State v. Prasertphong

114 P.3d 828, 210 Ariz. 496, 462 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 3, 2005 Ariz. LEXIS 77
CourtArizona Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 8, 2005
DocketCR-01-0100-AP
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 114 P.3d 828 (State v. Prasertphong) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Arizona 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. Prasertphong, 114 P.3d 828, 210 Ariz. 496, 462 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 3, 2005 Ariz. LEXIS 77 (Ark. 2005).

Opinion

OPINION

RYAN, Justice.

¶ 1 In September 2000, a jury convicted Kajornsak Prasertphong of three counts of first degree felony murder and three counts of armed robbery. The trial judge sentenced him to death for two of the murders, to prison for natural life for one of the murders, and to three concurrent twenty-one-year sentences for the robbery convictions. We previously affirmed all of the convictions and sentences, see State v. Prasertphong, 206 Ariz. 70, 93, ¶ 98, 75 P.3d 675, 698 (2003) *497 (Prasertphong I), except for the death sentences, which we remanded for re-sentencing in light of Ring v. Arizona, 536 U.S. 584, 609, 122 S.Ct. 2428, 153 L.Ed.2d 556 (2002). 1

¶ 2 Prasertphong filed a Petition for Writ of Certiorari in the United States Supreme Court, arguing that the trial court and this Court erred in applying Ohio v. Roberts, 448 U.S. 56, 100 S.Ct. 2531, 65 L.Ed.2d 597 (1980), in concluding that the admission of a portion of Prasertphong’s unavailable co-defendant’s statement did not violate Prasert-phong’s right to confront witnesses under the Sixth Amendment. While his petition was pending, the United States Supreme Court decided Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36, 124 S.Ct. 1354, 158 L.Ed.2d 177 (2004), which overruled Roberts and applied a new standard for the admissibility of statements under the Confrontation Clause. Prasert-phong supplemented his Petition for Writ of Certiorari, citing Crawford.

¶ 3 Shortly thereafter, the Supreme Court vacated Prasertphong I, ordering us, on remand, to determine whether, in light of Crawford, the admission of the unavailable co-defendant’s statements to the police violated the Confrontation Clause. Prasert-phong v. Arizona, 541 U.S. 1039, 124 S.Ct. 2165, 158 L.Ed.2d 727 (2004). We conclude that the trial judge and this Court did not apply the correct legal standard regarding the Confrontation Clause as set forth in the subsequently decided Crawford decision. We hold, however, that that error did not violate Prasertphong’s Confrontation Clause rights. We have jurisdiction under Article 6, Section 5(3), of the Arizona Constitution.

I

¶4 A detailed account of the facts is set out in Prasertphong I, 206 Ariz. at 76-78, ¶¶ 2-15, 75 P.3d at 681-83. For purposes of this opinion, however, the essential facts establish that Prasertphong and Christopher Huerstel, after having talked about robbing a Pizza Hut earlier in the night, went to a Pizza Hut in Tucson, where they murdered three employees and took a bank bag and debit card machine. Both were arrested the next day, and both gave tape-recorded statements to the police. Both statements contained portions that inculpated each defendant and other portions that exculpated the other.

¶ 5 The Pima County Grand Jury indicted Prasertphong and Huerstel in the same indictment. Because each defendants confession implicated the other defendant, the trial court, based on Bruton v. United States, 391 U.S. 123, 88 S.Ct. 1620, 20 L.Ed.2d 476 (1968), severed Prasertphongs and Huerstels trials but ordered that they be tried simultaneously before dual juries. Prasertphong I, 206 Ariz. at 78, 92, ¶¶ 15, 91, 75 P.3d at 683, 697.

¶ 6 Despite the trial courts order granting a severance, Prasertphong, citing Rule 804(b)(3) of the Arizona Rules of Evidence, 2 sought to introduce at trial portions of Huer-stels statement to the police, in which Huer-stel admitted that he shot all three victims. After initially objecting to admission of any part of Huerstels statement because Huer-stel, as a co-defendant, was unavailable to testify, the State subsequently agreed that the self-incriminating portions of the statement were admissible but argued that, under Rule 106 of the Arizona Rules of Evidence, 3 *498 the entire statement, including statements that shifted some blame to Prasertphong, should be admitted. Specifically, the State argued that to avoid misleading the jury, the following portions of Huerstels statements should be admitted if Prasertphong sought to have the self-incriminating portions of Huer-stels statement admitted: that Prasertphong entered the restaurant with the gun, that he planned to rob the restaurant because he did not have the money to pay for the meal, that he intended to shoot the employees, that he was the first person to shoot anyone, that he attempted to “finish off’ one of the victims by breaking her neck, and that he went back into the restaurant to retrieve his debit card and the payment machine after the murders.

¶ 7 Prasertphong maintained that admission of the entire statement would violate his Sixth Amendment right to confront witnesses against him. Citing Rule 106, the trial judge disagreed, ruling that if Prasertphong decided to introduce the self-incriminating portions of Huerstels statement to police, the remaining portions of Huerstels statement would be admitted. Specifically, the trial judge ruled that “because of the nature of the statements and the totality of the circumstances, ... they bear an adequate indicia of reliability.” The trial judge further ruled that State v. Soto-Fong, 187 Ariz. 186, 193-94, 928 P.2d 610, 617-18 (1996), permitted “the admission of the entire statement ... notwithstanding the defendants confrontation clause argument.”

II

¶ 8 The Sixth Amendments Confrontation Clause provides that “[i]n all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right ... to be confronted with the witnesses against him.” In Roberts, the United States Supreme Court held that, notwithstanding the Confrontation Clause, an unavailable declarants out-of-court statement may be admitted so long as it “bears adequate indicia of reliability.” 448 U.S. at 66, 100 S.Ct. 2531. Roberts further held that reliability could be inferred when the evidence fell “within a firmly rooted hearsay exception” or had “particularized guarantees of trustworthiness.” Id.

¶ 9 In Crawford, however, the Supreme Court overruled Roberts, holding that “[w]here testimonial statements are at issue, the only indicium of reliability sufficient to satisfy constitutional demands is the one the Constitution actually prescribes: confrontation.” 541 U.S. at 68-69, 124 S.Ct. 1354. In Crawford, the prosecution, under Washington Rule of Evidence 804(b)(3), introduced, over the defendants objection, a taped statement the defendants wife gave to the police. 4 Id. at 40, 124 S.Ct. 1354.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
114 P.3d 828, 210 Ariz. 496, 462 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 3, 2005 Ariz. LEXIS 77, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-prasertphong-ariz-2005.