State v. Hartwig

732 P.2d 339, 112 Idaho 370, 1987 Ida. App. LEXIS 347
CourtIdaho Court of Appeals
DecidedJanuary 26, 1987
Docket15718, 15719
StatusPublished
Cited by40 cases

This text of 732 P.2d 339 (State v. Hartwig) 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. Hartwig, 732 P.2d 339, 112 Idaho 370, 1987 Ida. App. LEXIS 347 (Idaho Ct. App. 1987).

Opinions

WALTERS, Chief Judge.

Following his arrest by a Lewiston police officer, Merlyn Hartwig was found guilty by a jury of driving under the influence and of resisting an officer. In his appeal from the judgments of conviction Hartwig asserts that the district court erred (1) in denying Hartwig’s challenge to an unusual jury selection process employed in his case; (2) in denying the suppression of verbal communications made by Hartwig during sobriety tests administered before his arrest; (3) in admitting evidence of the re-[371]*371suits of Hartwig’s intoximeter test; (4) in instructing the jury concerning the elements of a charge of driving under the influence; and (5) in instructing the jury concerning an arrestee’s right to resist the use of excessive force by an arresting officer. We agree with Hartwig’s challenges to the jury selection process and to the instruction regarding an arrestee’s right to resist a police officer’s use of excessive force. We reverse both judgments and remand this case for a new trial.

Late one evening in April, 1984, a Lewiston police officer stopped Merlyn Hartwig for a suspected driving under the influence violation. A second officer arrived at the scene a short time later. The officer who stopped Hartwig administered sobriety tests to Hartwig, and, based on Hartwig’s poor performance, the officer decided to arrest Hartwig for driving under the influence of alcohol. As the officers were attempting to arrest Hartwig, an altercation occurred between Hartwig and the two officers. The officers testified that Hartwig had grabbed the tailgate of his pickup truck and refused to let go so that he could be handcuffed. According to Hartwig, however, his hand was merely on the tailgate when one of the officers hit him from behind. Hartwig testified that he then grabbed the tailgate to keep from falling, and that he never resisted the officers. During the incident between Hartwig and the officers, Hartwig was injured. As a result of this confrontation, Hartwig was charged with driving under the influence and also with resisting the officers.

In an attempt to alleviate a congested court calendar in the magistrate division, a district judge assumed jurisdiction over twenty-nine criminal cases, including Hart-wig’s. The district judge then set a simultaneous commencement date for Hartwig’s trial and for the trials of four other defendants, all of whom were also charged with DUI. The judge ordered jury selection for the first of the five cases to begin on the designated date. Jury selection in each subsequent case would begin immediately after jury selection in the previous case, until juries had been selected for all five cases. The judge then set a later date and time for the actual trial in each case to begin.

Hartwig’s attorney moved to quash the judge’s order regarding the proposed jury selection process on the grounds that such a procedure denied Hartwig the ability to conduct a meaningful voir dire of the jury and impinged on Hartwig’s right to challenge individual jurors. The district court denied the motion. A jury was then selected for Hartwig’s case and for the other cases, except for one case which had been settled in the meantime. Because the juries had been selected from a single panel, some members of Hartwig’s jury were also on the juries for the other three cases.

Hartwig’s trial, the last of the four cases to be tried, was held twenty-four days after the jury had been selected. As a result of the jury selection process, five of the six jurors on Hartwig’s jury had been jurors on at least one of the three prior DUI cases.

At trial, Hartwig objected to introduction of evidence concerning the results of the intoximeter test that Hartwig had been given the night of his arrest. Hartwig also objected to introduction of the results of those sobriety tests which had required Hartwig to verbally communicate with the officers. Hartwig also challenged two instructions by the district court. One instruction dealt with the elements necessary to establish guilt on a DUI charge. The other challenged instruction concerned Hartwig’s right to resist excessive force used by an arresting officer. The jury found Hartwig guilty of both the DUI and the resisting arrest charges. We conclude that the jury selection process did violate Hartwig’s right to select an impartial jury, thus necessitating a new trial on both charges. We also conclude that the court improperly instructed the jury regarding an arrestee’s right to resist excessive force used by an arresting officer. We will discuss each of Hartwig’s asserted errors in turn.

[372]*372I

The Jury Selection Process

A defendant is entitled to a jury that is impartial and indifferent. Murphy v. Florida, 421 U.S. 794, 95 S.Ct. 2031, 44 L.Ed.2d 589 (1975); State v. Sanger, 108 Idaho 910, 702 P.2d 1370 (Ct.App.1985). The jury need not be composed of members wholly lacking initial impressions or opinions, but it must consist of members who can set aside their views and reach a verdict based on the evidence as presented in court. Irvin v. Dowd, 366 U.S. 717, 81 S.Ct. 1639, 6 L.Ed.2d 751 (1961). In selecting a jury, a defendant has the opportunity to conduct voir dire examination of the jury panel in order to develop information to help identify those potential jurors who are or may be so biased that the defendant’s right to a fair trial may be abridged. In pursuit of this information, which may lead to the challenge of a potential juror, counsel are granted wide latitude in voir dire examination. State v. Camarillo, 106 Idaho 310, 678 P.2d 102 (Ct.App.1984). The scope of voir dire is a matter of discretion with the trial court, and, unless that discretion is abused, the trial court’s decision will not be disturbed on appeal. Id. Here, we conclude that such an abuse of discretion did occur.

We are cognizant of the trial court’s good intentions in its endeavor to alleviate a crowded court docket. However, we are convinced that the jury selection process here so eroded the voir dire procedure that Hartwig’s counsel was effectively precluded from developing the information necessary to make well-considered challenges to the prospective jury members. In a more ordinary situation, a jury is selected immediately prior to trial. Here, twenty-four days elapsed between the selection of the jury and the defendant’s trial. In that period, five of Hartwig’s six jurors participated in cases involving other DUI charges. We acknowledge that prior service in a similar case, by itself, will not support a challenge for cause. United States v. Mutchler, 559 F.2d 955 (5th Cir. 1977), modified, 566 F.2d 1044 (5th Cir. 1978). Nor would such interim service necessarily result in disqualification based on implied bias. I.C. § 19-2020; United States v. Haynes, 398 F.2d 980 (2d Cir.1968). See also Holland v. State, 260 Ark. 617, 542 S.W.2d 761 (1976); Stott v. State, 538 P.2d 1061 (Okla.Crim.App.1975).

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

Related

Hubbard v. State
276 P.3d 751 (Idaho Court of Appeals, 2012)
State v. Williamson
166 P.3d 387 (Idaho Court of Appeals, 2007)
State v. Hauser
150 P.3d 296 (Idaho Court of Appeals, 2006)
State v. Ward
17 P.3d 901 (Idaho Court of Appeals, 2001)
State v. Murphy
988 P.2d 715 (Idaho Court of Appeals, 1999)
State v. Mazzuca
979 P.2d 1226 (Idaho Court of Appeals, 1999)
State v. Nickerson
973 P.2d 758 (Idaho Court of Appeals, 1999)
State v. Winson
923 P.2d 1005 (Idaho Court of Appeals, 1996)
State v. Thomas
920 P.2d 927 (Idaho Court of Appeals, 1996)
State v. Pilik
921 P.2d 750 (Idaho Court of Appeals, 1996)
Kessler v. Barowsky
931 P.2d 634 (Idaho Court of Appeals, 1996)
State v. Carr
911 P.2d 774 (Idaho Court of Appeals, 1995)
State v. Barker
845 P.2d 580 (Idaho Court of Appeals, 1992)
State v. Howell
832 P.2d 1144 (Idaho Court of Appeals, 1992)
State v. Bradley
817 P.2d 1090 (Idaho Court of Appeals, 1991)
State v. Van Sickle
813 P.2d 910 (Idaho Court of Appeals, 1991)
State v. Garrett
811 P.2d 488 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1991)
State v. Greathouse
810 P.2d 266 (Idaho Court of Appeals, 1991)
State v. Crea
806 P.2d 445 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1991)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
732 P.2d 339, 112 Idaho 370, 1987 Ida. App. LEXIS 347, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-hartwig-idahoctapp-1987.