Opinion ID: 2606343
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Sufficiency of Evidence on Counts 2 and 3

Text: Defendant's motion for directed verdict on the hindering prosecution and conspiracy to hinder prosecution charges was denied by the trial court. See Rule 20(a), Ariz.R.Crim.P. Judgment of acquittal is appropriate when there is no substantial evidence to warrant a conviction. State v. Mathers, 165 Ariz. 64, 67, 796 P.2d 866, 869 (1990). Substantial evidence is more than a mere scintilla and is that which reasonable persons could accept as sufficient to support a guilty verdict beyond a reasonable doubt. Id. We view the evidence in a light most favorable to sustaining the verdict. State v. Arredondo, 155 Ariz. 314, 316, 746 P.2d 484, 486 (1987). To prove hindering prosecution, the state must show that a defendant intended to hinder the apprehension, prosecution, conviction, or punishment of another for a felony and that the defendant rendered assistance to such person. State v. Fisher, 141 Ariz. 227, 248, 686 P.2d 750, 771 (1984)(emphasis added); A.R.S. § 13-2512. Assistance includes intimidating any person from aiding in the discovery, apprehension, prosecution or conviction of another, and knowingly concealing evidence. A.R.S. §§ 13-2510(4),(5). A conviction of conspiracy requires proof of an intent to promote or aid in the commission of the offense, an agreement with another to engage in conduct constituting the offense, and an overt act in furtherance of the offense. State v. Newman, 141 Ariz. 554, 559, 688 P.2d 180, 185 (1984); A.R.S. § 13-1003(A). The state argues that when he threatened to hurt Nelson if he talked to the police, defendant attempted to obstruct further investigation of Lankisch. As proof of concealment and a conspiracy to hide evidence, it points to accounts from defendant's neighbors, who heard three sets of footsteps and a car speeding away on the night of the victim's disappearance. The state also relies on defendant's comments to Coleman about the victim's body being left in the desert. In response, defendant asserts there is no proof anything was concealed. He claims the state's position is premised on the assumption that evidence must have been hidden because the police could find nothing linking him to the crime. Moreover, he says, the state failed to relate the Nelson threat to the killing. We agree with defendant that Nelson's testimony is inadequate proof of an intent to hinder either Lankisch's or Scherf's prosecution. As the record reflects, the prosecutor did not show when the statements were made. See supra, at 70, 938 P.2d at 465. Significantly, the witness claimed that he last spoke to defendant on the day he described his dream. This allegedly took place after the victim disappeared but before her body was found. Yet, the prosecution made no attempt to tie the don't talk to police threat to this final conversation or to connect it with the murder rather than the numerous other illegal activities described by the witness. Nelson's testimony, standing alone, is not enough to support the hindering prosecution conviction. The remaining evidence relied on by the state is equally insufficient. To say that defendant faces a separate criminal prosecution for concealing the victim's body, thereby inhibiting the investigation of co-defendants, is tantamount to charging him with hindering his own prosecution. Such a result is not supported by the statute's common-law underpinnings as an accessory after the fact crime, one which was a distinct, independent offense. State v. Sims, 99 Ariz. 302, 309, 409 P.2d 17, 21 (1965); A.R.S. § 13-141 (repealed 1976); see also Goodwin v. State, 644 So.2d 1269, 1274 (Ala.Crim.App.1993)(cannot indict for hindering prosecution of others where defendants' own charges arise from the same set of facts); State v. Pugh, 55 Or.App. 305, 637 P.2d 1325, 1329 (1981) (cannot convict defendant of hindering prosecution of co-defendant where defendant's conduct served his own interest against self-incrimination). Finally, we can identify nothing in the record that would support a finding that there had been an agreement between defendant, Lankisch, and Scherf to hinder each other's prosecution. See State v. Sullivan, 68 Ariz. 81, 87, 200 P.2d 346, 350 (1948) (Conspiracies cannot be established by suspicions.... Mere association does not make a conspiracy.) (citation omitted). Because there is insufficient evidence of hindering prosecution or conspiracy, we must reverse counts 2 and 3 with prejudice.