State v. Foster

484 N.W.2d 113, 1992 N.D. LEXIS 89, 1992 WL 79202
CourtNorth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedApril 21, 1992
DocketCr. 910389
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 484 N.W.2d 113 (State v. Foster) 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. Foster, 484 N.W.2d 113, 1992 N.D. LEXIS 89, 1992 WL 79202 (N.D. 1992).

Opinions

ERICKSTAD, Chief Justice.

William L. Foster, a/k/a William Parks, a/k/a John Doe, appeals from the judgment and sentence of the District Court for Cass County. We affirm.

On or about April 7, 1990, William L. Foster was arrested for aggravated assault and terrorizing. At the time of the arrest, Foster was using the name Robert John Langton. On or about June 28, 1990, Foster appeared before the Honorable Michael McGuire and plead guilty to the charges under the assumed name of Robert John Langton. A presentence investigation was likewise conducted in the name of Robert John Langton. On August 10, 1990, Judge McGuire sentenced Foster under the' assumed name to three years in the State Penitentiary, with all but 125 days suspended with credit for 125 days already spent in custody, and was placed on supervised probation. The same sentence was imposed on each count to be served concurrently. On August 30, 1990, Foster’s probation was revoked and he was ordered to serve the balance of the previously imposed sentence at the State Penitentiary, with credit for time already served.

Apparently personnel at the State Penitentiary eventually learned of Foster’s true identity and notified Judge McGuire, who in turn notified the Cass County States Attorney’s Office.1 Pursuant to a writ of habeas corpus ad prosequendum, Foster was returned to Cass County to be resen-tenced. After a presentence investigation was conducted under his true identity,2 Foster was resentenced to five years in the State Penitentiary on both counts, to be served consecutively, with one year suspended on count two. Credit for previous time spent in custody was given for the initial credit of 125 days spent in custody prior to the initial sentencing, plus credit for time spent in custody between the re-sentencing date and the date Foster’s probation was revoked.

On appeal, Foster, appearing pro se, asserts that the trial court had no authority to resentenee him under any North Dakota rule or statutory provision, and the trial court’s act of resentencing him violated the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitu[115]*115tion.3

The Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, applicable to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment, “consists of three separate constitutional protections: ‘It protects against a second prosecution for the same offense after acquittal. It protects against a second prosecution for the same offense after conviction. And it protects against multiple punishments for the same offense.’ [Footnotes omitted.]” State v. Jones, 418 N.W.2d 782, 784 (N.D.1988), quoting North Carolina v. Pearce, 395 U.S. 711, 717, 89 S.Ct. 2072, 23 L.Ed.2d 656 (1969). In this case, Foster asserts that by being resentenced after he had already begun serving his initial sentence, he is being subjected to multiple punishments for the same offense. We disagree.

The United States Supreme Court, in United States v. DiFrancesco, 449 U.S. 117, 134, 101 S.Ct. 426, 436, 66 L.Ed.2d 328 (1980), noted that a “sentence does not have the qualities of constitutional finality that attend an acquittal.” Thus the United States Supreme Court concluded that the Government could constitutionally seek appellate review and increase of a sentence under 18 U.S.C. section 3576. The Court in DiFrancesco said:

“The Double Jeopardy Clause does not provide the defendant with the right to know at any specific moment in time what the exact limit of his punishment will turn out to be. Congress has established many types of criminal sanctions under which the defendant is unaware of the precise extent of his punishment for significant periods of time, or even for life, yet these sanctions have not been considered to be violative of the Clause. Thus, there is no double jeopardy protection against revocation of probation and the imposition of imprisonment. See e.g., Thomas v. United States, 327 F.2d 795 (CA10), cert. denied, 377 U.S. 1000, 84 S.Ct. 1936, 12 L.Ed.2d 1051 (1964). There are other situations where probation or parole may be revoked and sentence of imprisonment imposed. See e.g. United States v. Kuck, 573 F.2d 25 (CA10 1978); United States v. Walden, 578 F.2d 966, 972 (CA3 1978), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 849, 100 S.Ct. 99, 62 L.Ed.2d 64 (1979); United States v. Jones, 540 F.2d 465 (CA10 1976), cert. denied, 429 U.S. 1101, 97 S.Ct. 1125, 51 L.Ed.2d 551 (1977); Dunn v. United States, 182 U.S.App.D.C. 261, 561 F.2d 259 (1977). While these criminal sanctions do not involve the increase of a final sentence, and while the defendant is aware at the original sentencing that a term of imprisonment later may be imposed, the situation before us is different in no critical respect. Respondent was similarly aware that a dangerous special offender sentence is subject to increase on appeal. His legitimate expectations are not defeated if his sentence is increased on appeal any more than are the expectations of the defendant who is placed on parole or probation that is later revoked.”

101 S.Ct. at 437.

In discussing DiFrancesco, the Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit said:

“We are able to draw two lessons from that opinion. First, the Double Jeopardy Clause bars multiple punishment, i.e., punishment in excess of that permitted by law. Second, the Double Jeopardy Clause respects the defendant’s ‘legitimate expectations’ as to-the length of his sentence....
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“The second principle, that the ‘legitimate expectations’ of the defendant are protected by the Double Jeopardy Clause, also is rooted in DiFrancesco. The relevance of the defendant’s expectations stems from one of the purposes of the Double Jeopardy Clause — to avoid repeatedly subjecting the defendant to ‘embarrassment, expense, anxiety, and insecurity in the possibility that he may be found guilty even though innocent.’ [116]*116Although these factors are of less concern in sentencing, after the defendant already has been found guilty, they were nonetheless central to the DiFrancesco decision....
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“For the purpose of determining the legitimacy of a defendant's expectations, we draw a distinction between one who intentionally deceives the sentencing authority or thwarts the sentencing process and one who is. forthright in every respect. Whereas the former will have purposely created any error on the sen-teneer’s part and thus can have no legitimate

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
484 N.W.2d 113, 1992 N.D. LEXIS 89, 1992 WL 79202, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-foster-nd-1992.