State v. Hampton

CourtIdaho Court of Appeals
DecidedNovember 7, 2019
Docket46102
StatusUnpublished

This text of State v. Hampton (State v. Hampton) 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. Hampton, (Idaho Ct. App. 2019).

Opinion

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF IDAHO

Docket No. 46102

STATE OF IDAHO, ) ) Filed: November 7, 2019 Plaintiff-Respondent, ) ) Karel A. Lehrman, Clerk v. ) ) THIS IS AN UNPUBLISHED TALENA LYNN HAMPTON, ) OPINION AND SHALL NOT ) BE CITED AS AUTHORITY Defendant-Appellant. ) )

Appeal from the District Court of the Fifth Judicial District, State of Idaho, Twin Falls County. Hon. Michael P. Tribe, District Judge.

Judgment of conviction for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, grand theft, and conspiracy to commit grand theft, affirmed.

Eric D. Fredericksen, State Appellate Public Defender; Jenny C. Swinford, Deputy Appellate Public Defender, Boise, for appellant. Jenny C. Swinford argued.

Hon. Lawrence G. Wasden, Attorney General; Jeffery D. Nye, Deputy Attorney General, Boise, for respondent. Jeffery D. Nye argued. ________________________________________________

BRAILSFORD, Judge Talena Lynn Hampton timely appeals from her judgment of conviction entered after a jury found her guilty of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, grand theft, and conspiracy to commit grand theft. Hampton asserts: (1) the State presented insufficient evidence to convict her of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon; (2) the district court abused its discretion by admitting evidence a third party posted bond for Hampton in two other counties; and (3) the district court committed reversible error by denying her motion for a mistrial. We affirm. I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND In June 2017, Hampton and Alexandria Arellano were staying with Kenneth White in White’s trailer in Twin Falls. At the time, White’s girlfriend was in jail. White asked multiple

1 people, including Hampton and Arellano, to co-sign with White or to find someone to co-sign to post bail for his girlfriend. Hampton had agreed to help, but only if White would pay a $100 overdue balance Hampton owed to a bail bond company for her previous misdemeanor bond. Although White could not find a willing bail bond company to post bail for his girlfriend, he managed to come up with $2,000 in cash gift cards and a few hundred dollars in cash for a possible bond. On June 19, Hampton and Arellano went to Ivan Herrera’s house to buy methamphetamine for White. While there, Hampton and Arellano talked to Herrera about bonding out White’s girlfriend. Herrera said that he was related to a bondsman and that he would do Hampton a favor by bailing White’s girlfriend out of jail. During this discussion, Hampton expressed her frustrations with White for pushing Hampton to find people to help White and for constantly being angry at Hampton for failing to find help. Further, both Hampton and Arellano disclosed to Herrera that they were upset with White, who had installed a hidden camera in the shower and recorded them without their knowledge. After this discussion, Hampton testified that the conversation with Herrera concluded with Arellano proposing to take money from White; Herrera suggesting he use a gun to do so; and Hampton telling Herrera he did not need to use a gun: We had discussed--I said, made the comment, I feel like I’m whoring myself out, trying to find somebody to bond his girlfriend out for $100, that he’s just leading me on and not paying, and dealing with all this crap, pretty much for him to pay $100 bond. And [Arellano] said: We should just take the money. And [Herrera] said: I’ll do it. I’m a shooter, is what he said. Hampton testified when Herrera stated, “I’m a shooter,” he cocked a gun: “He pulled out a gun and was like cocking his gun back.” Hampton further testified she responded, “Seriously dude? . . . . I told him that he was a little kid, immature, trying to make a name for himself, told him he didn’t need a gun to do that, that he was just--he was acting immaturely.” Afterwards, Hampton and Arellano took the drugs they had bought from Herrera for White and left. Later that same night, Hampton told White that Herrera would be willing to help White bail out his girlfriend. White insisted Herrera help him that night, so Hampton called Herrera and he told them to meet him downtown at the old Treatment and Recovery Clinic (TARC) building to settle the bond and that the bond would cost $2,000. White drove in his truck, and Hampton and Arellano drove together in a separate car. When they got to the TARC building,

2 Hampton and Arellano spoke with Herrera before he met White. According to Hampton, she knew Herrera had a gun in the car before introducing White to Herrera: Q. Okay. Did you see [Herrera]’s gun at that point? A. I saw him--yes, he had it in the middle. Q. In the middle? A. In the middle console, like it was sitting on the middle console, and he had blue gloves on. And I told him: What are you doing? And also in my interview, I went and I had said to [Arellano]: He’s got a gun. Let’s go. He’s got a gun. Let’s go. That’s whenever [Herrera] said: Don’t try anything, said not to be a pussy. After seeing Herrera with a gun, Hampton told White to “come on over,” and Herrera introduced himself to White as “Eric.” White testified Herrera told White that he needed to first take a urinalysis test and to fill out some paperwork and that the bond would cost $2,200 instead of $2,000. White gave Herrera the cash gift cards and $200 in cash, and then White followed Herrera around the side of the building. Hampton and Arellano followed behind White. White testified that as soon as they reached the back of the building, Herrera spun around, pointed a gun at White and said, “Get the fuck out of [here].” White was shocked. He turned, walked back to his truck, and drove home. Arellano and Hampton left at the same time as White and drove back to White’s trailer. After about a half hour, Hampton and Arellano left White’s trailer and met Herrera at a motel. Hampton drove Herrera to a store where he used some of the gift cards he had taken from White to buy an iPhone. Herrera gave the remaining gift cards to Arellano, who used one to rent a motel room. While Hampton was in the motel room with Arellano, the front desk called and warned Hampton not to go out to her car. Hampton testified that she had methamphetamine in the motel room and that she assumed the police intended to arrest her for misdemeanor warrants. In fact, a bondsman from the bail bond company, not the police, had arrived at the motel looking for Hampton. The bondsman’s arrival prompted Hampton to grab the motel room keys, credit cards, and one of the gift cards and to run out of the motel room because she thought the police had arrived, and she did not want to get arrested for drug possession. Hampton claims she did not know where to go when she ran from the motel room, and on the “spur of the moment” she decided to go to Herrera’s house. While Hampton was at Herrera’s, the bondsman arrived and took Hampton into custody. While in custody, Hampton gave the bondsman a gift card which Herrera had stolen from White. As a result of Hampton’s

3 involvement in Herrera’s encounter with White, the State charged Hampton with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, grand theft and conspiracy to commit grand theft. A jury found Hampton guilty, and she timely appeals. II. ANALYSIS A. The State Presented Sufficient Evidence for a Jury to Properly Convict Hampton of Aggravated Assault Hampton contends the State did not present sufficient evidence to convict her of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Appellate review of the sufficiency of the evidence is limited in scope. A finding of guilt will not be overturned on appeal where there is substantial evidence upon which a reasonable trier of fact could have found that the prosecution sustained its burden of proving the essential elements of a crime beyond a reasonable doubt. State v. Herrera- Brito, 131 Idaho 383, 385, 957 P.2d 1099, 1101 (Ct. App.

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State v. Hampton, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-hampton-idahoctapp-2019.