Opinion ID: 1249167
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Preclusion: State v. Youngblood

Text: Stating that Youngblood failed to assert his due process claim under the Arizona Constitution until he had been through the entire appellate system and his case remanded to our court of appeals, the lead opinion argues that Youngblood is precluded from relying upon the Arizona due process clause. [3] Both the premise and conclusion are flawed.
The lead opinion's discussion of the preclusion issue is both dictum  language unnecessary to the holding  and irrelevant to the issue before the court. Concluding that we are not ... free to decide the case on the issue of preclusion [4]  having neither granted review, ordered briefing, nor entertained argument of that issue  the lead opinion turn[s] next to the merits [5] and decides them. What, then, is the preceding discussion entitled  Preclusion ? It is no more than the author's dissertation on the question of preclusion, uninformed by briefing [6] or argument. At the risk of compounding the error of a process that I believe is procedurally improper, I think it necessary to respond to the lead opinion's dicta with some of my own. The reader wishing to quickly get to the only issue before the court and decided by it is advised to begin at Part B of this dissent.
Youngblood did raise his due process claim; he also made the proper supporting argument. At every stage of the proceedings, from the trial court to this court, Youngblood has argued that the destruction of evidence violated principles of fundamental fairness, denied him a fair trial, and thus offended due process. Youngblood failed only to cite article 2, section 4 of the Arizona Constitution when arguing the requirement of fundamental fairness. Indeed, Youngblood's original brief in the court of appeals cited neither the state nor federal constitution but spoke generally of due process. Youngblood was not alone in this omission. The court of appeals' original opinion in State v. Youngblood, 153 Ariz. 50, 734 P.2d 592 (Ct.App. 1986), also did not specify which due process clause it applied and cited neither constitution, instead referring to both federal and state cases in arriving at its conclusion. This court has been guilty of similar imprecision. See, e.g., State v. Tucker, 157 Ariz. 433, 442-43, 759 P.2d 579, 588-89 (1988). [7] Youngblood's failure to cite the Arizona Constitution did not prejudice the state. Contrary to the lead opinion's assumption, Youngblood did not hold back that issue. In a timely manner and at every step, he raised the due process issue, arguing that the destruction of evidence deprived him of a fair trial. When the United States Supreme Court held for the first time that bad faith was the sine qua non of a due process deprivation, Youngblood then asked the state court to follow the Arizona cases, such as Tucker, and hold that under the Arizona Constitution bad faith was only one of the tests of a fair trial. It is understandable that he had not done so before. Neither this court nor any other had previously been aware that bad faith was the only factor. In fact, this court previously abjured such subjective inquiries into the prosecutorial psyche in similar cases. See, e.g., Pool v. Superior Court, 139 Ariz. 98, 677 P.2d 261 (1984). The view espoused today, therefore, is far more radical than the inarguable statement that [o]ne should not be allowed to hold back a claim or issue and then use it only if one needs it. [8] Now, under what is evidently the lead opinion's view, even though a litigant suffers no prejudice, constitutional rights may be destroyed simply because a lawyer had no greater prescience than the court of appeals or this court and failed to state which constitution he invoked in support of a timely claim raised in the exact words used in both constitutions. If such becomes the court's holding, we witness the triumph of inconsequential form over critical substance. I do not  as the lead opinion implies  retreat from the principle that state issues must be raised and a record made. The issue was raised, and the point was argued. All that was omitted was a citation.
Even if the preclusion principle applied in this case, the lead opinion has overlooked a significant issue. Briefly acknowledging that there is no preclusion when fundamental error has occurred, the lead opinion fails to explain why that principle does not apply to this case. Indeed, if the state's destruction of evidence denied Youngblood a fundamentally fair trial, the issue would not be precluded even if he had completely failed to raise the evidentiary question. See, e.g., State v. Dawson, 164 Ariz. 278, 283, 792 P.2d 741, 746 (1990); State v. Hunter, 142 Ariz. 88, 90, 688 P.2d 980, 982 (1984); see also State v. Slemmer, 170 Ariz. 174, 177-78 & n. 8, 823 P.2d 41, 44-46 & n. 8(1991). Thus, the reasoning is circuitous; if Youngblood was denied a fair trial, the error would always be fundamental and could not be precluded. [9] Even if Youngblood had failed to raise the state due process claim, a finding of preclusion would be wrong as a matter of jurisprudential policy. Although it cites Yee v. Escondido, ___ U.S. ___, 112 S.Ct. 1522, 118 L.Ed.2d 153 (1992), [10] the lead opinion's views on preclusion are far more extreme. In Yee, the Supreme Court held that courts have jurisdiction to consider a claim first raised on appeal. Yee, ___ U.S. at ___, 112 S.Ct. at 1531; see also Dawson, 164 Ariz. at 283-86, 792 P.2d at 746-49. Accordingly, even if Youngblood had failed to raise the destruction of evidence claim in the trial court, the court of appeals had jurisdiction to consider that claim. A refusal to do so on direct review would have been prudential  and usually good policy  rather than jurisdictional in nature. As in the present case, when the court of appeals passes on such a claim  as well it might, considering the importance of the constitutional issue  the issue is fairly before this court. See, e.g., Dawson, 164 Ariz. at 283-86, 792 P.2d at 746-49; see also United States v. Williams, ___ U.S. ___, ___-___, 112 S.Ct. 1735, 1738-41, 118 L.Ed.2d 352 (1992). Thus, the lead opinion, citing Yee, evidently concludes that the court of appeals had discretion to consider the issue but that, for lack of a single citation, the court of appeals abused its discretion by deciding the issue. This is a legally incorrect and gratuitous reprimand to the court of appeals. See Yee, ___ U.S. at ___-___, 112 S.Ct. at 1531-32; cf. Riggins v. Nevada, ___ U.S. ___, ___, 112 S.Ct. 1810, 1824, 118 L.Ed.2d 479 (1992) (Thomas, J., dissenting). [11] Youngblood squarely and timely raised the due process claim. Each court, including the court of appeals, considered his argument on the question of fundamental fairness. Even under Justice Thomas' view, the issue was not waived or precluded. So much for the merits of preclusion. I return to the process. Dicta is easy to define but sometimes hard to avoid. All of us are guilty of unnecessary statements. It is part of the common law process. But this goes much further. The preclusion discussion in the lead opinion is entirely dictum, recognized as such in the lead opinion, and completely irrelevant to the issues on which the case was decided. Further, the conclusions are reached without the benefit of briefing or argument by counsel. This court denied review of the issue, refused to hear argument on the issue, and therefore should not address it. I express my dissent from so improper a process and turn next to the only issue before us.