State v. Williams

730 P.2d 806, 1987 Alas. LEXIS 226
CourtAlaska Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 9, 1987
DocketS-1120
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 730 P.2d 806 (State v. Williams) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Alaska 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. Williams, 730 P.2d 806, 1987 Alas. LEXIS 226 (Ala. 1987).

Opinions

OPINION

RABINOWITZ, Chief Justice.

I. FACTS.

On the evening of March 10, 1980, Thomas Andrus’ partially burned body was discovered in his pickup truck, on a frontage road near Peter’s Creek. Respondent, Travis Dean Williams, was arrested for An-drus’ murder. Williams was subsequently indicted for first-degree murder. At the time Williams was indicted for first-degree murder, the State possessed overwhelming evidence that Williams had tampered with the body. However, the State did not seek an indictment for the crime of tampering with evidence.

Williams was thereafter tried for An-drus’ murder. The prosecution’s case was based primarily on circumstantial evidence. One of the major elements of the prosecution’s case was proof that Williams had transported Andrus’ dead body in a pick-up truck to an isolated area, where Williams had set fire to the corpse. In addition, evidence found at the residence where the actual slaying had occurred showed that someone had attempted to clean' blood from the carpet.

Williams admitted these actions at his trial, but he testified that he had not killed Andrus. Instead, he asserted he had been awakened from an alcoholic stupor by An-drus’ wife, Joyce, who told him that her husband was dead and pleaded with Williams to help her. According to Williams, Mrs. Andrus then led him to her husband’s body, which had an appliance cord wrapped around its neck. Williams at [807]*807this point agreed to aid Mrs. Andrus in cleaning up the house and disposing of the body.

The jury acquitted Williams of the murder. The State then sought and obtained a new indictment against Williams, charging him with tampering with evidence in violation of AS 11.56.610. Williams then moved to have the tampering indictment dismissed on the ground of former jeopardy. Williams also claimed that the indictment should be dismissed under Criminal Rule 45(g).1 He argued that since the new charge grew out of “the same conduct” as the former murder indictment, the time limit for bringing him to trial on the new charges had already expired.

The superior court ruled in favor of Williams on his claim of former jeopardy and the State appealed. The court of appeals, in State v. Williams, 653 P.2d 1067 (Alaska App.1982), mealed and remanded, 681 P.2d 313 (Alaska 1984), did not reach the double jeopardy issue but affirmed the superior court’s dismissal of the tampering indictment on the ground that Criminal Rule 45 had been violated. The State then petitioned this court to review the Rule 45 ruling.

In State v. Williams, 681 P.2d 313 (Alaska 1984), on remand, 704 P.2d 219 (Alaska App.1985), we vacated the court of appeals’ decision because of its misinterpretation of Criminal Rule 45 and remanded the case to determine whether Williams’ speedy trial rights were violated by the new indictment; if the State had timely indicted Williams, the court of appeals was to consider the double jeopardy issue.

The court of appeals addressed the double jeopardy issue in a per curiam opinion with three separate concurrences, and affirmed the superior court’s dismissal of the indictment for tampering with evidence on the ground that the double jeopardy clause

of the Alaska Constitution 2 precluded prosecution of Williams for this crime. State v. Williams, 704 P.2d 219 (Alaska App.1985). Two judges of the court of appeals adopted the position that this clause incorporates the approach to serial prosecutions and compulsory joinder of criminal charges set forth in Model Penal Code § 1.07(2) (Proposed Official Draft 1962). Id. at 224-26. We review both the court of appeals’ double jeopardy holding and the incorporation of the Model Penal Code approach into article I, section 9 of the Alaska Constitution.

II. DID THE COURT OF APPEALS ERR IN AFFIRMING THE SUPERIOR COURT’S DISMISSAL OF THE TAMPERING WITH EVIDENCE INDICTMENT?

We hold that the court of appeals correctly decided the double jeopardy issue in this case. Here prosecution of Williams for the crime of tampering with evidence, after his acquittal of murder, would violate the double jeopardy clause of the Alaska Constitution. In reaching this conclusion we adopt the reasoning expressed by Judge Coats in his separate opinion. There, he states in part that he would limit the court’s affirmance of the superior court’s dismissal of the tampering with evidence indictment

to the facts of this case where the prosecution indictment for tampering with evidence used essentially the same evidence as it used to attempt to convict him of murder. In the case before us the dangers of the abuse of the tampering with evidence statute seem apparent. In this case, in fact, the prosecution’s theory in the murder case was that since Williams attempted to cover up the murder by tampering with evidence, he must be the person who committed the murder. It [808]*808seems unfair, after Williams was acquitted of the murder charge, to allow the prosecution to charge and try him for tampering with evidence based on essentially the same evidence that the state presented for the murder charge.3

III. DID THE COURT OF APPEALS ERR IN HOLDING THAT ARTICLE I, SECTION 9 OF THE ALASKA CONSTITUTION INCORPORATES THE APPROACH TO COMPULSORY JOINDER SET FORTH IN MODEL PENAL CODE § 1.07(2)?

The Model Penal Code rule of compulsory joinder of criminal charges is stated as follows:

Limitation on Separate Trials for Multiple Offenses. Except as provided in Subsection (3) of this Section [that is, when the trial court orders separate trials in the interest of justice], a defendant shall not be subject to separate trials for multiple offenses based on the same conduct or arising from the same criminal episode, if such offenses are known to the appropriate prosecuting officer at the time of the commencement of the first trial and are within the jurisdiction of a single court.4

The State maintains that in comparison to other compulsory joinder rules, in particular those promulgated by the American Bar Association and by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Law,5 the Model Penal Code version represents an unfortunate choice for Alaska. The State argues that the Model Penal Code version has three main deficiencies: (1) it places the burden on the prosecutor to move for severance instead of on the defendant to move for joinder; (2) it fails to allow the prosecuting attorney the ability to delay bringing charges that are not yet adequately investigated for trial; and, (3) it fails to address the problem where a plea to one offense is followed by a trial on related offenses.6

In elaborating on these three points, the State contends that the burden of seeking joinder should be placed on the defendant.

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Bluebook (online)
730 P.2d 806, 1987 Alas. LEXIS 226, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-williams-alaska-1987.