State v. Schmidt

2009 MT 450, 224 P.3d 618, 354 Mont. 280, 2009 Mont. LEXIS 692
CourtMontana Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 31, 2009
DocketDA 08-0137
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 2009 MT 450 (State v. Schmidt) 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. Schmidt, 2009 MT 450, 224 P.3d 618, 354 Mont. 280, 2009 Mont. LEXIS 692 (Mo. 2009).

Opinions

Justice Brian Morris

delivered the Opinion of the Court.

¶ 1 Jason Lee Schmidt (Schmidt) appeals his conviction in the Second Judicial District Court, Silver Bow County, for mitigated deliberate homicide. We affirm.

¶2 We review the following issues on appeal:

¶3 Did the jury instructions and verdict form at trial render Schmidt’s conviction for mitigated deliberate homicide a ‘legal impossibility” under Demontiney?

[282]*282¶4 Did the District Court properly deny Schmidt’s request for a lesser included offense instruction?

¶5 Did the District Court properly deny Schmidt’s motion to suppress evidence of his confession ?

¶6 Did the District Court properly deny Schmidt’s motion in limine to allow evidence that the victim had wielded a knife?

¶7 Did the District Court properly deny Schmidt’s request for a mistrial?

¶8 Did the District Court properly exclude a photograph of the victim offered by Schmidt?

¶9 Did the District Court properly deny Schmidt’s motion for a directed verdict?

¶10 Did the District Court properly instruct the jury on weapons enhancement?

¶11 Did the District Court properly impose restitution for the victim’s funeral expenses?

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

¶12 James Correia (Correia) died from stab wounds outside the Irish Times bar in Butte on March 24, 2007. Correia had gone to the Irish Times with his friend Chase Hanley (Hanley). Correia and Hanley arrived at the Irish Times at approximately 12:30 a.m. Correia and Hanley earlier had visited three other bars. Correia was visiting from out of town and told Hanley that he wanted to see the “bad places” in Butte.

¶13 Schmidt arrived at the Irish Times around midnight with his wife, his brother, and a group of friends. The group had visited several bars en route. They had been celebrating Schmidt’s wife’s birthday.

¶14 Gunnar Fitzpatrick (Fitzpatrick) was working as the bartender and bouncer that night at the Irish Times. Fitzpatrick noticed Correia immediately because of the way he was moving and interacting with the other patrons. Fitzpatrick left his position behind the bar more than once to “defuse” potential altercations between Correia and other patrons. Fitzpatrick ultimately asked Correia and Hanley to leave.

¶15 Fitzpatrick also had to intervene in an argument between two women. Correia got involved in an altercation with the two women as he and Hanley were leaving. Hanley claimed that one of the women slapped Correia, and that, in response, Correia had pulled her hair and caused her to fall. Schmidt’s wife claimed that Correia punched her in the face. Another witness corroborated Schmidt’s wife’s claim, but added that Schmidt’s wife had slapped Correia first.

[283]*283¶16 Accounts differ as to who instigated the confrontation, who was involved, and what Correia did. Most of the witnesses had been drinking. Many were unclear about what they saw. All the witnesses agreed that a brawl involving a number of people took place. Will Smith (Smith), a witness who was at the Irish Times, testified that Schmidt’s brother had tried to assault Correia. Smith tried to hold Schmidt’s brother away from Correia, but two women grabbed Smith by the hair to make him let go. Smith testified that both Schmidt and his brother were trying to fight Smith in the middle of the bar. Bouncers broke up the fight and threw them out.

¶17 Fitzpatrick saw Correia at the center of the fight. Correia had Schmidt in a headlock and was “throwing uppercuts at him.” Fitzpatrick attempted to break up the fight. Schmidt threw a punch that hit Fitzpatrick on the shoulder. Fitzpatrick finally separated the two men. Schmidt continued to yell profanities at Correia. Fitzpatrick escorted Correia and Schmidt outside. Correia gestured at one of the bouncers as though to challenge him to a fight.

¶18 Smith testified that Correia was “trying to stay neutral” outside the bar. Correia and Hanley backed toward their car, but two of the women from the bar followed them. Correia and the women continued to yell at each other. Correia took off his shirt and attempted to hit one of the women with it. The second woman responded by shoving Correia. Correia hit her.

¶ 19 Schmidt saw this exchange and “tried to assault” Correia. Schmidt claimed that when he saw Correia hit the woman, he called Correia “a piece of shit,” and that Correia had responded by attacking him. Correia and Schmidt started fighting. The fight quickly devolved “into something of a glorified wrestling match.” Neither fighter had the upper hand as both Schmidt and Correia were merely “jockeying for position.”

¶20 Correia was on top of Schmidt. Schmidt pulled a knife out of his right front pocket, flipped it open, and stabbed Correia in the leg. Schmidt stabbed Correia three more times, once in the lower abdomen, and twice in the chest. Schmidt stabbed with such force that the hilt of the knife left abrasions on Correia’s skin. Schmidt’s knife blade penetrated Correia’s diaphragm and his heart. Correia climbed off Schmidt. He stood for a moment before limping toward Hanley.

¶21 Correia held his right side as he walked. Correia collapsed. Hanley noticed Correia’s wounds and saw lots of blood. Someone applied pressure to Correia’s wounds with a tee shirt. Another person called 911. The responding officer called for medical backup. The [284]*284officer accompanied Correia to the hospital. Correia died shortly after arriving at the emergency room.

¶22 Schmidt came at Smith with a knife after Schmidt and Correia had stopped fighting. Smith ducked out of the way and took off. Zachary Hayes knew Schmidt from high school and was at the Irish Times. Hayes saw Schmidt pacing back and forth in the alley, and heard him swearing. Schmidt fled down the alley as Hayes approached him. Schmidt threw the knife into a dumpster and ran toward Butte High School. A friend called Schmidt on his cell phone and picked him up near the school. Schmidt threw his cell phone out the car window. Schmidt burned his bloody clothes in a wood stove when he got home. Schmidt took a shower, grabbed another knife, and went for a drive.

¶23 Schmidt initially denied any wrongdoing to police. He eventually admitted to stabbing Correia. Schmidt claimed that Correia had him pinned and was striking him repeatedly. Schmidt stated that he was afraid Correia was going to kill him. Schmidt claimed that he was trying to defend himself. Schmidt lied to the officers about his clothes. He told the officers that they would find the clothing that he had been wearing during the fight in his bedroom, along with the knife that he had been carrying. In fact, he had burned the clothes in his woodstove and he had thrown the knife into a dumpster.

¶24 Schmidt moved to suppress evidence of his confession and evidence obtained during a search of his home. Schmidt claimed that police officers had given him deficient Miranda warnings. Schmidt also moved for a new trial in response to a potential juror’s comment about a witness for the defense. Schmidt argued that the potential juror’s comment had tainted the jury panel. The District Court denied Schmidt’s motions.

¶25 The District Court issued thirty-three jury instructions dining the trial.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2009 MT 450, 224 P.3d 618, 354 Mont. 280, 2009 Mont. LEXIS 692, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-schmidt-mont-2009.