State v. Rogers

2005 UT App 379, 122 P.3d 661, 534 Utah Adv. Rep. 12, 2005 Utah App. LEXIS 360, 2005 WL 2173827
Court of Appeals of Utah·Decided September 9, 2005·No. No. 20030953-CA·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinions

OPINION (For Official Publication)

ORME, Judge:

¶ 1 Appellant Daniel Rogers argues that the State presented insufficient evidence at his first preliminary hearing to bind him over on a count of receiving stolen property, see Utah Code Ann. § 76-6-408 (2003), charged as a second degree felony under Utah Code section 76-6-412. See id. § 76-6-412. He also contends that the trial court erred in validating the magistrate’s decision to continue the preliminary hearing to permit the State to put on additional evidence at a later date and instead should have quashed his bindover. We agree and reverse.

BACKGROUND

¶ 2 On the night of July 23, 2002, Robert Hildebrand returned from work to find that his apartment 'had been burglarized. After discovering that a number of his things were missing, including twelve autographed baseballs, approximately ten binders full of baseball cards, and several individually encased baseball cards, a few of which were also autographed, Hildebrand contacted the police. The next day he called local baseball card shops, advised the proprietors of some of the cards taken from his apartment, and asked them to be on the lookout for anyone attempting to sell the stolen cards. Hildebrand soon received a call from an owner of one of the card shops, informing him that two individuals had just visited his shop and had sold the owner a few of the cards Hildebrand had mentioned. The owner later testified that when the individuals offered to sell him the cards, he wrote them out a check, but the amount of the check had no relation to the true value of the cards. After the individuals left the shop, the owner stopped payment on the cheek and notified Hildebrand that his cards were available at the shop. Hildebrand again contacted the police.

¶3 The same afternoon that Hildebrand talked to the owner of the baseball card shop, Detective Clinton Johnson responded to a call from the West Valley Police Department prompted by an attempt to cash the baseball card shop’s check. Two individuals were being detained at a cheek-cashing facility in West Valley. Rogers was one of the individuals. When Detective Johnson arrived at the check-cashing facility, he interviewed Rogers about the cards he had tried to sell to the card shop owner. Rogers then explained that he found the baseball cards near a dumpster while cleaning out a storage unit in North Salt Lake. When Detective Johnson questioned Joshua Boone, the other individual being detained, Boone indicated that Rogers had asked Boone for a ride to the baseball card shop to sell some baseball cards. In a search of the ear incident to Rogers’s arrest, the police found several baseball cards in binders in the trunk, and an autographed baseball and an individually encased baseball card inside the car. Hildebrand later confirmed that the items were his. A subsequent search of Boone’s apartment revealed more of Hildebrand’s missing things.

¶4 The State then charged Rogers with one count of theft by receiving stolen property, a second degree felony, see Utah Code Ann. §§ 76-6-408, -412 (2003), and one count [664] of theft by deception, a class B misdemeanor. See id. § 76-6-405.

¶ 5 At the initial preliminary hearing on the charges, the State elicited testimony from Hildebrand, the baseball card shop owner, and Detective Johnson. On cross-examination, defense counsel attempted to establish that items having a value of at least $5,000 had not been taken from Hildebrand’s apartment, much less been received by Rogers. In so doing, defense counsel elicited testimony from the baseball card shop owner that he could not name, nor could he place a price on, the cards presented to him at the card shop. Defense counsel also questioned Hildebrand about specific items taken from his apartment and their respective values; however, Hildebrand had difficulty in providing any details concerning the stolen items and their values. For example, when defense counsel questioned Hildebrand about the autographed baseballs and who had signed them, Hildebrand responded that he could not remember and “would have to bring you the list.” Similarly, when questioned about the binders containing approximately six sets of specialized cards, he responded that he had not prepared an itemized list of the cards making up the sets nor of the values of the cards. Finally, defense counsel asked Hildebrand about the individually encased cards that were stolen from him, and he responded that although he had receipts at his home that listed the prices of the cards, he did not have the receipts with him at the hearing.

¶ 6 At the close of the State’s case, defense counsel argued against bindover on the receiving stolen property charge, contending that the State presented insufficient evidence to establish that Rogers possessed items from Hildebrand’s apartment having a value of at least $5,000, the minimum amount required to constitute a second degree felony. See id. § 76-6-412(l)(a)(i). Specifically, defense counsel argued that the witnesses had testified only to approximate values of the stolen items and that there was no proof, other than the “victim’s speculation,” as to those values. The magistrate agreed with defense counsel and allowed the State to reopen its ease to present more evidence on the value issue. The State recalled Detective Johnson to the stand, but his additional testimony shed little light on value. After the State presented its additional testimony, defense counsel again argued that the State had failed to present sufficient evidence to bind Rogers over on a second degree felony charge. The magistrate responded that he was satisfied that Rogers should be bound over on some charge, but that he needed more evidence on value to support a second degree felony charge. Therefore, over Rogers’s objection, he continued the hearing to' a later date.

¶ 7 At the second installment of Rogers’s preliminary hearing, the State introduced eleven photographs of the items recovered and utilized an itemized list that Hildebrand had made of the missing property and its value. The State presented evidence sufficient to satisfy the magistrate that Rogers had received at least $5,000 worth of items from Hildebrand’s apartment. Thus, the magistrate bound Rogers over on the charge of theft by receiving stolen property, a second degree felony.1 Rogers filed a motion to quash the bindover, which the trial court denied. Rogers entered a conditional guilty plea to an amended charge of theft by receiving stolen property, a third degree felony, and was subsequently sentenced to an indeterminate term not to exceed five years and fined $5,000. Consistent with the terms of his conditional plea, Rogers now appeals the denial of his motion to quash the bindover.

ISSUES AND STANDARDS OF REVIEW

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State v. Rogers, 2005 UT App 379, 122 P.3d 661, 534 Utah Adv. Rep. 12, 2005 Utah App. LEXIS 360, 2005 WL 2173827 (Utah Ct. App. 2005).

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