State v. Donk

181 P.3d 508, 145 Idaho 582, 2007 Ida. App. LEXIS 89, 2007 WL 2782014
CourtIdaho Court of Appeals
DecidedSeptember 26, 2007
DocketNos. 33055, 33056
StatusPublished

This text of 181 P.3d 508 (State v. Donk) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Idaho Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Donk, 181 P.3d 508, 145 Idaho 582, 2007 Ida. App. LEXIS 89, 2007 WL 2782014 (Idaho Ct. App. 2007).

Opinion

LANSING, Judge.

David Darwin Donk appeals from Ms judgment of conviction for aggravated assault with a sentence enhancement for using a deadly weapon during the crime. He asserts that the district court erred by imposing a sentence enhancement when the enhancement issue had not been submitted to the jury. We agree that error occurred and therefore vacate the sentence and remand for resentencing.

I.

BACKGROUND

On August 28, 2005, Donk and Ms girlfriend, Sheila Anderson, had a dispute. At one point during the fight, Donk told her that she had thirty minutes to live. Several other individuals who were in the house convinced Anderson that it would be prudent to leave. As they were getting mto their veMcles, Donk came to the front door holdmg a shotgun in one hand. Because of tMs incident he was arrested and charged with aggravated assault, Idaho Code §§ 18-901, -905. The information alleged that the offense was aggravated assault, a felony, rather than simple assault, a misdemeanor, because it was committed with a deadly weapon. See I.C. § 18-905(a). The information also alleged that Donk was subject to an enhancement of Ms sentence for using a deadly weapon during the assault pursuant to I.C. § 19-2520.

A jury trial was conducted, and the jury returned a verdict finding Donk guilty of aggravated assault.1 Before the jury was released, the attorneys had a conversation with the court about the deadly weapon enhancement, which had not been submitted to the jury. The prosecutor argued that it was unnecessary to obtam a separate verdict on the deadly weapon enhancement because the jury had already found that Donk used a deadly weapon m the commission of the aggravated assault. The prosecutor urged the court to find as a matter of law that the aggravating factor had been proven and found by the jury. The prosecutor also said that he was wilhng to “rise or fall” on this argument and therefore would consent to excusing the jury. After giving the parties an opportunity to brief the issue, the district court ultimately accepted the State’s position, ruling that the reqmsite elements of the sentence enhancement had been found by the jury-

Because of tMs sentence enhancement, the maximum term of imprisonment to wMch Donk could be subject was increased from five years, I.C. § 18-906, to twenty years, I.C. § 19-2520. Donk received a unified sentence of ten years with one year determinate. He now appeals, arguing that the enhancement of Ms sentence for use of a deadly weapon is impermissible because the jury did not find the facts necessary to sustain the enhancement.

II.

ANALYSIS

Donk argues that his constitutional rights to due process and to a jury trial were violated because the jury did not find beyond a reasonable doubt the facts necessary to support the weapons enhancement. The imposition of this sentence enhancement, he asserts, thus runs afoul of Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 120 S.Ct. 2348, 147 L.Ed.2d 435 (2000). In Apprendi, the Umted States Supreme Court held that the Sixth Amendment right to a jury trial and the Fourteenth Amendment guarantee of due process require that any fact, other than a prior conviction, that increases the penalty for a crime beyond an otherwise-applicable maximum, must be submitted to a jury and proved beyond a reasonable doubt. Id. at 490, 120 S.Ct. at 2362, 147 L.Ed.2d at 454. Additionally, the Idaho statute authorizing the weapons enhancement provides that it is to be found “by the trier of fact at the trial of the substantive crime.” I.C. § 19-2520. Donk argues that although the jury found him guilty of aggravated assault wMch had, as one element, the use of a firearm, tMs finding did not substitute for a findmg on the [584]*584weapons enhancement because there are conflicting statutory definitions of what constitutes a firearm.

Donk is correct that significantly different definitions are in play here. The aggravated assault statute, I.C. § 18-905, which includes within that offense an assault with a deadly weapon, defines “deadly weapon” to include, “any firearm, though ... so defective that it can not be fired.” I.C. § 18-905(d) (emphasis added). In contrast, the deadly weapon sentence enhancement statute, I.C. § 19-2520, which mandates an extended sentence for the use of a firearm or other deadly weapon in certain crimes, defines “firearm” as “any deadly weapon capable of ejecting or propelling one or more projectiles by the action of any explosive or combustible propellant, and includes unloaded firearms and firearms which are inoperable but which can readily be rendered operable.” (Emphasis added.) Thus, one can be convicted of aggravated assault for the use of a firearm that is so defective that it cannot be fired, but a sentence enhancement is permitted only if the firearm was operable or could have readily been rendered operable. In Donk’s trial, the jurors were instructed on the definition of deadly weapons for commission of aggravated assault, but, because the enhancement issue was not presented to them, they were not asked to consider whether the State had met its burden to prove that the firearm that Donk used was operable or could have been readily rendered operable.

It is not always necessary to submit a sentencing enhancement to the jury, for a jury’s determination on the underlying charge sometimes encompasses the elements necessary for the enhancement. For example, in State v. Hernandez, 120 Idaho 653, 818 P.2d 768 (Ct.App.1991), the deadly weapon enhancement was applied by the trial court after the defendant had been found guilty of aggravated battery by stabbing the victim with a knife. The enhancement was not specifically submitted to the jury, but the jury had been instructed that one of the requirements of aggravated battery was that the battery was committed with a deadly weapon. We said:

[Wjhere the use of a firearm or deadly weapon is an essential element of the crime for which a defendant is charged and he is found guilty, the jury has already made its factual determination as to whether the particular weapon has been used, and the judge need not submit the issue to the jury for a special finding to determine whether a firearm or deadly weapon was used.

Id. at 659, 818 P.2d at 774. In Hernandez, the definition of firearm found in the enhancement statute was not a factor, however, because the crime there was committed with a knife.

In State v. McLeskey, 138 Idaho 691, 69 P.3d 111 (2003), the Idaho Supreme Court examined the interaction of the aggravated assault and deadly weapon enhancement statutes. In that case, a jury had found the defendant guilty of aggravated assault for shooting at the victim during a burglary and also found the deadly weapon sentence enhancement applicable. The Supreme Court vacated the defendant’s conviction because of trial errors but also discussed the instruction which should be given in a new trial on remand with respect to the firearm enhancement. In MeLeskey’s trial, the district court had instructed the jury on only the I.C. § 18-905(d) definition of deadly weapon applicable to the offense of aggravated assault and did not include the I.C.

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United States v. Matthews
312 F.3d 652 (Fifth Circuit, 2002)
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527 U.S. 1 (Supreme Court, 1999)
Apprendi v. New Jersey
530 U.S. 466 (Supreme Court, 2000)
State v. Storey
712 P.2d 694 (Idaho Court of Appeals, 1985)
State v. Hernandez
818 P.2d 768 (Idaho Court of Appeals, 1991)
State v. Kaiser
681 P.2d 594 (Idaho Court of Appeals, 1984)
State v. Gordon
2003 WI 69 (Wisconsin Supreme Court, 2003)
People v. Coleman
806 N.E.2d 1113 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2004)
State v. LePage
69 P.3d 1064 (Idaho Court of Appeals, 2003)
State v. McLeskey
69 P.3d 111 (Idaho Supreme Court, 2003)
State v. Tucker
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State v. Wright
800 A.2d 1218 (Connecticut Appellate Court, 2002)

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Bluebook (online)
181 P.3d 508, 145 Idaho 582, 2007 Ida. App. LEXIS 89, 2007 WL 2782014, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-donk-idahoctapp-2007.