State v. Walsh

931 P.2d 42, 281 Mont. 70, 54 State Rptr. 64, 1997 Mont. LEXIS 13
CourtMontana Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 10, 1997
Docket95-420
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 931 P.2d 42 (State v. Walsh) 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. Walsh, 931 P.2d 42, 281 Mont. 70, 54 State Rptr. 64, 1997 Mont. LEXIS 13 (Mo. 1997).

Opinions

CHIEF JUSTICE TURNAGE

delivered the Opinion of the Court.

Cory Scott Walsh appeals his criminal convictions in the District Court for the Twenty-First Judicial District, Ravalli County. A jury found Walsh guilty of aggravated assault, accountability for aggravated assault, accountability for misdemeanor assault and assault. We affirm.

The issues on appeal are whether sufficient evidence supports the jury’s findings and whether prosecutorial misconduct was established in the State’s amendments to the information.

Because the sufficiency of the evidence is at issue, we set forth the facts in the light most favorable to the prosecution.

On May 11, 1994, Melodie Stewart, her ten-year-old daughter Chellsi, and her fiance Christopher Lecce went to Lake Como, near Hamilton, Montana, for a picnic. They left the lake at dusk in Stewart’s Chevrolet pickup truck, with Lecce at the wheel.

A car came up behind the pickup on the highway and began following it closely with its bright lights on. Lecce flipped his rear-view mirror down so that the bright lights would not be in his eyes, and slowed down to let the car pass. The car continued to tailgate the pickup with its bright lights on for a little over two miles. When the car finally passed them, Lecce flicked his bright lights on and off.

The two persons in the car, Cory Walsh and Christopher Driscoll, made obscene gestures out of the car windows. They then stopped the car directly in front of the pickup. They jumped out, leaving their car doors open and blocking the roadway. Appearing very upset, they approached the pickup.

Lecce got out of the pickup and the three men began to argue. Walsh was very close to Lecce, and Lecce pushed him away. Stewart, [73]*73still in the car with Chellsi, screamed at them to stop. Walsh said, “Shut up, bitch.” Lecce turned to look at Driscoll, who was behind him. Walsh then hit Lecce so hard that it brought him to his knees. When Lecce got up, Walsh hit him again. Lecce tried to get up, but both Walsh and Driscoll were hitting him, preventing him from getting to his feet.

Stewart locked the doors to the pickup and told Chellsi to lie down out of sight. Lecce was on the ground and Walsh and Driscoll were kicking him when a second car drove up. Stewart hoped someone in the second car would help them. However, three people got out of the car hooting and hollering, and one of them, later identified as Walsh and Driscoll’s friend Joshua Vieth, joined in hitting and kicking Lecce.

Stewart got out of the pickup with a cellular phone in her hand and said (untruthfully — the phone was out of range) that she had called the police, who were on their way. The two cars and their occupants left the scene.

Lecce was left lying unconscious in a puddle of blood. When he regained consciousness, Stewart drove him to the hospital. He had bumps and bruises all over his head and bruises on his chest. His throat was injured so that he had a hard time swallowing and could not talk. Stewart was instructed to wake him every hour that night because of his head injury. He lost one tooth during the assault and another the next day. For several months, he had problems with his balance and suffered from headaches.

Walsh was initially charged with aggravated assault on Lecce. The State later obtained leave to amend the information, adding charges of accountability for aggravated assault on Lecce by Driscoll and Vieth, and assault on Stewart and Chellsi. The jury found Walsh guilty of aggravated assault on Lecce, accountability for aggravated assault by Vieth on Lecce, accountability for assault by Driscoll on Lecce, and assault on Chellsi.

ISSUE 1

Was sufficient evidence presented at trial to support the charges?

In criminal appeals, this Court reviews the sufficiency of the evidence to determine whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. State v. Richards (1995), 274 Mont. 180, 184, 906 P.2d 222, 224.

The State initially points out that Walsh did not move for judgment of acquittal based on insufficiency of the evidence either at the close [74]*74of the prosecution’s case or at the close of all the evidence. He did, however, move for new trial, arguing that the evidence was insufficient to support a finding of serious bodily injury to Lecce or to support the charge of assault on Chellsi.

Section 46-16-702(2), MCA, requires that a motion for new trial must be filed within thirty days following a verdict. The State points out that Walsh’s motion for new trial was untimely because it was not filed until some fifty-five days after the verdict. While the State is correct that the motion was untimely and should not have been considered, see State v. Gollehon (1995), 274 Mont. 116, 906 P.2d 697, this argument was not raised before the District Court, and therefore we consider it waived.

Accordingly, we will consider whether the evidence was sufficient to support the verdict on the charges of aggravated assault upon Lecce and assault upon Chellsi. However, because Walsh failed to argue at any time prior to filing his brief on appeal that the evidence was insufficient to support the verdict on the accountability charges, we decline to consider that argument. See State v. Johnson (1993), 257 Mont. 157, 162, 848 P.2d 496, 499.

Under § 45-5-202, MCA, a defendant commits aggravated assault if he purposely or knowingly causes serious bodily injury to another. At the time of the offenses charged here, “serious bodily injury” was statutorily defined as bodily injury that:

(i) creates a substantial risk of death;
(ii) causes serious permanent disfigurement or protracted loss or impairment of the function or process of any bodily member or organ; or
(iii) at the time of the injury, can reasonably be expected to result in serious permanent disfigurement or protracted loss or impairment of the function or process of any bodily member or organ.

Section 45-2-101(59), MCA (1993). As the District Court noted, the trial record in this case is devoid of evidence that Lecce was in substantial risk of death. Therefore, we examine the record for evidence of serious permanent disfigurement or protracted loss or impairment of the function or process of any bodily member or organ, or reasonable expectation of the same.

Walsh contends that the evidence at trial was not sufficient to sustain his conviction of aggravated assault because Lecce did not suffer serious bodily injury as defined in § 45-2-101(59), MCA (1993). Walsh cites the opinion testimony of Lecce’s dentist, Dr. Olson. Dr. [75]*75Olson testified that although Lecce’s loss of two teeth would cause serious or permanent disfigurement and impairment of the function of the teeth in general, the loss of the two teeth could not reasonably have been expected to cause a protracted impairment of the function of the teeth in general. Dr. Olson reasoned that a lot of people get along without all of their teeth.

Dr.

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State v. Walsh
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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
931 P.2d 42, 281 Mont. 70, 54 State Rptr. 64, 1997 Mont. LEXIS 13, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-walsh-mont-1997.