State v. Duncan

2011 ND 85, 796 N.W.2d 672, 2011 N.D. LEXIS 81, 2011 WL 1782045
CourtNorth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedMay 11, 2011
DocketNo. 20100323
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 2011 ND 85 (State v. Duncan) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering North Dakota 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. Duncan, 2011 ND 85, 796 N.W.2d 672, 2011 N.D. LEXIS 81, 2011 WL 1782045 (N.D. 2011).

Opinion

CROTHERS, Justice.

[¶ 1] Shane Keith Duncan appeals the district court’s judgment entered after a jury convicted him of terrorizing, interference with a telephone during an emergency phone call and simple assault-domestic violence. He argues the judgment should be reversed and an acquittal be entered because of prosecutorial misconduct. We affirm.

I

[¶ 2] Shane Duncan was charged with simple assault-domestic violence for willfully causing bodily injury to his wife Barbara Duncan on February 4, 2010, with terrorizing for threatening Barbara Duncan with a gun on February 6, 2010, and with intentionally interfering with Barbara Duncan’s emergency telephone call on February 6, 2010.

[¶ 3] Shane Duncan pled not guilty to the three charges, and a jury trial was held on July 14, 2010. The State called Barbara Duncan to testify. Barbara Duncan testified she is Shane Duncan’s wife and has been married to Shane Duncan for almost three years. Barbara Duncan refused to testify about the events occurring on February 6, 2010. The district court instructed Barbara Duncan to answer the questions, but she still refused. The district court informed Barbara Duncan she would be held in contempt of court if she persisted in her refusal to answer questions and could be sent to jail and charged with a misdemeanor. Barbara Duncan still refused to testify, and the district court jailed her for contempt after informing her she could get out if she testified.

[¶ 4] Prior to jailing Barbara Duncan for contempt, the district court asked Shane Duncan’s counsel if he wanted to comment regarding Barbara Duncan’s refusal to testify. Shane Duncan’s counsel responded, “I guess I’d just advise her to seek counsel. I have no comment on that.”

[¶ 5] After ascertaining Barbara Duncan was not going to testify, the district court ruled an audio tape recording of the 911 call Barbara Duncan made was admissible under the excited utterance and the present sense impression exceptions to the hearsay rules. The district court stated that even though the call was made two hours after the events occurred, it was admissible because Barbara Duncan was under stress due to the event, evidenced by her driving to town and buying another cellular telephone to make the telephone call. The district court also ruled the law enforcement officers could not testify about what Barbara Duncan told them.

[¶ 6] The audio recording of the 911 call was admitted and played for the jury. Barbara Duncan made the call around 7:30 p.m. on February 6, 2010. During the call, Barbara Duncan told the 911 operator that the events of a domestic situation occurred at 4:00 p.m. that day and that Shane Duncan had left the scene, their residence, around 5:00 p.m.

[¶ 7] Barbara Duncan told the 911 operator Shane Duncan had pointed a .300 Ultra Mag rifle at her. She also stated that Shane Duncan broke her cell phone [675]*675when she attempted to call 911, that he broke her daughter’s cell phone and that Barbara Duncan had left the residence at 5:30 p.m. to buy a new cell phone.

[¶ 8] Barbara Duncan stated during the 911 call that she had not planned to call 911, but that after she bought her new cell phone, she and Shane Duncan were exchanging text messages and Shane Duncan threatened a divorce. Twice she told the 911 operator she was fíne and stated she was not hurt. She indicated Shane Duncan’s parents were present during the incident and they would not let Shane Duncan hurt her. However, a lamp was broken.

[¶ 9] The jury found Shane Duncan guilty of terrorizing, interference with a telephone during an emergency call and simple assault-domestic violence. Judgment was entered based on the jury’s verdict. Shane Duncan appeals.

II

[¶ 10] Shane Duncan presents three issues, all framed as prosecutorial misconduct that denied his due process right to a fair trial. This Court applies “a de novo standard of review to a claim of a constitutional violation.” State v. Aguero, 2010 ND 210, ¶ 16, 791 N.W.2d 1.

[¶ 11] Shane Duncan alleges his due process rights were violated when the State sought admission of the 911 telephone call recording because the call violated his confrontation clause rights. He does not argue the district court erred admitting the 911 call recording. The State responds that use of the 911 call was not misconduct because the confrontation clause’s availability requirement only requires a witness to appear at trial and Barbara Duncan appeared.

[¶ 12] We have explained,

“prosecutorial misconduct may ‘so infect!] the trial with unfairness as to make the resulting conviction a denial of due process.’ However, we have also recognized that not every assertion of prosecutorial misconduct, followed by an argument the conduct denied the defendant his constitutional right to a fair trial, automatically rises to an error of constitutional dimension. ‘To constitute a due process violation, the prosecutorial misconduct must be of sufficient significance to result in the denial of the defendant’s right to a fair trial.’ To determine whether a prosecutor’s misconduct rises to a level of a due process violation, we decide if the conduct, in the context of the entire trial, was sufficiently prejudicial to violate a defendant’s due process rights.”

State v. Kruckenberg, 2008 ND 212, ¶ 20, 758 N.W.2d 427 (internal quotations omitted).

[¶ 13] Shane Duncan contends the State committed prosecutorial misconduct by seeking the introduction of the 911 call, which he claims was “clearly inadmissible” evidence violating the confrontation clause under Davis v. Washington, 547 U.S. 813, 822, 126 S.Ct. 2266, 165 L.Ed.2d 224 (2006). The confrontation clause provides that “[i]n all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right ... to be confronted with the witnesses against him.” U.S. Const, amend. VI. The United States Supreme Court held this amendment prohibits the admission of testimonial hearsay against the accused, unless the witness is unavailable to testify and the accused previously had an opportunity to cross-examine the declarant. Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36, 68, 124 S.Ct. 1354, 158 L.Ed.2d 177 (2004). The confrontation clause does not apply to non-testimonial hearsay. Id. See also Davis, at 821, 126 S.Ct. 2266 (only testimonial state[676]*676ments cause the declarant to be a “witness” within the meaning of the Sixth Amendment). A criminal defendant’s right to confront witnesses is an important right, the denial of which can nullify the result of a trial. See Crawford, at 69, 124 S.Ct. 1354; Davis, at 834, 126 S.Ct. 2266.

[¶ 14] Shane Duncan correctly observes the United States Supreme Court reversed a conviction based on introduction of a 911 call in Davis because the declarant was unavailable and because Davis had no opportunity to cross-examine the declarant. 547 U.S. at 817, 126 S.Ct. 2266. However, interpretation of the confrontation clause has been anything but consistent since the 2004 Crawford decision. See, e.g., Shorter v. State, 33 So.3d 512, 523 (Miss.App.2009) (holding declar-ant’s statements to 911 operator were not testimonial when defendant was still present during phone call); State v. Wright, 726 N.W.2d 464

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2011 ND 85, 796 N.W.2d 672, 2011 N.D. LEXIS 81, 2011 WL 1782045, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-duncan-nd-2011.