Opinion ID: 1136044
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: evidence of restricted person status

Text: After the jury found Higginbotham guilty of aggravated robbery, the trial court asked the jury to consider whether she was also guilty of possession of a dangerous weapon by a restricted person under Utah Code Ann. § 76-10-503(2). That section provides, Any person who is on parole or probation for a felony may not have in his possession or under his custody or control any dangerous weapon.... Utah Code Ann. § 76-10-503(2)(a). The State sought to prove that at the time of the robbery, Higginbotham was (1) in possession of a dangerous weapon (2) while on probation (3) for a felony. The prosecutor stated that she did not intend to present any additional testimony on this count but offered two documents into evidence. [4] The first was a copy of a Motion & Order for Bench Warrant for Probation Violation filed in an Idaho district court in April 1991. The motion was in the form of an affidavit signed by the Ada County prosecuting attorney and stated that Higginbotham [5] had pleaded guilty to a felony charge of issuing checks without funds, that she was placed on probation, and that she had violated the terms of her probation. The order was stamped with a judge's name. The document was not certified. [6] Two other uncertified pages, apparently attached as an addendum to the motion and order, purport to represent Higginbotham's Restitution Account and Payment Agreement. The second document offered by the State was a copy of a Bench Warrant for Probation Violation signed by an Ada County deputy clerk and certified as authentic by the custodian of law enforcement records for the Boise City Police Department and the Ada County Sheriff's Department. The warrant does not state that Higginbotham was convicted of a felony. Defense counsel objected to the admission of the documents, contending that the State did not have sufficient evidence to proceed on the charge. More specifically, defense counsel argued that the law requires that the State produce a certified copy of a felony conviction. The trial court overruled the objection and admitted the documents into evidence, holding that the two documents together established Higginbotham's restricted status. We addressed similar issues in two prior cases, State v. Lamorie, 610 P.2d 342 (Utah 1980), and State v. Long, 721 P.2d 483 (Utah 1986). Like Higginbotham, the defendant in Lamorie was charged with possession of a dangerous weapon while on parole for a felony. 610 P.2d at 343. At trial, a Colorado parole agent testified that the defendant had been under his supervision. Through the agent, the State successfully admitted into evidence copies of court records, certified only by a notary public, to show the defendant's prior felony convictions. Id. at 344-45. The defendant was convicted. He appealed, contending that the State failed to establish the elements of the crime. This court determined that the parole agent had no personal knowledge of the defendant's conviction and that the fact that the defendant was on parole, without more, did not permit the inference that the parole was for a felony. Id. at 345. As to the court records, we held that the notary's certification did not constitute proper authentication under the Utah Rules of Evidence requiring attestation `by the officer having the legal custody of the record, or by his deputy.' Id. at 346 (quoting Utah R. Evid. 68(1), predecessor to current rule 902(4)). We noted that the certifying notary had neither official nor unofficial custody of the records, nor was she a deputy court clerk. We concluded that the notary's certification failed to satisfy the authentication rule and that the records were inadmissible. Id. The defendant in Long was also charged with possession of a dangerous weapon by a restricted person. 721 P.2d at 484. At trial, the State introduced through a Utah parole officer copies of certified copies of documents showing that the defendant had been twice convicted of felonies. Id. The certified copies from which the copies introduced into evidence were made were part of the defendant's parole file. The defendant was convicted and appealed, contending that the documents used to prove that he was a convicted felon were not properly authenticated. We agreed, noting the lack of evidence to show (1) how the copies got in the parole file, (2) that the copies in the file constituted official documents of the Division of Corrections, or (3) that the parole officer was their official custodian or deputy custodian. Id. at 486. The State contends that the instant case is distinguishable from Lamorie and Long because the records were properly authenticated and admitted under rule 902(4) of the Utah Rules of Evidence. We disagree. Rule 902 provides for the admissibility of certified copies of public records. [7] Although the bench warrant was certified by the custodian of records of a county sheriff's office, the motion and order that referred to the felony conviction was not certified by any official. Thus the trial court erred in admitting the motion and order. Even assuming the Idaho bench warrant was properly certified, [8] it does not, by itself, establish that Higginbotham had been previously convicted of a felony. It merely demands that the probationer be brought before the court to show cause why her probation should not be revoked. Misdemeanants can also be placed on probation. See Idaho Code §§ 19-2601(6), 19-3921. Thus the State is left without proof of one essential element of the charge against Higginbotham, i.e., that she was on probation for a felony. Accordingly, we reverse Higginbotham's conviction for possession of a dangerous weapon by a restricted person. We next examine the effect of our reversal. The court in Lamorie held, as we do here, that the prosecution failed to prove an essential element of the charge. 610 P.2d at 346. The court remanded for a new trial after reversing the conviction, holding that doing so does not place the accused in double jeopardy because the error giving rise to the reversal, i.e., the trial court's erroneous introduction of evidence, was trial error as distinguished from insufficiency of the evidence. Id. at 347 (citing Burks v. United States, 437 U.S. 1, 14, 98 S.Ct. 2141, 2148, 57 L.Ed.2d 1 (1978)); accord Long, 721 P.2d at 487; State v. Barela, 779 P.2d 1140, 1145 (Utah.Ct.App.1989).