Opinion ID: 1119070
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Prior Violent Conviction

Text: Kemp first argues that the State did not prove Kemp's prior California robbery conviction beyond a reasonable doubt. However, this argument is without merit because he stipulated to his previous conviction. Kemp also argues that his California robbery conviction is not a prior crime of violence against a person under A.R.S. § 13-703(F)(2). We disagree. Both the State and Kemp agree that the California statute under which Kemp was convicted requires the taking of property from a person accompanied by force or fear and defines fear as either: 1) The fear of an unlawful injury to the person or property of the person robbed.... or 2) The fear of an immediate and unlawful injury to the person or property of another in the company of the person robbed at the time of the robbery. Cal.Penal Code §§ 211 (1951) (defining robbery) & 212 (1963) (defining force or fear) (emphasis added). Kemp argues that the California statute does not satisfy the (F)(2) factor because its statutory definition does not require the use or threat of violence against a person. Robbery could be committed by threatening force against property. A prior conviction satisfies A.R.S. § 13-703(F)(2) only if it involves the use or threat of violence against a person, State v. Arnett, 119 Ariz. 38, 579 P.2d 542 (1978), according to its statutory definition, State v. Gillies, 135 Ariz. 500, 662 P.2d 1007 (1983). Extrinsic evidence explaining the prior conviction is not admissible to prove that a prior conviction involved violence against a person. State v. Romanosky, 162 Ariz. 217, 227, 782 P.2d 693, 703 (1989). We addressed the California robbery statute in State v. Correll, 148 Ariz. 468, 478-79, 715 P.2d 721, 731-32 (1986), and concluded that a robbery conviction under it satisfied (F)(2), at least where it involved the use of a firearm. Yet it was not an armed robbery conviction. The Court treated the robbery conviction as though it were armed robbery because of the sentence enhancement caused by the use of a firearm. The meaning of Correll is unclear, if the court actually determined that it was  theoretically possible to commit a robbery, with or without a weapon, under the California statute in which property, and not a person, was subjected to the threat or use of violence. Id. at 479, 715 P.2d at 732. But we do not read Correll to say that it is even theoretically possible to commit armed robbery without threatening violence against a person. The Court continued: As a practical matter `armed' robbery against the property of a victim does not occur without use or threat of violence against the person as well. Id. at 479, 715 P.2d at 732. Thus, the fact that a firearm was used necessarily involved the threat of violence. Even though it was the use of a firearm that was dispositive in Correll, we agree with the State that it is also possible to envision a non-violent robbery accomplished without a firearm. First, even though it is possible to commit robbery in California by threatening force against property, the person from whom property is being taken actually experiences the fear. Under State v. Arnett, 119 Ariz. 38, 51, 579 P.2d 542, 555 (1978), this fear is the violence. Id. (defining violence as the exertion of any physical force so as to injure or abuse.). Second, the California robbery statute requires the taking of personal property in the possession of another, from his person or immediate presence, and against his will by means of force or fear. Cal.Penal Code § 211 (1951) (emphasis added). Implicit in the California robbery statute is the danger that either the taking itself or the foreseeable resistance to the taking presents the risk of violence. This threat of violence is what makes robbery a more serious crime than larceny. And this threat of violence is the same whether the robbery is accomplished by threatening force against a person or against property. Robbery is clearly a crime against a person. It necessarily carries with it the threat or use of violence. Accordingly, Kemp's robbery conviction satisfies A.R.S. § 13-703(F)(2).