State v. Flittie

318 N.W.2d 346, 1982 S.D. LEXIS 301
CourtSouth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedApril 21, 1982
Docket13163
StatusPublished
Cited by29 cases

This text of 318 N.W.2d 346 (State v. Flittie) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering South 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. Flittie, 318 N.W.2d 346, 1982 S.D. LEXIS 301 (S.D. 1982).

Opinions

WOLLMAN, Chief Justice (on reassignment).

Defendant appeals from his judgment of conviction and sentence on charges of burglary in the first degree and accessory after the fact to murder. We hold that the doctrine of collateral estoppel bars defendant’s prosecution and conviction on the charge of aiding and abetting the crime of first-degree burglary, and we reverse the judgment of conviction entered on that charge. We affirm defendant’s judgment of conviction on the charge of accessory after the fact to murder.

The charges stem from the death of defendant’s mother, Ruth Flittie, on October 10, 1975, in Brookings, South Dakota. Defendant and Tommy Downs were charged by information filed on February 16, 1978, with conspiracy to commit murder and murder. Downs pleaded guilty to the murder charge and was sentenced to life in prison. Defendant pleaded not guilty to both counts. He was convicted by a jury of the conspiracy charge and acquitted of murder. A sentence of five years was imposed on the [348]*348conspiracy conviction in May 1978. On December 21, 1978, defendant was charged with the crimes here involved.

Defendant argues that the principle of collateral estoppel embodied in the double jeopardy clause of the fifth amendment to the United States Constitution bars this second prosecution. In determining whether offenses are the same for double jeopardy purposes, we have adopted and adhered to the “same evidence test” and have repudiated the “same transaction test.” State v. Coe, 286 N.W.2d 340 (S.D.1979); State v. Pickering, 88 S.D. 548, 225 N.W.2d 98 (1975). We have thus aligned ourselves with the United States Supreme Court, Blockburger v. United States, 284 U.S. 299, 52 S.Ct. 180, 76 L.Ed. 306 (1932), and a majority of states.

The principle of criminal collateral estoppel is embodied in the double jeopardy clause of the fifth amendment to the United States Constitution and as such is enforceable against the states. Ashe v. Swenson, 397 U.S. 436, 90 S.Ct. 1189, 25 L.Ed.2d 469 (1970); Benton v. Maryland, 395 U.S. 784, 89 S.Ct. 2056, 23 L.Ed.2d 707 (1969). The Ashe court recognized that while collateral estoppel may be an awkward phrase, it is an important principle in our system of criminal justice. “It means simply that when a issue of ultimate fact has once been determined by a valid and final judgment, that issue cannot again be litigated between the same parties in any future lawsuit.” 397 U.S. at 443, 90 S.Ct. at 1194, 25 L.Ed.2d at 475. When collateral estoppel is raised as a defense to a subsequent prosecution, the reviewing court must:

“[E]xamine the record of a prior proceeding, taking into account the pleadings, evidence, charge, and other relevant matter, and conclude whether a rational jury could have grounded its verdict upon an issue other than that which the defendant seeks to foreclose from consideration.” The inquiry “must be set in a practical frame and viewed with an eye to all the circumstances of the proceedings.” Sealfon v. United States, 332 U.S. 575, 579, 68 S.Ct. 237, 240 [92 L.Ed. 180], Any test more technically restrictive would, of course, simply amount to a rejection of the rule of collateral estoppel in criminal proceedings^]

Ashe v. Swenson, supra, 397 U.S. at 444, 90 S.Ct. at 1194, 25 L.Ed.2d at 475-76 (footnote omitted).

With these dictates in mind, we first consider whether the burglary charge was barred by defendant’s acquittal on the murder charge. Defendant argues that the only issue upon which a rational jury could have based his acquittal on the murder charge was whether he had aided and abetted Tommy Downs. He argues that this was also the only issue in contention at his second prosecution on the burglary charge.

An examination of the record of the first trial reveals that defendant did not dispute that his mother had been murdered or that Downs had committed the murder. His only defense was that he had not aided and abetted Downs. The jury that acquitted defendant on the murder charge therefore could not have rationally grounded its verdict on an issue other than whether he had aided and abetted Downs. The evidence establishing the facts and circumstances surrounding the murder charge and the burglary charge was the same at both trials. This in itself is not fatal, as the procedure outlined in Ashe to determine the validity of a collateral estoppel defense does not turn on the evidence introduced but on the issues foreclosed. See Turner v. Arkansas, 407 U.S. 366, 92 S.Ct. 2096, 32 L.Ed.2d 798 (1972). At his trial on the burglary charge, however, defendant did not dispute that Downs had burglarized his mother’s house with intent to murder her. Again, his only defense was that he had not aided and abetted Downs in the commission of the crime. We therefore conclude that the issue whether defendant had aided and abetted Downs in the burglary was foreclosed by his previous acquittal on the murder charge, and thus the principle of collateral estoppel barred subsequent prosecution on the burglary charge.

[349]*349We next consider whether the accessory charge was barred by defendant’s conviction on the conspiracy charge. Ashe v. Swenson, supra, and Turner v. Arkansas, supra, turn on the proposition that the doctrine of collateral estoppel operates to bar prosecution on a subsequent charge only if the issue necessary to support a conviction on the subsequent charge was necessarily decided in a defendant’s favor at a prior trial. A reading of the record in the first trial convinces us that this was not the situation here:

(1) The information charging defendant with conspiracy stated: “[djuring the weeks immediately preceding the 10th day of October, 1975, and thereafter until on or about the 10th day of May, 1976” defendant and Tommy Downs conspired to kill Ruth Flittie in violation of SDCL 22-16-4.
(2) Overt Act # 4 under the above conspiracy count stated: “[t]hat thereafter [after October 10, 1975], and from time to time, the said ROGER GEORGE FLITTIE did pay certain sums of money to ... TOMMY EDWARD DOWNS.”
(3) Considerable evidence in the first trial was introduced to show that after the murder defendant sent Downs out of state and gave him money.
(4) At closing argument, defendant’s attorney all but admitted that defendant was involved after the fact.
(5) The trial court instructed the jury, in part, as follows:

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State v. Krause
2017 SD 16 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 2017)
State v. Danielson
2010 SD 58 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 2010)
State v. Kramer
2008 SD 73 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 2008)
State v. Pasek
2004 SD 132 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 2004)
State v. Chavez
2003 SD 93 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 2003)
State v. Arguello
1996 SD 57 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1996)
State v. Head
469 N.W.2d 585 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1991)
State v. Michalek
407 N.W.2d 815 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1987)
State v. Christians
381 N.W.2d 214 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1986)
State v. Flittie
338 N.W.2d 454 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1983)
State v. Waller
338 N.W.2d 288 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1983)
Buckley v. State
337 N.W.2d 822 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1983)
State v. Shull
331 N.W.2d 284 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1983)
State v. Wilson
322 N.W.2d 866 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1982)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
318 N.W.2d 346, 1982 S.D. LEXIS 301, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-flittie-sd-1982.