State v. Neufeld

2009 MT 235, 212 P.3d 1063, 351 Mont. 389, 2009 Mont. LEXIS 381
CourtMontana Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 16, 2009
DocketDA 07-0639
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 2009 MT 235 (State v. Neufeld) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Montana 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. Neufeld, 2009 MT 235, 212 P.3d 1063, 351 Mont. 389, 2009 Mont. LEXIS 381 (Mo. 2009).

Opinions

JUSTICE WARNER

delivered the Opinion of the Court.

¶1 Gregory Neufeld was charged in the District Court of the [390]*390Thirteenth Judicial District, Yellowstone County, with the offense of sexual intercourse without consent. However, before trial on the sexual intercourse without consent charge in the District Court, he was indicted and convicted by his plea of guilty of the federal offenses of sexual exploitation of children in violation of 18 U.S.C. §2251, and possessing child pornography in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2252A(a)(5)(B), in the United States District Court for the District of Montana. As a result of his federal convictions, he was sentenced to 262 months in federal prison. Neufeld then moved to dismiss the Montana State charge claiming double jeopardy. The District Court granted his motion to dismiss. The State appeals.

¶2 The issue before this Court is whether §46-11-504, MCA, bars Neufeld’s prosecution on the Montana sexual intercourse without consent charge.

¶3 In 2002 or 2003, Neufeld began having sexual intercourse with then 13-year-old K.B. He was 28 years old at the time. The intercourse occurred intermittently until Neufeld joined the army in January of 2005. Neufeld videotaped himself having sexual intercourse with K.B. and he admitted that he would sometimes photograph K.B. in sexual poses or performing sexual acts.

¶4 Neufeld joined the army. He asked K.B. to retrieve and destroy the sexually explicit photographs he had left in storage. She destroyed some of the photographs but kept others. When her father discovered the photographs she had kept, he contacted the police.

¶5 On January 19, 2006, the information charging Neufeld with sexual intercourse without consent was filed in the Montana District Court. That same day he was charged in federal court with violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2251, sexual exploitation of children, 18 U.S.C. § 2252A(a)(2), receipt of child pornography, and 18 U.S.C. § 2252A(a)(5)(B), possession of child pornography.

¶6 In November 2006, Neufeld pled guilty to sexual exploitation of children and possession of child pornography in federal court. He was sentenced considering the federal sentencing guidelines. These guidelines prescribed a sentence between 121 and 151 months. However, his sentence was enhanced due to specific offense characteristics because K.B. was 12 but not yet 16 years of age and the offense involved the commission of a sexual act or sexual contact. The resulting sentencing range was 262-327 months. In May 2007, Neufeld was sentenced to 262 months in federal prison.

¶7 The Montana information charged Neufeld with sexual intercourse without consent committed in approximately 2002 or 2003 [391]*391to 2004, alleging he had sexual intercourse with K.B. on numerous occasions as a continuing course of conduct.

¶8 After he was convicted in federal court, Neufeld moved to dismiss the Montana charge based on §46-11-504(1), MCA, which reads in pertinent part:

When conduct constitutes an offense within the jurisdiction of any state or federal court, a prosecution in any jurisdiction is a bar to a subsequent prosecution in this state if:
(1)the first prosecution resulted in an acquittal or in a conviction and the subsequent prosecution is based on an offense arising out of the same transaction;

¶9 The District Court granted Neufeld’s motion to dismiss, concluding that Neufeld’s sexual conduct with the minor K.B. subjected him to prosecution for equivalent offenses in both the United States and Montana courts and both prosecutions were based on the same transaction.

¶10 A district court’s decision to grant or deny a defendant’s motion to dismiss a charge on the basis of double jeopardy presents a question of law that this Court reviews for correctness. State v. Cech, 2007 MT 184, ¶ 7, 338 Mont. 330, 167 P.3d 389.

¶11 We use a three-part test to determine whether a subsequent prosecution is barred under §46-11-504(1), MCA, as follows:

(1) a defendant’s conduct constitutes an offense within the jurisdiction of the court where the first prosecution occurred and within the jurisdiction of the court where the subsequent prosecution is pursued;
(2) the first prosecution resulted in an acquittal or a conviction; and
(3) the subsequent prosecution is based on an offense arising out of the same transaction [as that term is defined in §46-1-202(23), MCA].

Cech, ¶ 13 (quoting State v. Tadewaldt, 277 Mont. 261, 264, 922 P.2d 463, 465 (1996)).

¶12 All three factors must be met in order to bar subsequent prosecution. State v. Gazda, 2003 MT 350, ¶ 12, 318 Mont. 516, 82 P.3d 20.

¶13 In this case, factor one and factor three of the test announced in Tadewalt are at issue.

¶ 14 The first factor of the test is satisfied when both jurisdictions have authority to prosecute for the same conduct. State v. Sword, 229 Mont. 370, 373, 747 P.2d 206, 208 (1987). In order to demonstrate that [392]*392jurisdiction existed in both courts, the same conduct must subject a defendant to the possibility that he could be convicted of an “equivalent offense” in each jurisdiction. Cech, ¶ 17 (citing Gazda, ¶ 14). It is not necessary that a defendant be charged with identical offenses in both jurisdictions, only that his conduct constitute an equivalent offense in both jurisdictions. Cech, ¶ 18.

¶15 18 U.S.C. §2251 defines Sexual Exploitation of Children:

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Scott Heddings v. State
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State v. James
2010 MT 175 (Montana Supreme Court, 2010)
State v. Neufeld
2009 MT 235 (Montana Supreme Court, 2009)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2009 MT 235, 212 P.3d 1063, 351 Mont. 389, 2009 Mont. LEXIS 381, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-neufeld-mont-2009.