State v. Edward R. Hochrein, Jr.

303 P.3d 1249, 154 Idaho 993, 2013 WL 1501514, 2013 Ida. App. LEXIS 35
CourtIdaho Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 15, 2013
Docket38316, 38317
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 303 P.3d 1249 (State v. Edward R. Hochrein, Jr.) 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. Edward R. Hochrein, Jr., 303 P.3d 1249, 154 Idaho 993, 2013 WL 1501514, 2013 Ida. App. LEXIS 35 (Idaho Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

GUTIERREZ, Chief Judge.

Edward R. Hochrein, Jr. appeals from his judgment of conviction entered upon jury verdicts finding him guilty of felony violation of a no contact order and being a persistent violator. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm.

I.

FACTS AND PROCEDURE

After Hochrein was charged by information with intimidating a witness, a magistrate issued a no contact order prohibiting Hochrein from having contact with the victim, Tanya Lewis. The information was amended to include charges of misdemeanor domestic battery and misdemeanor cruelty to an animal. Pursuant to a plea agreement, Hochrein pled guilty to the domestic battery and cruelty to an animal charges and was placed on probation. 1 The previously issued no contact order was continued in effect until August 20, 2011.

On January 28, 2010, Lewis and Chris Yeats were at Lewis’s residence when the doorbell rang. Yeats looked through the peephole and saw who he believed to be Hochrein standing outside the door. He relayed this information to Lewis who did not look outside and immediately called 911. When the police arrived, the person who rang the doorbell was gone. Yeats, who had never met Hochrein, but had seen him in pictures, identified Hochrein from a photographic lineup as the man standing outside Lewis’s door. Hochrein was charged with felony violation of a no contact order, Idaho Code § 18-920, and a persistent violator enhancement, I.C. § 19-2514. 2

At trial, the parties stipulated to the facts that a no contact order prohibiting Hochrein from having contact with Lewis had been issued and was “in effect” on January 28, 2010. The State presented the testimony of Lewis, Yeats, and an officer who testified *997 regarding Yeats’ identification of Hochrein as the perpetrator. Hochrein did not testify, but called three alibi witnesses who testified Hochrein was not at Lewis’s residence at the time in question. During closing arguments, Hochrein’s counsel emphasized to the jury, “There is really only one issue here and that’s was Ed Hochrein outside the door at Tanya Lewis’ apartment on January 28th.” The jury found Hochrein guilty as charged. Hochrein now appeals.

II.

ANALYSIS

Hochrein contends the district court erred in accepting the factual stipulation regarding the existence of a no contact order without his personal waiver of his right to a jury trial on the essential elements of the charge. He also argues there was insufficient evidence presented to support his conviction — specifically, that he had the requisite notice of the existence of the no contact order. Relatedly, he contends the district court erred in failing to instruct the jury on this element of the offense. Finally, he argues the district court erred in disallowing him to impeach Lewis’s testimony with evidence of her prior conviction for felony possession of a financial transaction card that resulted in a withheld judgment.

A. Stipulation

In his supplemental brief, Hochrein contends, for the first time on appeal, that his rights to a jury trial and due process were violated by the district court’s acceptance of the factual stipulation by Hochrein’s counsel and the State that a no contact order was “in effect” at the time of the incident without obtaining from him a personal waiver. He asserts that because the stipulation was effectively an admission to several elements of the charged crime, the district court was required to advise him of the constitutional rights he was waiving and obtain from him an explicit waiver of his right to a jury determination as to each element of the crime.

Since Hochrein raises this issue for the first time on appeal, it is only reversible if it constitutes fundamental error. Pursuant to State v. Perry, 150 Idaho 209, 226, 245 P.3d 961, 978 (2010), an appellate court should reverse an unobjected-to error when the defendant persuades the court the alleged error: (1) violates one or more of the defendant’s unwaived constitutional rights; (2) is clear or obvious without the need for reference to any additional information not contained in the appellate record; and (3) affected the outcome of the trial proceedings.

The stipulation at issue stated in relevant part:

On January 28, 2010, a No Contact Order issued by a Court was in effect in Case No. CR2009-0002146. The No Contact Order was issued because the Defendant, Edward R. Hochrein, Jr., had been charged with or convicted of an offense for which the Court found that a No Contact Order was appropriate. The No Contact Order prohibited the Defendant from contacting Tanya Lewis. The No Contact Order also prohibited the Defendant from being at Ms. Lewis’ residence.

(Emphasis added.) Hochrein argues, and the State does not dispute, that this stipulation covered several elements of the charged offense pursuant to Idaho Code § 18-920, which provides that a violation of a no contact order is committed when:

(a) A person has been charged or convicted under any offense defined in subsection (1) of this section; and

(b) A no contact order has been issued, either by a court or by an Idaho criminal rule; and

(c) The person charged or convicted has had contact with the stated person in violation of an order.

I.C. § 18-920(2). In addition, as we discuss below, the State concedes notice of the existence of a no contact order is an essential element of the crime. By accepting the stipulation without his personal waiver, Hochrein argues the district court violated his right to a jury trial and due process. See State v. Nath, 137 Idaho 712, 716-17, 52 P.3d 857, 861-62 (2002) (holding that a jury instruction removing an essential element of an offense from the jury’s consideration violated the *998 defendant’s right to a jury trial and due process).

Here, for the reasons explained below, the error complained of was not fundamental because the second prong, requiring that the error plainly exists, was not met; thus, we need not address the remaining prongs. With respect to this second prong of the Perry test, the error must be clear or obvious, without the need for any additional information not contained in the appellate record, including information as to whether the failure to object was a tactical decision. Perry, 150 Idaho at 226, 245 P.3d at 978. Because our Supreme Court drew heavily upon the federal plain error doctrine in arriving at the Perry definition of fundamental error, we consult federal ease law in elucidating the second element of the Perry test. State v. Hadden, 152 Idaho 371, 375, 271 P.3d 1227

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
303 P.3d 1249, 154 Idaho 993, 2013 WL 1501514, 2013 Ida. App. LEXIS 35, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-edward-r-hochrein-jr-idahoctapp-2013.