a request for final disposition under the Agreement on Detainers, requesting speedy disposition of the detainer under N.D.C.C. § 29-34-01. On January 30, 2009, the State moved to extend the time for the detainer, and Moneada objected. The court granted the State’s motion. Before trial, Moneada’s attorney requested the defendants wear non-visible restraints, and the court granted the request. A jury trial was held June 15-25, 2009. Moneada and Agüero wore leg restraints during the trial. The jury found Agüero and Monea-da were both guilty as charged.

[¶ 5] The district court had jurisdiction under N.D. Const, art. VI, § 8, and N.D.C.C. § 27-05-06. The appeal was timely under N.D.RApp.P. 4(b). This Court has jurisdiction under N.D. Const, art. VI, §§ 2, 6, and N.D.C.C. § 29-28-06.

[¶ 6] After the appeal was filed, the defendant moved to remand the case to the district court to correct the record to reflect that restraints were visible to the jury. This Court remanded to the district court to hear the motion. After an eviden-tiary hearing, the district court denied the motion to amend the record.

II

[¶ 7] Agüero and Moneada argue they were denied the right to a fair trial because they were required to wear leg restraints during the trial. They claim the leg restraints were visible and the court did not make any findings that the restraints were necessary for courtroom security.

[¶ 8] We review a district court’s decision whether to use physical restraints during court proceedings for an abuse of discretion. State v. Kunze, 2007 ND 143, ¶ 14, 738 N.W.2d 472. A court abuses its discretion when it acts in an arbitrary, unreasonable, or unconscionable manner, or when it misinterprets or misapplies the law, or when its decision is not the product of a rational mental process leading to a reasoned determination. Id.

[¶ 9] In Deck v. Missouri, 544 U.S. 622, 629, 125 S.Ct. 2007, 161 L.Ed.2d 953 (2005), the defendant was shackled with leg irons, handcuffs, and a belly chain that were visible to the jury, and the United States Supreme Court held that the Constitution forbids the routine use of visible shackles during the guilt phase of a criminal trial, unless the use is justified by an essential state interest:

[T]he Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments prohibit the use of physical restraints visible to the jury absent a trial court determination, in the exercise of its discretion, that they are justified by a state interest specific to a particular trial. Such a determination may of course take into account the factors that courts have traditionally relied on in gauging potential security problems and the risk of escape at trial.

[¶ 10] State interests justifying the use of visible restraints include physical security, escape prevention, and courtroom decorum. Deck, 544 U.S. at 628, 125 [6] S.Ct. 2007. In deciding whether restraints should be used, a trial court should consider various factors, including the accused’s record, temperament, desperateness of his situation, his physical condition; the security situation in the courtroom and courthouse; and whether there was an adequate means of providing security that was less prejudicial. Kunze, 2007 ND 143, ¶ 18, 738 N.W.2d 472. If visible restraints are used, the court must make case-specific findings and explain its reasons on the record, justifying the use. Id. at ¶¶ 18, 21, 24. When a court, “without adequate justification, orders the defendant to wear shackles that will be seen by the jury, the defendant need not demonstrate actual prejudice to make out a due process violation. The State must prove ‘beyond a reasonable doubt that the shackling error complained of did not contribute to the verdict obtained.’ ” Deck, at 635, 125 S.Ct. 2007 (quoting Chapman v. California, 386 U.S. 18, 24, 87 S.Ct. 824, 17 L.Ed.2d 705 (1967)).

[¶ 11] In a pretrial motion Moneada requested the court order the defendants wear non-visible restraints:

counsel for the Defendant is requesting that Joseph Daniel Moneada be allowed to appear before the finder of fact without visible restraints and in non-jail garb. There is a restraint that may be worn underneath the clothing of an accused that is more than adequate for security and still allows sedate movement to and from the witness stand with nothing more than a limp.

Agüero joined Moncada’s motion. In the March 19, 2009, pretrial conference the court granted Moncada’s motion, stating, “we’ll grant the Defendant’s Motion for street attire and non-visible restraints.” The defendants requested the court order non-visible restraints, and the court granted the motion. Because the defendants requested restraints, they waived any claim that the court violated their constitutional rights by failing to make the required findings about the necessity of restraints. Cf. State v. Klose, 334 N.W.2d 647, 651 (N.D.1983) (“a person legally should not be permitted to benefit from an error resulting from or through the action that he promoted or instigated”; a defendant cannot complain and use to his advantage an error caused by the court’s actions at the defendant’s request).

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State v. Aguero, 2010 ND 210, 791 N.W.2d 1, 2010 N.D. LEXIS 221, 2010 WL 4456977 (N.D. 2010).

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