Opinion ID: 878068
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: the lamere appeal

Text: Issue 1. The District Court erred in allowing the State to use rebuttal witnesses at trial when the State had failed to give notice of said witnesses as required by statute. Section 46-15-301(3), MCA, requires the State, for the purpose of notice only and to prevent surprise, to furnish to the defendant and file with the clerk of the court, no later than five days before trial or at such later time as the court may for good cause permit, a list of witnesses the prosecution intends to call as rebuttal witnesses to the defense of alibi, among other defenses. Jury trial of these consolidated cases began on March 2, 1982. On the last day of trial, March 8, 1982, the State, without the notice required by section 46-15-301(3), presented rebuttal witnesses over the objection of counsel for LaMere. LaMere claims that the State was aware of these witnesses before the trial, but failed to apprise LaMere of their existence. The State contends that since the attorney for LaMere refused to inform the State of the exact nature of LaMere's alibi, (but rather, claiming lawyer-client privilege, gave only the information required by statute,) the State did not know if the information possessed by the rebuttal witnesses would be relevant until the alibi witnesses testified at trial. On Friday, March 5, 1982, LaMere's alibi witnesses testified that LaMere was in Wallace, Idaho, on October 2 and 3, 1981. The crime is alleged to have occurred on October 3. On Monday, March 8, 1982, the State notified LaMere of the rebuttal witnesses that would be presented. The State offered LaMere, through his counsel, the opportunity to talk to the rebuttal witnesses. The rebuttal witnesses were from St. James Community Hospital in Butte, and they testified that LaMere had received attention at the hospital at 10:38 p.m. on October 2, 1981. The District Court agreed with the State that until LaMere's alibi witnesses had testified, the State had no way of knowing what those witnesses would testify to, and until the testimony of the alibi witnesses, the rebuttal witnesses' testimony that LaMere was present in Butte on October 2, 1981, would not be relevant. The District Court also felt that the defense counsel were given adequate opportunity to talk to the rebuttal witnesses before they testified. On those bases, the District Court permitted the testimony of the rebuttal witnesses. The State contends on appeal that it therefore gave notice to defendant's counsel at the earliest practicable time. In the meantime, defense counsel had refused to give the State copies of statements, if any, taken from the alibi witnesses, or to divulge the nature and extent of their testimony to the State. LaMere points out that in State v. Johnson (1978), 179 Mont. 61, 585 P.2d 1328, this Court approved the limitation of testimony from the defendant's mother as to the whereabouts of the defendant during the time of the robbery, when the defendant had not given notice of an alibi defense; in McGuinn v. State (1978), 177 Mont. 215, 581 P.2d 417, this Court held that an alibi could not be relied on by the defendant since no notice of that defense was given as required by the then pertinent statute. LaMere contends that this Court has been quick to deny witnesses when the defendant has not given an alibi notice, and should be equally prompt to deny State witnesses when it fails to give the statutory notice. Finally, on this issue, LaMere contends that although the Montana statute is facially constitutional because it provides reciprocal revelation of alibi and rebuttal witnesses by the State and the defendant, the failure here of the State to give the 5-day notice has unconstitutionally deprived him of due process. LaMere bases his constitutional argument by drawing on the decision in Wardius v. Oregon (1973), 412 U.S. 470, 93 S.Ct. 2208, 37 L.Ed.2d 82. There the Supreme Court held that the due process clause of the United States Constitution forbids enforcement of alibi rules unless reciprocal discovery rights are given to the defendant. Our statute, section 46-15-301, MCA, provides for reciprocal rules as to notice, but LaMere contends that in actual practice here, and as his trial was conducted, he was deprived of his due process rights when he was not given notice of the rebuttal witnesses as provided in that section. It must be noted, however, that the statute provides for unanticipated exigencies that may arise on trial, both for the defendant and the State. Thus, both as to the State and the defendant, the court may waive the time limitations for giving notice when good cause is shown. Here the State contends that it served the defendant with a list of its intended rebuttal witnesses at the earliest opportunity. Until the alibi witnesses testified on March 5, 1982, during the trial, the State contends it had no knowledge of what the alibi witnesses would testify to concerning the whereabouts of LaMere on the contested dates. Once the alibi testimony was presented the State, then being in a position to disprove through the rebuttal witnesses that LaMere was not out of the State on the night preceding the robbery, as he contended, served the notice of its witnesses. The court ordered and the State was willing to give defense counsel an opportunity to talk to the rebuttal witnesses before they testified, but defense counsel refused the offer. No motion was made by defense for a continuance of the trial. The statute in question obviously gives discretion to the District Court to permit additions to the witness list when good cause is shown; good cause must certainly be construed to include the amendment of the witness list because of evidentiary matters developed during the presentation of the case of either party, matters which require clarification or rebuttal by that party. The District Court may permit the amendment even after the trial has commenced, State v. Klein (1976), 169 Mont. 350, 547 P.2d 75. If surprise is claimed by the other party, the proper procedure when unrevealed witnesses are added is to ask for a continuance so that preparation may be made, State v. McKenzie (1976), 171 Mont. 278, 557 P.2d 1023, but here no continuance was requested. Undoubtedly, the testimony of the rebuttal witnesses gravely affected defendant's alibi defense. The defendant had earlier refused to reveal to the State the substance of the testimony that his alibi witnesses would provide. He took a chance and his strategy failed. He was caught in a trap of his own making, and no constitutional or statutory impurity arose thereby. Issue 2. The District Court erred in not granting LaMere's motion to suppress evidence seized as part of an illegal search and by allowing the introduction of the same by the State at trial. LaMere contends that the entry into his apartment by the detective in the company of the landlord the first time, without warrant, and only by consent of the landlord, was illegal because no exigency existed which excuses the lack of a warrant; the plain view doctrine may not be invoked by a person unlawfully on the premises; and the landlord had no authority to consent to the search by the detective. Moreover, LaMere contends there was no judicial supervision, because the items seized were not returned nor inventory made of them. LaMere contends that the requirement of filing an inventory and delivering a copy to the person from whose premises the property was taken should apply not only to a search conducted without a warrant, but also to a search conducted by consent or under color of consent. See section 46-5-301, MCA. The detective went into the rental premises on October 7, 1981, in company of the landlord. The curtains had been drawn, no car was parked in front of the residence, there was no response when the landlord knocked on the door, LaMere's key was found inside, and there was garbage, including beer cans, paper sacks, empty cigarette packs, and a box spring and mattress with no bedding on it, lying on the floor. The landlord indicated that the apartment before that had always been neat and clean, and the landlord further stated that it looks like their stuff is gone. The rent was unpaid for the month of October (due October 5) and there was no evidence that LaMere came to the apartment at any time after the robbery occurred or before his arrest on November 6, 1981. Later when the detective obtained from the landlord a consent to search the apartment, he tagged the evidence and placed it in the evidence locker, but failed to bring it before a magistrate. At trial a torn piece of paper which appeared to be a map of the floor plan of the Dumas Hotel was introduced and a piece of pantyhose which may have been used as a mask during the robbery was also introduced. These are the two exhibits which LaMere claims were illegally obtained. Clearly, LaMere is not in a position to argue any infringement of his constitutional guarantees against unreasonable search and seizure in this case. He had departed the apartment at the time it was searched. His abandonment of the premises is undoubted. The defendant had disclaimed by his actions any right to object to the place being searched or the things seized. Section 46-5-103, MCA. State v. Callaghan (1964), 144 Mont. 401, 407, 396 P.2d 821, 824; Abel v. United States (1960), 362 U.S. 217, 80 S.Ct. 683, 4 L.Ed.2d 668. On abandonment by the tenant, the landlord was in possession of the apartment. He had authority under our statutes to consent to the search, section 46-5-101(2), MCA. The search was made without a warrant, but there is no statutory requirement that items seized under a consent search be inventoried and reported to a magistrate. Issue 3. The District Court erred in not considering the charge of theft as a lesser-included offense of the charge of robbery and the District Court should have dismissed one of the two counts. LaMere was charged in count I with robbery in violation of section 45-5-401(1)(b), MCA, which provides: (1) A person commits the offense of robbery if in the course of committing a theft he: ... (b) threatens to inflict bodily injury upon any person or purposely or knowingly puts any person in fear of immediate bodily injury; ... LaMere was charged in count II with theft in violation of section 45-6-301(1)(a), MCA, which states as follows: Theft. (1) A person commits the offense of theft when he purposely or knowingly obtains or exerts unauthorized control over property of the owner and: (a) has the purpose of depriving the owner of the property; The charge against LaMere also alleged that the property exceeded $150 in value which made the charge a felony. The essence of LaMere's argument on this issue is that in order to prove a robbery, the State must prove a theft, and therefore the charge of theft is a lesser-included offense within the charge of robbery. The Blockburger test ( Blockburger v. United States (1932), 284 U.S. 299, 304, 52 S.Ct. 180, 182, 76 L.Ed. 306, 309) states: The applicable rule is that, where the same act or transaction constitutes a violation of two distinct statutory provisions, the test to be applied to determine whether there are two offenses or only one is whether each provision requires proof of an additional fact which the other does not... . However, in Iannelli v. United States (1975), 420 U.S. 770, 785, fn. 17, 95 S.Ct. 1284, 1294, fn. 17, 43 L.Ed.2d 616, 627, fn. 17, the Supreme Court explained the Blockburger test saying: If each requires proof of a fact that the other does not, the Blockburger test is satisfied, notwithstanding a substantial overlap in the proof offered to establish the crimes... . Our statute, section 46-11-502(1), MCA, prevents prosecution for more than one offense, when one offense is included in the other. In State v. Ritchson (1981), Mont., 630 P.2d 234, 38 St.Rep. 1015, we considered the Blockburger rule, and determined the applicable test is whether each charge requires proof of a fact which the other does not, to determine if there is indeed a lesser-included offense. We look to the statutes and not to the facts of the individual case to make that determination. Ritchson, 630 P.2d at 237, 38 St.Rep. at 1018. In interpreting the statutes defining robbery, and the statute defining theft, we note that to prove robbery, the State's case is complete if as an element of the offense it proves either misdemeanor or felony theft. However, in order to prove felony theft, the State must prove that the value of the property taken or unlawfully controlled, exceeds the value of $150, sections 45-6-301(1)(a) and (5), MCA. There is then an additional element of proof required to convict the defendant of felony theft that is not to be required for his conviction on the charge of robbery. In that situation, the Blockburger test is met and the theft in this case is not a lesser-included offense within the charge of robbery. Issue 4. The District Court erred when it enhanced defendant's sentence under section 46-18-221, MCA. When LaMere was sentenced by the district judge, his sentence included ten years for the use of a dangerous weapon as provided in section 46-18-221, MCA. LaMere contends that since the charging document did not mention a weapon as was the case in State v. Davison (1980), Mont., 614 P.2d 489, 37 St.Rep. 1135, and since he was not given notice of any intent to seek enhancement, that his enhanced sentence was improper. In passing sentence, the district judge found from the evidence that LaMere was in possession of a firearm during the commission of the crimes, and for that gave him an additional ten year sentence to run consecutively with the other sentences imposed. While the amended information itself did not mention that LaMere used a weapon in connection with the crimes charged, the affidavit filed by the county attorney for leave to file the amended information recited that during the commission of the crime the two armed men continually had hand-weapons in their possession and threatened to use the same. Moreover, on March 2, 1982, the county attorney served defense counsel with a letter advising him that the State intended to invoke the enhancement section, section 46-18-221, MCA. In those circumstances, we find no error on the part of the District Court in utilizing the provisions of the enhancement statutes for use of weapons in determining the sentence to be imposed upon the defendant.