State v. Ranstrom

487 P.2d 942, 94 Idaho 348, 1971 Ida. LEXIS 337
CourtIdaho Supreme Court
DecidedAugust 3, 1971
Docket10689
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 487 P.2d 942 (State v. Ranstrom) 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. Ranstrom, 487 P.2d 942, 94 Idaho 348, 1971 Ida. LEXIS 337 (Idaho 1971).

Opinion

SPEAR, Justice.

Terry Ranstrom has appealed from the judgment of conviction in the District Court of Bingham County of the crime of burglary in the first degree. He was convicted subsequent to the following events.

On the night of September 22, 1969 the Highway Store in Aberdeen, Bingham County, Idaho, was broken into. Two Aberdeen policemen, Officers Vargeson and Horsch, began the investigation of the burglary and found a car belonging to Darlene La Chappellee behind the store. The next day, Boyd Summers, a detective for Bingham County, resumed the investigation. Summers went to Mrs. La Chappelle’s home in Pocatello and learned that her nephew, Terry Ranstrom, had been using her car the previous night.

On Summers’ request, Mrs. La Chappelle helped search for Ranstrom, and they found him at the Whitman Hotel in Pocatello. Summers began questioning appellant and there is some disagreement as to whether any Miranda warnings were given. Summers, however, testified that he gave the warnings using a card he carried as a refresher.

Summers drove appellant to Aberdeen. In the police station appellant signed a form upon which was printed the Miranda warning and gave a statement confessing to the burglary. Appellant contends that the waiver he signed was not read to him, but testimony given by the state’s witnesses indicates that it was and that Ranstrom read the printed form.

The principal issue in the case is whether appellant’s waiver of his Miranda rights was understanding^ given. In support of his argument that there was no knowledgeable waiver, appellant argues that he was under the influence of drugs at the time of his arrest and comprehended little of what transpired. The appellant had a history of use of several drugs, and he allegedly took a capsule containing LSD the evening of September 22 (the night of the alleged burglary), the effects of which remained when he was arrested. Also, appellant testified that he had taken pills containing phenaphen and tenuate dosepan on September 23 (the next day) before he was taken into custody by Summers.

*350 A preliminary hearing was held October 9, 1969, appellant was bound over to the district court, and an information was issued October 24, 1969 charging Ranstrom with first degree burglary. A motion by appellant to suppress evidence was heard November 25, 1969 and denied.

The trial in district court began on March 17, 1970. After the jury was impaneled and prior to reading the information, defense counsel moved to amend the information by striking the words “crime of first degree burglary” because the information failed to allege that the crime occurred in the night time. The court dened appellant’s motion and granted the prosecution the right to amend the information by adding the words “in the night time.”

At the conclusion of the testimony, the district court instructed the jury that to find appellant guilty, the prosecution must have proven “each and every” of the state’s material allegations. Ranstrom was found guilty of first degree burglary and sentenced to not more than five years in the Idaho State Penitentiary.

Appellant raises the following issues on appeal :

1. Error was committed by allowing the prosecution to introduce in evidence statements made by appellant when he was not properly given the Miranda warnings. Even if the warnings were given, appellant did not knowingly waive his rights since he was under the influence of drugs at the time of the interrogation.

2. The district court erred by allowing the prosecution to amend the information and add the words “in the night time,” thereby changing the issues to be tried.

3. Further error resulted when the information was amended in that appellant was not arraigned on the charge as amended and was thus not given an opportunity to plead to it.

4. Appellant argues that the previously-mentioned instruction was erroneous since it might have left the jury with the impression that they could acquit only if the state failed to prove all its material allegations.

5.After the trial, defense counsel learned that a prosecution witness, Jerry Glass-man, also a suspect in the crime, was not going to be prosecuted. Appellant believes that a “deal” was made for Glassman to testify against Ranstrom. Based upon this belief, defense counsel moved for a new trial arguing that new evidence had been discovered which might have áffected the verdict. The motion was denied by the district court. This denial is assigned as error.

We have reviewed the record and issues which appellant has raised on appeal and conclude that the trial court committed no error. There can be no doubt that one actually subject to the adverse effects of drugs so as to substantially impair his consciousness or judgment can not validly waive his Miranda rights. However, we do not believe that the record in this case establishes that appellant’s consciousness or judgment were adversely affected by any drugs to the extent that the admissions, written statement or waiver which he made or executed can be found invalid because they were not voluntarily, knowingly and intelligently given as required by Miranda. Testimony given by several of the state’s witnesses was quite consistent and conclusive that appellant exhibited no irrationality or incoherence or other debilitating effects of drugs at this time. A full evidentiary hearing was held five months prior to trial on appellant’s motion to suppress evidence of appellant’s statements and confession, and briefs were submitted by the parties in which this very issue was discussed. In denying appellant’s motion to suppress the district court stated:

“The record contains extensive and substantial evidence concerning the advice to the defendant of his constitutional rights and to the extent that there is no reasonable doubt but what defendant was advised of, and had independent knowledge of, his constitutional rights prior to any of the eliciting of evidence sought herein to be suppressed.
*351 “It is also urged that the defendant is shown to have been under the influence of narcotics so that what he did could not have been done knowingly and voluntarily. But the Court is of the opinion that the record does not create a reasonable doubt as to his physical ability to comprehend and act according to the defendant’s knowledge of his constitutional rights and of the advice thereto given him by the officer prior to eliciting any evidence.
“The Court finds: Acts, admissions, and confessions made by defendant to officers of the State of Idaho which were self-incriminatory in nature and might be used in evidence against the defendant were elicited only after defendant was advised of and knew of his right to counsel, his right to remain silent, and that what he might say could be used against him; that defendant was not under the influence of narcotics at any time material to this proceeding to the extent that he could not comprehend knowledge he had or was given as to his constitutional rights; that the acts, oral admissions or confessions, and written confession all were knowingly and voluntarily accomplished and given by the defendant.”

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
487 P.2d 942, 94 Idaho 348, 1971 Ida. LEXIS 337, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-ranstrom-idaho-1971.