State v. Halbesleben

206 P.3d 867, 147 Idaho 161, 2009 Ida. App. LEXIS 16
CourtIdaho Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 10, 2009
Docket33578, 35037
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 206 P.3d 867 (State v. Halbesleben) 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. Halbesleben, 206 P.3d 867, 147 Idaho 161, 2009 Ida. App. LEXIS 16 (Idaho Ct. App. 2009).

Opinions

PERRY, Judge.

Jessica Halbesleben appeals from her judgment of conviction and sentences for two counts of felony injury to a child. Additionally, Halbesleben appeals from the district court’s order denying her I.C.R. 35 motion for reduction of her sentences. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm.

I.

FACTS AND PROCEDURE

Police responded to Halbesleben’s home based on a report that her children had been left alone for several days without supervision. Upon entering the home, police discovered that Halbesleben’s seven children,1 ranging in age from one to fourteen, were living in deplorable and inhuman conditions. The home smelled of a foul odor; the floors and walls and furniture were filthy and stained; there were piles of trash, dirty laundry and used diapers strewn across hallways and in the corners of rooms; there were numerous burns in the carpet around an unprotected wood stove; the children’s bedding was filthy and several of their mattresses were saturated with urine; and shards of broken glass were found throughout the house including in the children’s playroom. One of the children also had infected cuts on his hands and feet. Aside from the despica[164]*164ble sanitary conditions, police observed that there was very little food in the home, especially to support a family of nine, and one of the police officers had to stop one of the young girls from eating food off of the filthy floor. There were also reports of the children playing under-clothed, or practically undressed, outside during the winter months. Halbesleben claimed that she home-schooled two of the children, but the children showed ignorance in simple concepts of math and spelling. The computer, which Halbesleben claimed she used for instruction, was broken.

Additionally, without necessitating an extensive factual description, all of the children were subjected to years of physical, psychological, and sexual abuse. Halbesleben was either party to or had knowledge of much of this abuse, yet most of it went unreported to authorities. The highly-sexualized behavior then manifested itself in the actions of the children as two of the older boys subjected the younger children to various forms of sexual abuse. Halbesleben’s futile response to this sexual conduct was to padlock the two boys in their room at night, even though there was a history of sexual assault between the two. This resulted in the boys leaving their room through the window and reducing them to wetting their bed in order to relieve themselves in the middle of the night. Halbesleben would also allegedly tie up the boys in order to protect the younger children while she went to the garage to smoke. However, the assaults continued unabated.

Halbesleben was charged with four counts of felony injury to a child. I.C. § 18-1501. She entered a guilty plea to two counts of felony injury to a child, and the state dismissed the other two counts as well as a separate, additional misdemeanor charge for failing to report sexual abuse. One term of the plea agreement provided that the state would recommend a term of imprisonment of ten years, with a minimum period of confinement of one year, for each count and that the defense could argue for lesser sentences. At sentencing, the prosecutor made the requisite recommendation after a recitation of some of the troubling facts of this case. Additionally, the prosecutor argued that any sentences less than the recommendation would depreciate the gravity of the offenses. The district court sentenced Halbesleben to consecutive terms of ten years, with minimum periods of confinement of three years. Halbesleben did not appeal from her judgment of conviction.

Halbesleben filed a Rule 35 motion to reduce her sentences, which the district court denied. While the appeal of the denial of her Rule 35 motion was pending, Halbesleben filed an application for post-conviction relief alleging, among other things, ineffective assistance of counsel for failing to file a direct appeal from her judgment of conviction. The district court granted relief on this claim and re-entered the judgment of conviction. Halbesleben appeals from her judgment of conviction arguing that the prosecutor breached the plea agreement and that her sentences are excessive. This appeal was assigned Docket Number 35037. Halbesleben’s appeal challenging the district court’s order denying her Rule 35 motion for a reduction of her sentences was assigned Docket Number 33578. These two appeals have now been consolidated for our review.

II.

ANALYSIS

A. Breach of the Plea Agreement

Halbesleben argues that the state breached the plea agreement because, at the sentencing hearing, the prosecutor gave the recommendation for a relatively lenient sentence only as an afterthought and effectively renounced the recommendation through vigorous argument against Halbesleben and the graphic details and implications of her crimes. The state responds that the issue was not properly preserved by a timely objection below and that Halbesleben has failed to show fundamental error. Furthermore, the state contends that the prosecutor’s descriptions of the facts of this case followed by her opinion that anything less than the recommended sentences would depreciate the gravity of the crime did not constitute a breach of the plea agreement.

The Supreme Court and this Court have held that breach of a plea agreement constitutes fundamental error. See State v. Jafek, [165]*165141 Idaho 71, 74, 106 P.3d 397, 400 (2005) (holding that claim of state’s breach of plea agreement goes to the foundation or basis of defendant’s rights and, therefore, constitutes fundamental error and may be reviewed for the first time on appeal); State v. Allen, 143 Idaho 267, 271-72, 141 P.3d 1136, 1140-41 (Ct.App.2006) (holding that state’s breach of a plea agreement constitutes fundamental error and, therefore, defendant’s failure to object in the district court did not waive the right to raise the issue for the first time on appeal). It may be reviewed for the first time on appeal provided a sufficient record exists for review. See State v. Daubs, 140 Idaho 299, 300, 92 P.3d 549, 550 (Ct.App.2004). In this case, the record is sufficient for our review. Therefore, we will consider whether the prosecutor’s argument at the sentencing hearing constituted a breach of the plea agreement.

It is well established that when a plea rests in any significant degree on a promise or agreement of the prosecutor, so that it can be said to be part of the inducement or consideration, such promise must be fulfilled. Santobello v. New York, 404 U.S. 257, 262, 92 S.Ct. 495, 499, 30 L.Ed.2d 427, 433 (1971). This principle is derived from the Due Process Clause and the fundamental rule that, to be valid, a guilty plea must be both voluntary and intelligent. Mabry v. Johnson, 467 U.S. 504, 508-09, 104 S.Ct. 2543, 2546-47, 81 L.Ed.2d 437, 442-43 (1984); State v. Rutherford, 107 Idaho 910, 913, 693 P.2d 1112, 1115 (Ct.App.1985).

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State v. Halbesleben
206 P.3d 867 (Idaho Court of Appeals, 2009)

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Bluebook (online)
206 P.3d 867, 147 Idaho 161, 2009 Ida. App. LEXIS 16, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-halbesleben-idahoctapp-2009.