State v. Lute

252 P.3d 1255, 150 Idaho 837, 2011 Ida. LEXIS 68
CourtIdaho Supreme Court
DecidedApril 20, 2011
Docket37394
StatusPublished
Cited by60 cases

This text of 252 P.3d 1255 (State v. Lute) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Idaho 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. Lute, 252 P.3d 1255, 150 Idaho 837, 2011 Ida. LEXIS 68 (Idaho 2011).

Opinion

BURDICK, Justice.

This ease arises on appeal from the district court’s denial of Daniel Lute’s Idaho Criminal Rule 35 motion for correction of an illegal sentence. Lute argues that the grand jury that indicted him was acting without authority as its commission had expired and, therefore, the district court had no subject matter jurisdiction over his case and could not properly enter a Judgment of conviction. Lute further argues that the conviction underlying his sentence is for something that is not a crime in Idaho and, as such, any sentence given for such conduct is necessarily illegal. We reverse the district court’s denial of Lute’s I.C.R. 35 motion and remand with instructions to grant the motion and vacate Lute’s conviction, consistent with this opinion.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

On May 6, 1993, a grand jury indicted Lute for the offense of “Battery with the Intent to Commit a Serious Felony”, specifically “rape and/or kidnapping.” Following his arraignment, Lute entered into a plea agreement with the State, under which Lute agreed to plead guilty and the State agreed to amend the indictment to eliminate reference to “rape”, with the resulting charge reading “Battery with the Intent to Commit a Serious Felony, [to wit], Kidnapping, I.C. § 18-911.” The judge used handwritten strike throughs to amend the indictment, eliminating any reference to rape. A judgment of conviction was entered on August 17, 1993, sentencing Lute to five years fixed, to run concurrently with a sentence that Lute was already serving. The judgment did not specify which serious felony Lute intended to commit when he committed battery.

On August 30, 2007, approximately nine year's after the expiration of Lute’s sentence, Lute filed an I.C.R. 35 motion for correction or reduction of sentence. Lute complained that the records of the Idaho Department of Corrections showed that he had been convicted of a sex crime, and requested that the judgment be amended to eliminate this confusion. The district court granted Lute’s request, 1 amending the judgment to read that Lute had been convicted for “Battery *839 with Intent to Commit a Serious Felony, to wit, Kidnapping, I.C. §§ 18-903,18-911.”

On January 29, 2008, Lute filed a second I.C.R. 35 motion, arguing that his sentence was invalid because the crime he pled guilty to was not proscribed in the Idaho Code. Lute also argued that the district court was without subject matter jurisdiction or personal jurisdiction when it entered the judgment, because the term of the grand jury had already expired at the time he was indicted. The State acknowledged that the grand jury’s term had expired at the time of Lute’s indictment, but argued that the defect was not jurisdictional and was waived by Lute when he entered into a Rule 11 plea agreement and pled guilty to the amended indictment.

The district court denied Lute’s January 29, 2008, motion, finding that a validly entered guilty plea rendered the procedural defects in the grand jury indictment harmless, and no jurisdictional defect existed. Lute appealed and the Court of Appeals affirmed. Lute filed a petition for review, which this Court granted.

II.STANDARD OF REVIEW

When reviewing a ease on petition for review from the Court of Appeals this Court gives due consideration to the decision reached by the Court of Appeals, but directly reviews the decision of the trial court. State v. Clements, 148 Idaho 82, 84, 218 P.3d 1143, 1145 (2009). Idaho Criminal Rule 35 allows a trial court to correct an illegal sentence at any time. Id. As a general matter, it is a question of law as to whether a sentence is illegal or was imposed in an illegal fashion, and this Court exercises free review over questions of law. Id. Jurisdiction is likewise a question of law and is reviewed de novo. State v. Barros, 131 Idaho 379, 381, 957 P.2d 1095, 1097 (1998).

III.ANALYSIS

The crux of this appeal is jurisdiction. We must determine whether the district court had subject matter jurisdiction to consider the charges filed against Lute when the grand jury that indicted him was acting without legal authority. If we find that the district court had subject matter jurisdiction over the ease initially, then this Court must determine whether the district court had subject matter jurisdiction to grant the relief requested by Lute under his I.C.R. 35 motion where Lute attacked the conviction itself, not merely the sentence.

A. Lute’s appeal is not moot.

The State argues that Lute’s appeal is moot because Lute brought his I.C.R. 35 motion over fourteen years after his five year sentence was entered, and that sentence was fully completed prior to his filing of the I.C.R. 35 motion. The State contends that I.C.R. 35 does not grant the district court authority to grant relief for a sentence that has been served in its entirety. Lute responds that it is well established under Idaho law that the completion of a sentence does not make a felony conviction moot.

. “An issue becomes moot if it does not present a real and substantial controversy that is capable of being concluded through judicial decree of specific relief.” Koch v. Canyon Cnty., 145 Idaho 158, 163, 177 P.3d 372, 377 (2008) (quotation omitted). In Butler v. State, 129 Idaho 899, 901, 935 P.2d 162, 164 (1997), this Court held that “a felony conviction has collateral consequences and the fact that [an appellant] has fully served his sentence does not moot [that appellant’s] appeal.” Abrogated on other grounds by Rhoades v. State, 149 Idaho 130, 137, 233 P.3d 61, 68 (2010). This is in line with the United States Supreme Court’s statement that “a criminal case is moot only if it is shown that there is no possibility that any collateral legal consequences will be imposed on the basis of the challenged conviction.” Sibron v. New York, 392 U.S. 40, 57, 88 S.Ct. 1889, 1900, 20 L.Ed.2d 917, 931-32 (1968). The State has offered no such showing here.

The State contends that I.C.R. 35 grants courts the limited jurisdictional power to consider whether a sentence is illegal, and where the sentence itself has been completed a court is powerless to take any meaningful corrective action under I.C.R. 35 — as the appellant will not have his grievance addressed *840 by any modification of that sentence. However, where there is a jurisdictional defect, this court has authority to address that issue, even if it is not raised by the parties themselves. State v. Kavajecz, 139 Idaho 482, 483, 80 P.3d 1083, 1084 (2003).

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Bluebook (online)
252 P.3d 1255, 150 Idaho 837, 2011 Ida. LEXIS 68, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-lute-idaho-2011.