Court Opinion

ID: 9781450
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-30 16:38:25.249677+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:34:26.676833
License: Public Domain

Justice BURDICK
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. I believe this appeal was not timely perfected by the State and should be dismissed.
On August 15, 2002, the district court granted the motion to suppress evidence derived from the two search warrants issued in this case. On August 23, 2002, the prosecutor filed for permission to appeal pursuant to I.A.R. 12. A hearing on the motion was heard August 26. The defense objected saying this was the wrong rule to proceed under. The district court entered an order on September 11, 2002, granting the permissive appeal. The State filed a motion for permissive appeal with the Supreme Court on September 23, 2002. The Court granted the motion for permissive appeal and gave the State twenty-one days to file an appeal. The State’s notice of appeal was filed by the attorney general on November 4, 2002. Forty-two days from August 15 would have been September 26.
Idaho Appellate Rule 12(a) provides:
Permission may be granted by the Supreme Court to appeal from an interlocutory order or decree of a district court in a civil or criminal action, or from an interlocutory order of an administrative agency, which is not otherwise appealable under these rules, but which involves a controlling question of law as to which there is substantial grounds for difference of opinion and in which an immediate from the order or decree may materially advance the orderly resolution of the litigation. (Emphasis added.)
Subsection (b) of that rule sets forth the procedure to be followed in the district court to obtain approval to pursue this appeal. Subsection (c) of the rule sets forth the procedure to have the appeal, once approved by the district court, accepted by the Supreme Court. Idaho Appellate Rule 11 prescribes an appeal as a matter of right may be taken to the Supreme Court from an order granting a motion to suppress evidence. The State had a right to appeal that order granting the motion to suppress pursuant to I.A.R. 11(c)(7). Thus, the order granting Bicknell’s motion to suppress was subject to appeal as a matter of right and distinct from other interlocutory orders that must be appealed with permission pursuant to I.A.R. 12. Moreover, the language of Rule 12 expressly provides for appeals from orders not otherwise appealable under these rules.
An appeal authorized by I.A.R. 11(c)(7) must be perfected by filing a notice of appeal within forty-two days from the date of the court’s order suppressing the evidence obtained during the execution of the search warrant. I.A.R. 14(a). Richardson v. $4543.00 U.S. Currency, 120 Idaho 220, 814 P.2d 952 (Ct.App.1991). The analysis in State v. Alanis 109 Idaho 884, 712 P.2d 585 (1985), as quoted in State v. Schwarz, 133 Idaho 463, 988 P.2d 689 (1999), is misleading. Alanis was originally before the Court on the issue of whether or not the trial court abused its discretion in considering a motion to suppress which was not timely filed pursuant to Idaho Criminal Rule 12.
The defendant, Linda Mae Alanis was arrested for first-degree murder. She was subsequently charged with first-degree murder, and a trial date of January 6, 1984, was finally set. The Friday before the Monday trial setting, the defendant filed a motion to suppress the taped interrogations conducted by the police during her initial detention. The hearing on the motion to suppress was scheduled for 9:00 a.m. on July 9, 1984. The *206trial was scheduled to start on that same day at 1:30 pm. At the hearing the State objected to the motion on grounds it was untimely pursuant to I.C.R. 12(d). The district judge refused the State’s request to continue the trial, however, the court did adjourn further argument until the following day at trial. In the meantime, the court proceeded with the trial at 1:30 on the 9th of January, 1984, and the jury was selected and sworn. On January 10, 1984, after further oral argument outside the hearing of the jury, the court granted the motion to suppress. The jury was recalled into the courtroom, and the State was requested to proceed. The State replied it could not continue with the presentation of its case without the suppressed evidence. The State gave notice it would pursue an appeal of the court’s order granting the motion to suppress pursuant to I.A.R. 11(c)(4) (now I.A.R. 11(c)(7)). Defense counsel moved for dismissal with prejudice, which was immediately granted by the court, and the defendant was acquitted of all charges. The State subsequently appealed. Justice Bakes, writing with the concurrence of Justice Shepherd, ruled that the order of acquittal is not appealable under I.A.R. 11(e), the order suppressing the statements made by Alanis is expressly made appealable by I.A.R. 11(c), which provides that an appeal as a matter of right may be taken to the Supreme Court from____an order granting a motion to suppress evidence. The rule does not qualify or condition this right of appeal upon a subsequent entry of final judgment of conviction, nor does it state that such an appeal must be taken immediately upon entry of the order granting the motion. 109 Idaho at 887, 712 P.2d at 588. As a result, Justice Bakes reasoned that the State’s appeal was properly taken from an order suppressing evidence. However, Justice Donaldson concurring in part, dissenting in part and specially concurring, ruled there are no grounds for appellate review of this criminal proceeding under I.A.R. 11(c). 109 Idaho at 888, 712 P.2d at 589. Justice Donaldson subsequently allowed the case to be heard pursuant to the special plenary powers of the Court under Article V, § 9 of the Idaho Constitution. Id.
There were dissents by Justice Huntley and Justice Bistline. Both dissented on the ground that the acquittal was not appealable pursuant to I.A.R. 11(c). Id. at 889, 893, 712 P.2d at 590, 594. Both argued that the appeal made pursuant to provisions of I.A.R. 11(c)(4) could not be heard where an acquittal had been entered. Id. That is consistent with the ruling in State v. Schwarz, supra. In Schwarz, the district court granted an order suppressing evidence on June 22,1998. Subsequent to that order, the defendant, Schwarz, filed a motion to dismiss based upon the motion to suppress. The district court orally granted the motion to dismiss on July 2, 1998, at approximately 11:00 a.m. On that same day, at 1:10 p.m., the State filed a notice of appeal from the district court’s suppression motion. Subsequently, at 4:53 p.m., a proposed order of dismissal was filed by Schwarz, which the district court signed. Justice Schroeder, writing for the Court held that the Supreme Court had jurisdiction to consider the appeal because the State had the right to appeal the order to suppress pursuant to Rule 11(c), and the filing of the appeal had the effect of staying the proceedings before the district court, pursuant to I.A.R. 13(c). 133 Idaho at 466, 988 P.2d at 691.
The time for filing appeals, as provided by I.A.R. 14(a) is terminated only by motions cognizable under the civil or criminal rules of procedure. See State v. Nelson, 104 Idaho 430, 659 P.2d 783 (Ct.App.1983). In Nelson, the State lost a suppression motion in the district court. Instead of filing a notice of appeal, the State filed a motion for reconsideration of the suppression order in the district court. The Court of Appeals concluded that the motion for reconsideration was not an appropriate filing under the Criminal Rules and, therefore the time for filing a notice of appeal from the suppression order continued to run. Id., at 431, 659 P.2d at 784. Specifically, the Court of Appeals held the time for filing appeals, as provided by I.A.R. 14(a), is terminated only by motions cognizable under civil or criminal rules of procedure. Id. Because no motion for reconsideration existed in the civil or criminal rules at that time, the appeal properly filed *207under I.A.R. 11(c) was in fact untimely under I.A.R. 14(a).
In conclusion, the State but not the defendant, may appeal from an order suppressing evidence pursuant to I.A.R. (c)(7). That appeal must be filed within forty-two days from the date of the suppression order. I.A.R. 12 also allows for an interlocutory appeal in the extraordinary case. The appeal under I.A.R. 12 is limited to an interlocutory order of the district court in a civil or criminal case which is not otherwise appealable under these rules. An order granting suppression is an interlocutory order appealable as a matter of right under I.A.R. 11(c). The State has failed to properly perfect its appeal in this ease, and the appeal should be dismissed.