State v. Belkin

549 P.2d 608, 26 Ariz. App. 513, 1976 Ariz. App. LEXIS 891
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arizona
DecidedMay 13, 1976
Docket2 CA-CR 731
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 549 P.2d 608 (State v. Belkin) 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 v. Belkin, 549 P.2d 608, 26 Ariz. App. 513, 1976 Ariz. App. LEXIS 891 (Ark. Ct. App. 1976).

Opinion

OPINION

KRUCKER, Judge.

Appellant, Steven Marc Belkin, was charged with kidnapping while armed with a gun in violation of A.R.S. § 13 — 491 (D) (Supp.1973). In addition to a verdict form on the crime charged, the trial court submitted verdict forms to the jury on kidnapping, A.R.S. § 13-491 (A) (Supp.1973), *515 false imprisonment by violence or menace, A.R.S: § 13-961 (B), and false imprisonment, A.R.S. § 13-961 (A). It refused to instruct or submit a verdict form on simple assault, A.R.S. § 13-243. The jury found appellant guilty of false imprisonment by violence or menace.

As grounds for reversal, appellant contends the trial court erred (1) in refusing to preclude the introduction of evidence that would tend to show appellant was married to more than one woman; (2) in inadequately instructing the jury on false imprisonment and false imprisonment by violence or menace; (3) in refusing to declare a mistrial after the jury returned guilty verdicts on both false imprisonment and false imprisonment by violence or menace ; (4) in allowing a police officer to relate a statement by appellant that was not timely disclosed to the defense; (5) in refusing to instruct that if the jury found the State had destroyed evidence it could infer that such evidence was against the State’s interest; (6) in failing to instruct the jury on simple assault; and (7) in denying a mistrial when the prosecutor violated the court’s ruling on a motion in lim-ine. All these contentions are meritless and it is our duty to affirm the judgment of conviction.

Rosemarie (Belkin) Quagliata married appellant on October 26, 1974. During their marriage, Rosemarie and appellant were separated four times. The last separation, on February 8, 1975, occurred after Rosemarie discovered appellant was married to another woman. Rosemarie thereafter filed a petition to dissolve the marriage and obtained an injunction forbidding appellant to see her.

On March 11, 1975, appellant went to the parking lot at Tucson Medical Center and waited for Rosemarie to arrive for work. When he saw her he ran up behind her, grabbed her and drove away with her. At one point he displayed a gun and made her telephone an excuse to her employer. He drove her to a motel in Benson, Arizona, where they spent the night and had consensual sexual intercourse. Appellant had Rosemarie call her mother and tell her she was back together with appellant. They drove to her parents’ home, where appellant was arrested.

Appellant first contends that it was error for the trial court to deny his motion to exclude all evidence that he was married to another woman. Generally, the prosecution may not introduce evidence that a defendant committed a bad act entirely distinct from the one for which he is being tried. State v. Latino, 25 Ariz.App. 66, 540 P.2d 1285 (1975). This rule does not apply, however, where the evidence is so interrelated with the crime for which the defendant is being tried that the jury cannot fully understand the circumstances of the crime without it. State v. Foggy, 101 Ariz. 459, 420 P.2d 934 (1966). Before their final separation, appellant and Rosemarie separated three times and in each instance became reconciled shortly thereafter. After Rosemarie found out that appellant was married, however, she instituted dissolution proceedings and steadfastly refused to have anything further to do with him despite his repeated attempts to meet with her. We believe that if the fact of appellant’s other wife had been withheld from the jury, it would not have fully understood the circumstances that led up to Rosemarie’s abduction. Furthermore, this evidence bore indirectly on the question of whether Rosemarie consented to be driven away to Benson by appellant. The trial court did not err in refusing to exclude evidence that appellant1 was married to another woman.

Appellant next contends the trial court did not adequately instruct the jury on the crimes of false imprisonment and false imprisonment by violence or menace. The court instructed:

“False imprisonment is the unlawful violation of the personal liberty of another.”

The court gave no separate instruction defining false imprisonment by violence or menace. We note that the trial court’s in *516 struction is taken verbatim from A.R.S. § 13-961 (A).

The record shows that appellant’s counsel made only a general objection to the instruction on false imprisonment. Since he failed to state the specific ground of his objection, Rule 21.3(c), Rules of Criminal Procedure, 17 A.R.S., and offered no substitute instructions, the objection was waived. The phrases “unlawful violation” and “personal liberty” are not so unclear as to make the instruction infected with fundamental error. See, State v. Winter, 109 Ariz. 505, 513 P.2d 934 (1973). Further, the meaning of “violence or menace” needs no explanation.

The record reveals that the jury returned verdicts of guilty on both false imprisonment and false imprisonment by violence or menace. The trial court denied appellant’s motion for a mistrial. Counsel then stipulated that the matter be resubmitted to the jury with instructions that it could find appellant guilty of only one of the lesser included offenses. The jury returned ten minutes later with a verdict of guilty of false imprisonment by violence or menace.

Appellant contends these events show the jury was hopelessly confused by the court’s instructions and the court should have declared a mistrial. We disagree. It appears that the jury was instead confused by the trial court’s initial failure to tell them they could convict appellant of only one of the lesser included offenses. Having found that the facts supported conviction for both false imprisonment and false imprisonment by violence or menace, and being uncertain of what to do, the jury returned guilty verdicts on both crimes. Once the trial court made it clear that appellant could only be convicted of one, the jury rectified its error in short order. The trial court’s refusal to declare a mistrial was proper.

After appellant was arrested, police detectives taped an interview with him. During the interview, appellant stated he had shown his gun to Rosemarie but had not pointed it at her. Detective Bunting, who was present at the interview, took the tape to be transcribed and was thereafter unable to find it.

At the omnibus hearing the prosecutor told appellant’s counsel the tape was lost and later filed an affidavit to that effect as ordered by the trial court. Detective Bunting’s police report and a transcript of his testimony before the grand jury had been disclosed to appellant.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
549 P.2d 608, 26 Ariz. App. 513, 1976 Ariz. App. LEXIS 891, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-belkin-arizctapp-1976.