State v. Warden

592 P.2d 836, 100 Idaho 21, 1979 Ida. LEXIS 397
CourtIdaho Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 5, 1979
Docket12528
StatusPublished
Cited by43 cases

This text of 592 P.2d 836 (State v. Warden) 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. Warden, 592 P.2d 836, 100 Idaho 21, 1979 Ida. LEXIS 397 (Idaho 1979).

Opinions

DONALDSON, Justice.

The state charged the defendant, John Wesley Warden, with the crime of assault with intent to murder for the alleged intentional shooting of Earl Huff with a handgun. The defendant was arrested in the late evening hours of October 24 or the early morning hours of October 25, 1976. At the preliminary hearing on November 3, 1976, the magistrate bound the defendant over to district court to stand trial for the crime charged. At the trial, the jury found the defendant guilty of the crime charged, and the judge sentenced the defendant to the State Board of Correction for a term not to exceed 14 years.

At trial the state based its case principally on the testimony of the victim, Earl Huff. It was his testimony that at approximately 11:15 p. m. on October 24, 1976, he in his capacity as a security officer for Wicks Corporation in Grangeville, Idaho observed a Dodge van parked on the company’s property. From his patrol vehicle Huff noticed some movement in the back of the van. In order to determine if anyone was in the van, he shined the spotlight connected to his patrol vehicle into the van, got out of his vehicle and approached the windshield on the driver’s side of the van. At that point he observed a man coming from the back of the van towards the front of the van with a gun in his hand. Within two or three seconds, despite Huff’s effort to indicate that he was unarmed, the man shot Huff from- inside the' van, wounding him in the neck and knocking him to the ground. The man then got out of the van, walked, over to where Huff was lying, looked at him, turned around, walked back to the van and drove off.

Huff was able to recognize the man well enough to describe him to the police as his assailant. Later that night the Grangeville police together with the Idaho County Sheriff’s Office apprehended the defendant Warden based on Huff’s description. A few days later while Huff was recovering in a Lewiston hospital, he identified the defendant’s picture as that of his assailant.

The state presented evidence of the neutron activation analysis performed on the defendant’s hands soon after his arrest. The results of that analysis indicated that the defendant had fired a handgun not more than two hours before the time of the analysis and that when the defendant fired the gun, he had both hands on the grip of the gun. The state also put various members of the Grangeville Police Department and the Idaho County Sheriff’s Office on the stand and elicited testimony with respect to the investigation of the shooting, the arrest of the defendant, the impounding of the defendant’s vehicle and the release of that vehicle.

[23]*23The defendant based his case on his own account of the events leading up to and following the shooting of Huff as corroborated in various respects by his brother, Danny Warden, and the woman who was in the van when the shooting occurred. It was defendant’s testimony at trial that at the time Huff drove up to the van that he and the woman were having sexual intercourse in the back of the van. He stated that he was interrupted in his activities by Huff’s floodlight shining through the front of the van, at which point he arose and, with his pants around his ankles, started towards the front of the van. Defendant testified that he stooped to pick up his .38 Smith and Wesson handgun which had fallen on the floor from a cabinet in the van; he stumbled; and the gun discharged. Because of the spotlight shining into the van, he testified that he could not see beyond a certain point in the van. when the gun discharged.

Defendant further testified that he then exited the van and approached the victim to offer assistance. He returned to the van and drove it out of the area and down the county road. When he returned to the scene of the shooting later, the victim was gone. He testified that he again drove away to a point about one and one half miles from the scene where he kicked out the windshield on the driver’s side of the van and threw his .38 handgun into a plowed field. The police stopped him a short time later.

On appeal, defendant raises four assignments of error: (1) the evidence presented at trial was insufficient to sustain the verdict of guilty for assault with intent to murder; (2) three specific items of evidence at trial were inadmissible; (3) the trial judge erred in not granting an advisory instruction to acquit; (4) the resulting sentence of a term not to exceed fourteen years was excessive and therefore an abuse of discretion.

Appellant first contends that the evidence was not sufficient to sustain the guilty verdict in that it failed to establish intent to murder. We hold that on the basis of the record in this case, the evidence does sustain a conviction on the charge of assault with intent to murder.

The function of an appellate court is to examine the record to determine if competent and substantial evidence exists to support the verdict. State v. Warden, 97 Idaho 752, 554 P.2d 684 (1976). Where there is such evidence, the verdict will not be disturbed on appeal. State v. Badger, 96 Idaho 168, 525 P.2d 363 (1974). Further, the court is not authorized to substitute its judgment as to the credibility of the witnesses and the weight to be given their testimony by the jury. State v. Buchanan, 73 Idaho 365, 252 P.2d 524 (1953).

The victim, Mr. Huff, testified that he parked his Ford Courier five to six feet from the front and to the left facing the van; that he turned on the floodlight which was located on top of his Courier directing it at an angle toward the front of the van; that he got out of his side of the Ford Courier, crossed in front and between the two vehicles to the driver’s side of the van, thus silhouetting himself; that as he approached the front of the van to inform anyone inside that they were on private property, a man came from the back of the van between the front seats with a gun in his right hand up by his ear. Huff stated that at that point he waved both of his hands to show that he was unarmed. But, within seconds, the man lowered the gun and shot him. The impact of the shot knocked Huff on his back. Huff testified that at that point the defendant-appellant opened the door on the right side opposite the driver’s side of the van, walked out in front of the van over to within three feet of where he was lying, looked at him, pointed the gun at him, turned around, walked over to the opposite side of the van, got in and drove off.

Officer Schussler testified that when the Grangeville police later apprehended the defendant, the left front window of the defendant’s van was missing. Defendant testified that after he left the scene of the shooting, he kicked out the shattered windshield. He then took his handgun and [24]*24threw it into a plowed field. The police never recovered the gun.

Officer Schussler also testified that he administered the neutron activation analysis to the defendant’s hands soon after he was brought to the police station to test for gunshot residue (barium antimony). The findings as testified to by Robert Kopek, a forensic scientist with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms of the United States Treasury Department, were that the back of defendant’s left thumb, the back of his left hand, the back of his right thumb and the back of his right hand contained gunshot residue in excess of seven or eight times the amount normally found on an individual’s hands when that individual discharges a weapon.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
592 P.2d 836, 100 Idaho 21, 1979 Ida. LEXIS 397, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-warden-idaho-1979.