Case Title: State v. Prior

Citation: 2007 VT 1

Docket Number: 2005-466

State: vermont

Court: Vermont Supreme Court

Date: 2007-01-05T00:00:00Z

Document:
State v. Prior (2005-466)

2007 VT 1

[Filed 05-Jan-2007]

                                 ENTRY ORDER

                                  2007 VT 1

                      SUPREME COURT DOCKET NO. 2005-466

                            SEPTEMBER TERM, 2006


  State of Vermont                     }         APPEALED FROM:
                                       }
      v.                               }
                                       }         District Court of Vermont,
                                       }         Unit No. 1, Windham Circuit
  Glenn Prior                          }
                                       }         DOCKET NOS. 253-2-05 WmCr & 
                                                             165-2-05 WmCr
   
                                                 Trial Judge: John Wesley

             In the above-entitled cause, the Clerk will enter:

       ¶ 1.  Defendant Glenn Prior appeals from his convictions, after a
  jury trial, of attempted felony violation of a relief from abuse order,
  felony violation of a relief from abuse order, and two violations of
  conditions of release.  He argues that: (1) the district court committed
  plain error by failing to guarantee jury unanimity on the question of
  whether he followed or stalked the victim on the day in question; and (2)
  two of his convictions punish the same behavior and thereby violate his
  right to be free from double jeopardy for the same offense.  We affirm.

       ¶ 2.  The record indicates the following.  Defendant's wife, Joanne
  Prior, obtained a relief from abuse order against defendant in January
  2005.  Shortly thereafter, she called police to report that defendant
  violated the order.  Defendant was arrested, arraigned, and released on
  those charges in February 2005.  The conditions of his release required,
  among other things, that he not leave Windham County without permission of
  the court, and that he not come within 100 feet of Ms. Prior, her
  residence, her vehicle, or her place of employment. 

       ¶ 3.  Less than two weeks later, defendant was again arrested for
  violating his conditions of release and the relief from abuse order. A
  two-day jury trial was held, and defendant was convicted as detailed above. 
  At trial, Ms. Prior testified that on the morning of February 11, 2005, she
  was traveling to her children's school and she noticed defendant driving
  the opposite way on the same road.  Very shortly thereafter, she saw that
  defendant had changed direction and was one car behind her.  Ms. Prior
  dropped her children off at school and got back onto the main road, heading
  to her job in Keene, New Hampshire.  She noticed defendant's car parked
  parallel to the road, facing in the direction in which she was traveling. 
  After she passed defendant, she saw his car following her.  He followed her
  for a short time and eventually passed her.  Ms. Prior called the police
  and stopped immediately when she encountered a state trooper along the
  road.  There was also evidence from which the jury could have concluded
  that, on another day in January 2005, defendant left a spare car key and a
  family Bible with a handwritten message in Ms. Prior's vehicle, and that he
  had called her pretending to be a bank employee alerting her that her
  account was overdrawn.

       ¶ 4.  A police officer testified that defendant admitted violating
  his conditions of release by traveling into New Hampshire that day. 
  Defendant maintained, however, that he was running errands, and provided a
  written statement to this effect.  At trial, the State maintained that
  defendant's explanation for his behavior was incredible.  The jury
  convicted defendant of several of the charged offenses, and he was
  ultimately sentenced on his convictions for an attempted violation of a
  relief from abuse order, one violation of the relief from abuse order, and
  two counts of violation of conditions of release, one for leaving Windham
  County and one for being within 100 feet of Ms. Prior's vehicle.  This
  appeal followed. 

       ¶ 5.  Defendant first argues that the trial court committed plain
  error in instructing the jury on the charge that he violated an abuse
  prevention order by "following or stalking" Ms. Prior.  He argues that
  nothing in the court's instruction required jury unanimity on the question
  of whether he followed the victim, stalked her, or both.  He maintains
  that, given the assertedly convoluted instructions, the jury may have
  convicted him merely because they believed that he was a "bad actor" whom
  they needed to "get for something." 

       ¶ 6.  Defendant did not object to the jury instructions at trial,
  and we therefore review for plain error only.  V.R.Cr.P. 30 ("No party may
  assign as error any portion of the charge or omission therefrom unless he
  objects thereto before the jury retires to consider its verdict, stating
  distinctly the matter to which he objects and the grounds of his
  objection."); V.R.Cr.P. 52(b) ("Plain errors or defects affecting
  substantial rights may be noticed although they were not brought to the
  attention of the court.").  We find plain error only in exceptional
  circumstances where we must do so to prevent a miscarriage of justice or an
  error that "strikes at the very heart of the defendant's constitutional
  rights."  State v. Pelican, 160 Vt. 536, 538-39,