State v. Clawson

781 P.2d 267, 239 Mont. 413, 1989 Mont. LEXIS 283
CourtMontana Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 19, 1989
Docket89-108
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 781 P.2d 267 (State v. Clawson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Montana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Clawson, 781 P.2d 267, 239 Mont. 413, 1989 Mont. LEXIS 283 (Mo. 1989).

Opinion

JUSTICE WEBER

delivered the Opinion of the Court.

Defendant, Shawn Drew Clawson, was charged with aggravated kidnapping, aggravated assault, sexual intercourse without consent, and attempted deliberate homicide in the District Court for the First Judicial District, Lewis and Clark County. The aggravated assault charge was dismissed. The jury found defendant guilty as charged of the offenses of aggravated kidnapping, sexual intercourse without consent, and attempted deliberate homicide. Defendant was sentenced to 100 years for aggravated kidnapping, 100 years for attempted deliberate homicide, 40 years for sexual intercourse without consent, 100 years as a persistent felony offender, and 10 years for *415 the use of a weapon, to run consecutively, making a total of 350 years. He was also declared ineligible for parole. Defendant appeals. We affirm.

Defendant presents three issues on appeal:

1. Did the District Court err in ruling that sexual intercourse without consent is not a lesser included offense of aggravated kidnapping, and therefore not dismissing the charge of aggravated kidnapping?

2. Did the District Court err in finding that the offense of attempted deliberate homicide was not impliedly repealed by the newly enacted offense of criminal endangerment?

3. Did the District Court err in denying defendant’s motion for mistrial when the prosecution addressed punishment in its rebuttal closing argument?

The victim, L.B. lived in Helena, Montana. Near midnight, on June 10, 1988, L.B. received a phone call from a man stating that he had borrowed some car parts and tools from her husband and wanted to return them that night. L.B. felt uneasy because of the call and called her husband who was working in the state of Idaho. He did not recall loaning tools to anyone. Her husband called later to make sure she was all right. He also asked a male friend, Mr. E., in Helena to check on L.B.

Mr. E. called L.B. shortly after the call from her husband. While he was talking to her, the defendant burst into the house through a bedroom window. L.B. testified that she recognized defendant as the man who had come to her home a week earlier requesting a tour of it because it was for sale, and also as the man who made the phone call earlier that night. As he approached her, she screamed “Oh no, Oh no.” Defendant put a knife to L.B.’s throat and then hung up the phone. He forced her to leave clad only in a nightshirt and without slippers, and took her to his car several blocks away. She made several unsuccessful escape attempts.

Because there are no significant factual issues raised by the defendant we will not detail the very extensive criminal conduct of the defendant which extended over a period of many hours, starting after 1:00 a.m. Beginning in a vacant bus near her home and then continuing in various locations around the city, defendant repeatedly committed acts of sexual intercourse without consent on L.B., and in addition, by force required her to take part in various deviate sexual acts. Defendant repeatedly tortured L.B., choked her a number of times, burned her body with cigarettes and beat her physi *416 cally with a club. Finally, after driving L.B. several miles out of town, defendant slammed her head into a rock and stabbed her 15 times in her chest and abdomen. We emphasize that the record is devoid of any evidence, or even suggestion of evidence, which demonstrates consent or participation in any of the conduct by L.B. The bestiality of the conduct on the part of defendant is overwhelmingly present in the record. We are unable to comprehend the lack of consideration for another human being which was demonstrated by defendant, and which is apparent even from his own testimony. In the event that defendant finds it appropriate to seek further review, we invite any federal court to review the extensive transcript in order to gain an adequate understanding of the facts of this case.

Because of his fear of being caught, defendant concocted a story for L.B. to tell Mr. E. in order to explain why she hung up on him. Defendant forced L.B. to call Mr. E. and to relay the story about friends with whom she left to go drinking in Butte. L.B. attempted to tip off Mr. E. by asking questions about his wife although he was unmarried. Mr. E. had already called the police and sent them to L.B.’s home. Defendant also forced L.B. to call the police with the same phony story. As dawn approached, the defendant became nervous and drove L.B. out of Helena into the foothills near Canyon Ferry. He stopped when L.B. said that she had to go to the bathroom.

L.B. testified that she next awoke in the bottom of a ravine, clad in only her nightshirt, and bleeding from her wounds. She testified that she did not move at all that day because she was not strong enough to get up. At dusk she walked for about half an hour, and during that night alternated between walking and sleeping. Cactus spines punctured her bare feet. In the morning she slowly made her way out of the ravine to a road. Two people in a pickup truck drove past and saw her sitting on the side of the road with blood on her head. They rushed her to the hospital, where it was discovered she had been stabbed 15 times in her chest and abdomen. The hospital physician who treated L.B. testified that she had several “potentially fatal stab wounds,” had lost a “minimum of 75% of her blood volume,” and that her head wounds would have been potentially fatal had they not “occurred on a particularly hard portion of the skull.” He testified that L.B. probably would not have survived more than a few hours, had she not been rescued.

*417 I

Did the District Court err in ruling that sexual intercourse without consent is not a lesser included offense of aggravated kidnapping, and therefore not dismissing the charge of aggravated kidnapping?

Defendant contends that pursuant to § 46-11-502, MCA, sexual intercourse without consent is a lesser included offense of aggravated kidnapping and that he cannot be convicted of both without resulting in double jeopardy. The basis of his claim is that the “without consent” element of sexual intercourse without consent is established by the kidnapping because the taking of someone against her will is without consent. At the close of the State’s case-in-chief, defendant moved to dismiss the charge of aggravated kidnapping for that reason.

The State argues that in determining if one offense includes another, the statutory elements of each offense must be analyzed to determine if each offense contains an element different from the other. The State refers to a number of Montana cases and in particular relies upon State v. Thornton (1985), 218 Mont. 317, 708 P.2d 273. Defendant agrees that Thornton sets forth the appropriate standard. In Thornton the standard is discussed at some length as follows:

“Defendant’s argument relies upon the holding found in Blockburger v. United States (1932), 284 U.S. 299, 304, 52 S.Ct. 180, 182, 76 L.Ed. 306, 309, which states:

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Bluebook (online)
781 P.2d 267, 239 Mont. 413, 1989 Mont. LEXIS 283, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-clawson-mont-1989.