Opinion ID: 1412175
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Venue/Jurisdiction

Text: This case involves an examination of the fine but critical distinction between venue and jurisdiction, which is rather obscured by the proceedings below and which is made somewhat more difficult, as the lower court observed, because our law is not well defined as to the differences between and the treatment of the two concepts. To be clear, the venue/jurisdiction concern only applies to the sexual assault and robbery convictions. The kidnapping, protective order violation and domestic battery convictions are in no way implicated in this discussion. Appellant's assertion in this regard is that the trial court committed error by not granting his motion for acquittal on the second degree sexual assault [22] and robbery [23] charges because the prosecution failed to present evidence which established that the necessary elements of these offenses occurred in West Virginia. The state responds by asserting that venue to prosecute the sexual assault and robbery charges was proper in Ohio County, West Virginia, because the prosecution's evidence proved that some elements of the crimes were committed in Ohio County. The determination of whether the court in the case sub judiee had jurisdiction of the second degree sexual assault and robbery offenses for which Appellant was convicted presents a question of law which we previously said involves a de novo review.
The arguments of the parties and the law proffered in support of their respective positions refer interchangeably to venue or jurisdiction. Although at times related, these terms are hardly synonymous. In the context of a criminal case, jurisdiction involves the inherent power of a the court to decide a criminal case, whereas venue relates to the particular county or city in which a court with jurisdiction may hear and determine a case. Syl. Pt. 7, Lester v. Rose, 147 W.Va. 575, 130 S.E.2d 80 (1963), overruled on other grounds by State ex rel. Sutton v. Spillers, 181 W.Va. 376, 382 S.E.2d 570 (1989). Thus, any court authorized by the [state] Constitution, or a statute enacted pursuant thereto, to hear and determine a case involving a criminal act has jurisdiction thereof. Willis v. O'Brien, 151 W.Va. 628, 630-31, 153 S.E.2d 178, 180 (1967). As long recognized by this Court, [u]nder the Constitution and laws of this state, a crime can be prosecuted and punished only in the state and county where the alleged offense was committed. Syl. Pt. 2, State v. McAllister, 65 W.Va. 97, 63 S.E. 758 (1909). See also State ex rel. Haught v. Donnahoe, 174 W.Va. 27, 32, 321 S.E.2d 677, 682 (1984) (It is fundamental that both federal and state power is limited to its constitutional framework. The organic law embodied within each state constitution runs with the territorial jurisdiction of the state.); Hotzel v. Simmons, 258 Wis. 234, 45 N.W.2d 683 (1951) (without jurisdiction, criminal proceedings are a nullity). Appellant's basic contention is that West Virginia has no authority or power to prosecute or punish the offenses of robbery and sexual assault in this case because all of the elements of the offenses occurred, if at all, in the state of Ohio. This claim raises a territorial challenge to the jurisdiction of any court in West Virginia hearing and deciding the case rather than a venue-based objection regarding which West Virginia court in what particular locality within the state should handle the matter. Even if jurisdiction was not artfully defined as an issue on appeal, [l]ack of jurisdiction may be raised for the first time in this court, when it appears on the face of the bill and proceedings, and it may be taken notice of by this court on its own motion. Syl. Pt. 3, Charleston Apartments Corp. v. Appalachian Elec. Power Co., 118 W.Va. 694, 192 S.E. 294 (1937). See also State v. McLane, 128 W.Va. 774, 776, 38 S.E.2d 343, 344 (1946) (This Court may take congnizance of lack of jurisdiction when the question fairly arises on the record.). As revealed in later discussion, issues of jurisdiction appear readily from the record. To support his claim that any trial against him for these offenses may only be had in Ohio, Appellant points to Rule 18 of the West Virginia Rules of Criminal Procedure [24] and cases which turn on or reference Article III, section 14 of the West Virginia Constitution. This portion of our state constitution in relevant part states: Trials of crimes, and misdemeanors, unless herein otherwise provided, shall be by a jury of twelve men, public, without unreasonable delay, and in the county where the alleged offence was committed, unless upon petition of the accused, and for good cause shown, it is removed to some other county. Id. The jurisdictional as well as venue implications of this constitutional provision were recognized early in the jurisprudence of this state in the case of Ex parte McNeely, 36 W.Va. 84, 14 S.E. 436 (1892). Under the facts of McNeely, a man from Logan County, [25] West Virginia was murdered in the river that forms the Kentucky/West Virginia border, with the shot being fired in Kentucky and the man actually dying in West Virginia where charges were brought. The murder conviction was appealed on the claim that the statute [26] upon which the conviction was based violated Article III, section 14 of the West Virginia Constitution. Speaking to the meaning of Article III, section 14, this Court in McNeely observed: It may be said with some plausibility that the constitutional provision applies only where both blow and death occur within the State, and only selects what county shall hold the trial; and that it does not apply where part of the offense is outside the State. But I regard it a question of jurisdiction arising under the constitution; and that nowhere in the State can trial be had except in that county where the offence is committed, and if not enough of the act occurred in the county of death to enable us to say that the offence was committed there, then it has no jurisdiction, nor has any county of the State; for I construe the clause as meant to be co-extensive with all criminal acts justiciable under the power of the State. 36 W.Va. at 94, 14 S.E. at 439. Although expressing reservation with the statute's departure from common law principles fixing the sole location of trials in murder cases at the place where the fatal wound was inflicted, [27] the McNeely court upheld the constitutionality of the murder statute. In reaching the conclusion in McNeely, this Court recognized and deferred to the Legislature's authority to define the elements of a crime and then found that Article III, section 14 of the state constitution does not serve as a bar to this state enforcing such laws through its court system, even when some of the elements constituting the crime were committed in another state, as long as some significant element of the offense was committed within West Virginia. Cf. State v. Lowe, 21 W.Va. 782 (1883) (finding that a statute extending jurisdiction 100 yards beyond the county where any element of crime committed violated West Virginia Constitution Article III, § 14); State v. McAllister, 65 W.Va. 97, 63 S.E. 758 (1909) (setting aside conviction for robbery finding no element of common law robbery offense committed in West Virginia); State v. Dignan, 114 W.Va. 275, 278, 171 S.E. 527, 528 (1933) (observing that [t]he crime itself or some act or element entering into it must actually have taken place in the county where venue is laid and the trial had. It is true that certain crimes[] may take place and be committed in more than one locality, in which case venue may be laid in all or any one of such places.). The question McNeely leaves for us to answer in the case before us is: What constitutes how much of an act which must occur in West Virginia for this state to have territorial jurisdiction, that is, to assert its sovereign authority to hear and decide a criminal charge under the state's penal laws? The lower court addressed this question, although using a somewhat different phraseology. As a preface to denying Appellant's motion for acquittal based on the territorial challenge which was raised at the close of the state's case in chief, the lower court said: So the question is, as a practical matter, where is this case to be tried in a sense of fairness to everybody? The lower court explained its reasoning for denying the motion as follows: [T]here is a certain, I think, logic to taking the initial act, which is grounded in force and threats and intimidation, and then follow that through and, insofar as the evidence most favorable to the State at this point, you have nothing more than acts that build upon that threat and force and intimidation; robbery in the first degree and sexual assault in the second degree. I could see an argument that conceivably could be made, that if you had an act outside the State of West Virginia that was charged, that has absolutely nothing to do with the force and threat or intimidation, that an argument could be made that venue would not be proper on that offense in Ohio County, West Virginia. But  even though we don't have  there's not a lot of good law in West Virginia to guide us, it just  I think fundamental fairness on both sides and common sense would require a finding, that when an offense begins in Ohio County, West Virginia that is related to an act of violence or force, anything that flows from that, no matter where it would be, the venue would be proper in West Virginia  Ohio County, West Virginia. The state maintains that support for the lower court's conclusion is found in the United States Supreme Court case of United States v. Rodriguez-Moreno, 526 U.S. 275, 119 S.Ct. 1239, 143 L.Ed.2d 388 (1999). The question in Rodriguez-Moreno actually turned on the provisions of a federal venue statute [28] and involved whether a district court in New Jersey had authority to convict a person for carrying a firearm while committing an act of violence in New Jersey when the firearm was used only in the state of Maryland. The Supreme Court examined the following language of the federal statute relied upon by the government to bring the charge in the New Jersey court: Whoever, during and in relation to any crime of violence ... for which he may be prosecuted in a court of the United States, uses or carries a firearm, shall, in addition to the punishment provided for such crime of violence ... be sentenced to imprisonment for five years.... Id. at 279, 119 S.Ct. 1239 quoting 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)). The violent predicate offense in Rodriguez-Moreno happened to be kidnapping. The high court found that closer examination of the nature of the predicate offense was essential in order to give meaning to the statutory phase during and in relation to. Looking to the nature of kidnapping, the Supreme Court found that it was a continuing offense which does not end until the victim is free. The Supreme Court reasoned, Congress proscribed both the use of the firearm and the commission of acts that constitute a violent crime. It does not matter that respondent used the .357 magnum revolver, as the Government concedes, only in Maryland because he did so during and in relation to a kidnaping that was begun in Texas and continued in New York, New Jersey, and Maryland. 526 U.S. at 281, 119 S.Ct. 1239. In other words, the Supreme Court found that within the ambit of the federal statute in question the prosecution of the firearm offense could proceed in any location where prosecution for the continuing and violent offense of kidnapping might be brought. Although the lower court concluded otherwise, the same bootstrap technique is clearly not available in the present case to somehow tie the crimes of sexual assault in the second degree and robbery to the kidnapping offense in order to legitimize this state's assertion of jurisdiction. Nevertheless, we find the Supreme Court's examination of the nature of the offense as a continuing series of events somewhat relevant to our analysis and resolution of the jurisdictional issue.
As we observed earlier in this opinion, under the general premise of the common law a crime is committed in just one place so only the government of that single place would have jurisdiction to prosecute and punish the crime. Exceptions were made at common law to this single situs rule for offenses characterized as continuing such as kidnapping and larceny. 4 Wayne R. LaFave, Jerold H. Israel & Nancy J. King, Criminal Procedure § 16.1(d) (2d ed., West 1999). A continuing offense is a crime considered as transitory, on-going, or capable of repetition or continuation and as such is considered committed, and subject to prosecution, at any place where the crime was initiated, continued or completed. Id. Several states [29] have found sexual assault in the second degree, commonly referred to as forcible rape, to be a continuing offense in circumstances such as the case before us. On a whole these courts have concluded that when the elements of an offense occur sequentially, are repeated or continue over a limited span of time or constitute a single chain of events, then the offense is a continuing crime by which venue lies both in the place where the defendant caused the victim to be fearful through use of force or threats of force and the place where the defendant engaged in the prohibited sexual act. See Spoonmore v. State, 411 N.E.2d 146 (Ind.App.1980) (single chain of events establishing a basis for jurisdiction where any act occurred); State v. Redford, 242 Kan. 658, 750 P.2d 1013 (1988) (series of events which are material elements forming single crime); Moore v. Commonwealth, 523 S.W.2d 635 (Ky.1975) (initial abduction a sequential part of carrying out the purpose of having carnal knowledge of victim); People v. Slifco, 162 Mich.App. 758, 413 N.W.2d 102 (1987) (crime began where force or coercion employed even though sexual penetration occurred in another location); McKorkle v. State, 305 So.2d 361 (Miss.1974) (threat of physical violence is an element of the offense which continued until the rape was committed; State v. Gallup, 520 S.W.2d 619 (Mo.App.1975) (rape continues until all elements of the crime are completed); People v. Burgess, 107 A.D.2d 703, 484 N.Y.S.2d 58 (1985) (force as an element of the crime continued uninterrupted through the rapes and until the victims were released). Additionally, at least one state has applied similar reasoning in finding robbery to be a continuing offense when elements of the crime are committed in more than one jurisdiction. People v. Kalwa, 306 Ill.App.3d 601, 239 Ill.Dec. 726, 714 N.E.2d 1023 (1999) (robbery takes on the nature of a continuing offense when the elements of the crime occur sequentially). West Virginia Code § 61-11-12 (1969) (Repl.Vol.2000), which addresses where a crime committed in more than one county within the state may be tried, impliedly establishes a much broader category of continuing offenses than those identified as such at common law. This statute provides: When an offense is committed partly in one county and partly in one or more other counties within this State, it may be alleged that the offense was committed and the accused may be tried in any one county in which any substantial element of the offense occurred. Although this multi-venue statute is limited by its terms to actions occurring within the state, we find its underlying theory compatible with resolving jurisdictional questions arising from situations where substantial elements of an offense are committed partly within West Virginia and partly within another state or states. A significant reason for reaching this conclusion is perhaps the most obvious: to provide no incentive for criminals to elude prosecution and punishment for violating the penal laws of this state. As United States Supreme Court Justice Holmes stated in Strassheim v. Daily, 221 U.S. 280, 31 S.Ct. 558, 55 L.Ed. 735 (1911), a case involving extradition: Acts done outside a jurisdiction, but intended to produce and producing detrimental effects within it, justify a State in punishing the cause of the harm as if he had been present at the effect, if the State should succeed in getting ... [the accused] within its power.... [T]he criminal need not do within the State every act necessary to complete the crime. If he does there an overt act which is and is intended to be a material step toward accomplishing the crime, and then absents himself from the State and does the rest elsewhere, he becomes a fugitive from justice.... Id. at 285, 31 S.Ct. 558. Accordingly we hold that the offenses of sexual assault in the second degree and robbery may constitute continuing offenses for purposes of criminal prosecution within the territorial jurisdiction of the state of West Virginia. In order to be considered a continuing offense, the facts must demonstrate that at least one substantial or material element of the alleged sexual assault or robbery occurred within this state as part of a sequential chain of events. Therefore, on this basis we uphold the lower court's denial of the motion to acquit because at that stage in the proceedings the lower court was required to view the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution. Syl. Pt. 1, State v. Fischer, 158 W.Va. 72, 211 S.E.2d 666 (1974) (`Upon motion to direct a verdict for the defendant, the evidence is to be viewed in light most favorable to prosecution. It is not necessary in appraising its sufficiency that the trial court or reviewing court be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt of the guilt of the defendant; the question is whether there is substantial evidence upon which a jury might justifiably find the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.' State v. West, 153 W.Va. 325 [168 S.E.2d 716] (1969).).
When subsequently submitted to the jury, the lower court's relevant instruction treated the matter as one of venue, adhering to the standards set forth in syllabus point five of State v. Burton, 163 W.Va. 40, 254 S.E.2d 129 (1979) (The State in a criminal case may prove the venue of the crime by a preponderance of the evidence, and is not required to prove the same beyond a reasonable doubt.). The court's instruction stated: You are instructed that venue is a jurisdictional element of proof in a criminal trial. The State is permitted to prove venue by circumstantial evidence. The State need only prove venue by a preponderance of the evidence and is not required to prove venue beyond a reasonable doubt. A trial may be held and venue may be established in any jurisdiction in which a substantial element of the offense occurred. Since we have defined the issue as territorial jurisdiction rather than venue, in order to determine the adequacy of the lower court's instruction we now must consider whether the judge or jury should ultimately resolve the question of territorial jurisdiction and by what measure of proof. Jurisdiction is generally a question of law for the court to decide. However, our earlier finding in this opinion  that a challenge raised to territorial jurisdiction under these circumstances requires a finding that at least one substantial element of the crime has been committed in West Virginia  presents a question of fact which is traditionally left to the jury to decide. Syl. Pt. 2, State v. Bailey, 151 W.Va. 796, 155 S.E.2d 850 (1967) (The jury is the trier of the facts and in performing that duty it is the sole judge as to the weight of the evidence and the credibility of the witnesses.). We see no reason to depart from this practice when conflicting evidence is presented regarding where an element of the crime is committed so as to determine whether the state has the power to bring the criminal proceeding. When faced with this same question, the Supreme Court of Arizona concluded that territorial jurisdiction is a decision left for the jury when the facts are intertwined with the merits of the case [making] the jurisdictional and substantive issues ... difficult to resolve separately. State v. Willoughby, 181 Ariz. 530, 892 P.2d 1319, 1325 (1995). A goodly number of state courts have likewise held that resolution of disputed jurisdictional facts is a matter within the province of the jury. See e.g. State v. Cullen, 695 P.2d 750, 751 (Colo.App.1984); Sheeran v. State, 526 A.2d 886, 890 (Del.1987); Johnson v. State, 465 So.2d 499, 504 (Fla.1985); Conrad v. State, 262 Ind. 446, 317 N.E.2d 789, 792 (1974); State v. Liggins, 524 N.W.2d 181, 184 (Iowa 1994); State v. Baldwin, 305 A.2d 555 (Me.1973); State v. Darroch, 305 N.C. 196, 287 S.E.2d 856, 866 (1982); People v. McLaughlin, 80 N.Y.2d 466, 591 N.Y.S.2d 966, 606 N.E.2d 1357, 1359-60 (1992); Commonwealth v. Bighum, 452 Pa. 554, 307 A.2d 255, 258 (1973). Significantly few states view the adequacy of proof under these circumstances as an issue which the court solely resolves. See State v. Beverly, 224 Conn. 372, 618 A.2d 1335, 1339 (1993) (collecting four cases). Consequently, the lower court properly submitted the issue to the jury. Nevertheless, we are not convinced that territorial jurisdiction, which involves determining where an element of the crime occurred, should be decided by a mere preponderance of the evidence. A considerable number of states require jurisdictional facts must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. [30] The predominant reasons for that conclusion has been summarized by one recognized authority in the following way: Use of the beyond a reasonable doubt standard [in resolving disputed jurisdictional facts] minimizes the possibility that a defendant will be tried in one state for a crime actually committed elsewhere. Moreover, it makes it more likely that other states will afford full faith and credit to decisions regarding criminal jurisdiction, even though they are not constitutionally required to do so. There is also the practical consideration that using a lesser standard for a portion of the prosecution's case and the beyond a reasonable doubt standard for the rest would doubtless create confusion in the minds of the jurors. 1 Wayne R. LaFave & Austin W. Scott, Substantive Criminal Law § 2.7(b) at 163 (West 1986) (footnotes omitted). The profound intertwining of the jurisdictional facts with the merits of the case in these instances leads us to conclude that proof of the existence of territorial jurisdiction is the same as that required to prove the elements of the crime  proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Syl. Pt. 4, State v. Pendry, 159 W.Va. 738, 227 S.E.2d 210 (1976), overruled on other grounds by Jones v. Warden, West Virginia Penitentiary, 161 W.Va. 168, 241 S.E.2d 914 (1978) (In a criminal prosecution, the State is required to prove beyond a reasonable doubt every material element of the crime with which the defendant is charged....). In consideration of the foregoing we conclude that the judge and jury share responsibility for the ultimate determination of territorial jurisdiction in a criminal case involving controverted jurisdictional facts. The court must first determine as a matter of law whether the elemental act or consequence at the heart of the disputed evidence would be sufficient to establish jurisdiction if it occurred within the state. If sufficiency is found by the court, the matter is submitted to the jury for determination of whether the evidence demonstrates beyond a reasonable doubt that the act or consequence at issue actually occurred within the borders of the state. [31] Because territorial jurisdiction determines the power of the state to proceed in prosecution of its penal laws and its absence renders a verdict void, [32] the jury should be instructed that if the state has not carried its burden on the disputed jurisdictional evidence then a verdict of not guilty should be returned. The state argues that the evidence in this case conclusively proved that West Virginia had territorial jurisdiction of the offenses of sexual assault and robbery and the convictions should be upheld. The state specifically contends that forcible compulsion, as a material element of sexual assault, and the threat of deadly force, [33] as a material element of robbery, occurred in West Virginia when the gun was displayed to the victim and she was kidnapped. We fail to find from our review of the evidence that only one possible conclusion can be reached. While the evidence does establish that Ms. Sands was kidnapped from West Virginia and transported to Ohio, it is not clear that the abduction occurred as a result of force or threat rather than fraud or enticement. W.Va.Code § 61-2-14(a). For example, evidence that the historic relationship of the parties included violence and that a BB gun resembling a conventional handgun was found in the car could lead a jury to conclude that force was used to abduct Ms. Sands. However, the evidence that previous lunch plans had been made and that Appellant wanted to talk with Ms. Sands about court action being taken regarding the couple's child might have been viewed by the jury as a means by which Ms. Sands was enticed to leave the state with Appellant. A jury could also have found that tensions escalated and the fear necessary to return guilty verdicts for the rape and robbery crimes developed in Ohio during the five hours the couple were driving after the abduction from West Virginia and the first stop in Ohio. Based upon our holding regarding disputed evidence, resolution of whether the element of fear or other essential element of second degree sexual assault or second degree robbery occurred in West Virginia was for the jury to decide beyond a reasonable doubt. The lower court failed to take into account the dispute in the evidence and thus committed an error of law by not instructing the jury of its responsibility to determine, beyond a reasonable doubt, whether any element of the crimes of sexual assault and robbery occurred in West Virginia so as to establish territorial jurisdiction. Accordingly, the sexual assault and robbery convictions must be set aside.