Opinion ID: 883736
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Did the District Court err in convicting Black of sexual assault?

Text: Black advances three fundamental challenges to his conviction of the offense of sexual assault. First, he argues that the District Court was without authority to convict him of an offense with which he was not charged. Second, he asserts that the charging document was insufficient to serve as the basis for a conviction of the offense of sexual assault. Finally, he contends that his constitutional due process rights were violated by the conviction for sexual assault. We note at the outset that the issue of whether sexual assault is a lesser included offense of sexual intercourse without consent is not before us in this case. Black did not raise the issue in the District Court. Moreover, while he makes a passing reference to the existence of the issue in his opening brief on appeal, that brief contains neither argument nor legal authority relating to the issue, as required by Rule 23(a)(4), M.R.App.P. Indeed, the entirety of Black's argument in his opening brief relating to the court's authority to convict him of an uncharged offense is premised upon sexual assault being a lesser included offense of sexual intercourse without consent. It is only in his reply brief that Black argues that sexual assault is not a lesser included offense of sexual intercourse without consent. Furthermore, unlike cases such as State v. Voegele (1990), 243 Mont. 222, 793 P.2d 832, the parties to this case have not raised or argued the plain error doctrine, in either its statutory or judicially-created form, insofar as that doctrine might provide a basis for our consideration of the issue. Under these circumstances, that issue is not properly before us and we specifically do not address it here. Instead, we assume for purposes of this opinion that sexual assault is a lesser included offense of sexual intercourse without consent.