Court Opinion

ID: 9569454
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 20:13:54.719963+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T11:58:35.345581
License: Public Domain

BISTLINE, Justice,
concurring in the opinion of HUNTLEY, Justice.
The rationale of the majority opinion, as I attempt to understand it, is predicated on the ability to say that under Brusseau, where a single action of defendant subjects him to prosecution under two criminal statutes, that such differs from a course or sequence of events which also subjects him to prosecution under two criminal statutes. In other words, the majority simply plays upon the language of § 18-301 where the words “act” and “omission” are in the singular.
Conveniently or inadvertently — which of the two making little difference — the majority opinion, in setting out § 18-301, fails to provide the statute’s first seven words which are: “18-301. Acts punishable in different ways — Double jeopardy.” Clearly, the statute applies to a combination of acts as well as a single act. The statute is concerned with conduct — be it an act or a sequence of acts, an omission or omissions, or combinations of the two — which has been criminalized. The purpose of the statute is to preclude a court from imposing more than one punishment where the conduct in question has been criminalized by more than one statute.
Moreover, the cases cited by the majority for the novel rationale advanced today do not in the least sustain that rationale. The Werneth case did not at all involve § 18-301; the Horn, Daugherty, and McCormick cases did not distinguish between a course of conduct and a single solitary act. The majority clearly renders no service to the trial bench and bar by muddying up what have been clear and proper applications of § 18-301. In the Horn opinion, a footnote established the basis under which § 18-301 precludes the entry of multiple judgments of conviction, as well as multiple sentences. In that case, the opinion had first noted that “the judge sentenced Horn to ten years for robbery and imposed no sentence for the kidnapping conviction.” The footnote made the observation:
The State questions how appellant is prejudiced by a conviction of kidnapping with no punishment. The additional felony on appellant’s record is sufficient prejudice to permit appellant to bring this argument. See I.C. § 19-2514 (Idaho’s Habitual Criminal Statute). Horn, *1020supra, 101 Idaho at 196 n. 1, 610 P.2d at 555 n. 1.
Those who read today’s four opinions emanating from this Court might note that in the Horn case the observation was made that “I.C. § 18-301” has been a problem to the Court, as evidenced by the three separate opinions in State v. Brusseau ..., Horn, supra, 101 Idaho at 198, 610 P.2d at 557, Bistline, J., concurring but dissenting from the majority holding that Horn’s conduct in detaining a cab driver long enough to rob his pockets could sustain both a kidnapping and a robbery conviction.
The majority’s true concern in the instant case seems to be found in the fact that while the appeal from the kidnapping dismissal was pending, the state went to trial on the remaining charge of theft by extortion, and obtained a conviction on the lesser included offense of criminal contempt — described by the majority as being “inexplicable” state action. In Horn, 101 Idaho at 192 [610 P.2d at 551], a separate concurring opinion by Bistline, J., pointed out that on occasion “there is no reason to, and every reason not to, move so swiftly as did the prosecutors in Randolph and Brusseau.”
Justice Donaldson, in his separate Brusseau opinion, opined that: “Clearly the accused is entitled to a speedy trial ... and the state cannot be expected to wait a year and a day to determine whether an assault victim will survive his injuries.” While it is true that the Idaho courts do and will respect the constitutional and statutory right to a speedy trial, it is equally true and well-founded that there is no constitutional right to be charged, and all that the more alert prosecutor need do is keep one eye on the statute of limitations and the other on the potential defendant.
In this case, too, what was done has been done. The state, even though it objected to the trial court’s giving of the included offense instruction, nevertheless did obtain a conviction of criminal contempt. Where that conviction has never been appealed from and any appeal now being time-barred, it is “inexplicable” how today’s majority can direct the district court to vacate the conviction of criminal contempt and sentence thereon, which bizarre relief to the credit of the attorney general was not requested or mentioned.
CONCLUSION
The result achieved by the majority’s skewering around with § 18-301 is an assault on common sense and on the criminal justice system.