Justia Criminal Law Opinion Summaries

Tomas Daniel Garcia-Ongay appealed his conviction for lewd conduct with a minor under the age of sixteen. After Garcia-Ongay’s conviction, the Jury Commissioner informed the district court of his concerns that a juror in the trial had expressed clear racial bias when he was summoned for jury duty. In light of this information, Garcia-Ongay moved for a new trial and requested that the district court grant permission for him to investigate whether racial animus tainted the jury’s deliberations. The district court denied the motion and the accompanying request. On appeal, Garcia-Ongay contended the district court abused its discretion in denying his request for further investigation, arguing that the United States Supreme Court’s holding in Peña-Rodriguez v. Colorado, 137 S. Ct. 855 (2017), permitted such an inquiry. To this, the Idaho Supreme Court agreed: the district court abused its discretion in denying Garcia-Ongay’s request for post-trial juror contact because good cause existed to suggest that racial animus could have tainted the jury’s deliberations. Accordingly, the case was remanded to allow Garcia-Ongay to interview Juror #9 and, in the discretion of the district court, contact the other jurors to investigate whether racial prejudice infected their deliberations. View "Idaho v. Garcia-Ongay" on Justia Law

Daisha Maloney appealed her conviction for possession of methamphetamine. An officer with the Twin Falls Police Department stopped the car Maloney was driving after determining that the vehicle’s registration had expired. During this traffic stop, the officer asked if Maloney would consent to a search of the vehicle. She agreed. As Maloney and her passenger exited the vehicle, Maloney took her purse with her. The search of the vehicle yielded a “one-hitter” marijuana pipe which contained residue. The officer told Maloney he needed to search her purse, which was no longer in the car, based on what had been discovered in the vehicle. The officer found two pipes containing white crystal residue. Maloney was thereafter charged with possession of methamphetamine. Maloney moved to suppress the evidence found in her purse, which the State opposed by arguing that the automobile exception to the warrant requirement applied. Maloney contended that the automobile exception only applied to containers inside the vehicle once probable cause arose, and did not extend to her purse, which was outside the vehicle when the officers found the marijuana pipe. The district court agreed with the State that the automobile exception applied and denied Maloney’s motion. Maloney then entered a conditional guilty plea reserving her ability to appeal the suppression issue, and after judgment was entered, she filed a timely appeal. The Idaho Supreme Court reversed: once probable cause develops such that the automobile exception applies, officers may search accordingly. However, unless probable cause to search a vehicle has developed before a container is removed from the vehicle, an officer may not rely on the automobile exception to search that container. Because the State has relied exclusively on the automobile exception to justify the search of Maloney’s purse, the district court erred in denying Maloney’s motion to suppress. View "Idaho v. Maloney" on Justia Law

Edward Lee Gardner appealed after a jury found him guilty of the sexual exploitation of children over the internet. Over the span of a year, the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (“ICAC”) received downloads of suspected child pornography from an internet protocol (“IP”) address associated with Gardner’s home. ICAC executed a search warrant and discovered that Gardner was in possession of 771 images and 10 videos of child pornography. The State charged Gardner with eight counts of willfully possessing or accessing sexually exploitative material of a child, and two counts of knowingly distributing sexually exploitative material of a child. Gardner pleaded not guilty and requested a jury trial. After a three-day trial, the jury found Gardner guilty on all 10 counts. Gardner petitioned the Idaho Supreme Court to ask that his convictions be vacated and that he receive a new trial under several theories. Finding no reversible error, the Supreme Court affirmed Gardner's conviction. View "Idaho v. Gardner" on Justia Law

Melissa Kay Foeller appealed a district court’s order of restitution following her guilty pleas to two counts of grand theft and one count of tax evasion. She signed a plea agreement that stipulated she would pay restitution, as determined by the district court, in accordance with Idaho Code section 19-5304. On appeal, Foeller argued the district court erred in ordering her to pay $535,952.87 in restitution to Travelers Casualty, her employer’s insurer, because the court failed to adequately consider her foreseeable ability to pay that amount. Additionally, Foeller argued the district court abused its discretion in ordering her to pay $48,775 as restitution for back taxes to the Idaho State Tax Commission. Foeller claimed the restitution amount was impermissibly speculative because it was based on an estimate of her back taxes. Foeller also claimed that taxes owed to the State of Idaho were future revenue, not compensable as an economic loss under section 19-5304(1)(a). Finding no reversible error, the Idaho Supreme Court affirmed the district court's order. View "Idaho v. Foeller" on Justia Law

William Hale, II, appealed after he was convicted on two counts of felony possession of a controlled substance and one count of possession of drug paraphernalia. After a drug-detecting dog alerted on the car Hale had been driving, law enforcement conducted a warrantless search of the vehicle, discovering various controlled substances and drug paraphernalia. Hale moved to suppress the evidence resulting from the search, arguing that the responding officer had impermissibly prolonged the stop while waiting for the drug-detecting dog by inquiring about Hale’s permission to operate the vehicle. The district court denied Hale’s motion, reasoning that the officer’s questions were within the permissible scope of the traffic stop. The Court of Appeals affirmed, concluding that the questions regarding Hale’s permission to operate the vehicle comported with the Fourth Amendment. Finding no reversible error in the district court decision, the Idaho Supreme Court affirmed judgment. View "Idaho v. Hale" on Justia Law

Thomas Cartwright his conviction for felony enticing a child through the use of the internet. Police arrested Cartwright outside a 7-11 convenience store, where he was attempting to meet a 14-year-old girl with whom he had been exchanging sexual messages. In reality, the girl was an undercover detective. Cartwright argued on appeal the district court erred when it denied his motion to dismiss because Idaho Code section 18- 1509A was unconstitutionally overbroad on its face. Cartwright also argued the district court erred when it refused to instruct the jury on entrapment. Finding no reversible error, the Idaho Supreme Court affirmed. View "Idaho v. Cartwright" on Justia Law

Justin Lee Anderson appealed his convictions for lewd and lascivious conduct with a minor under the age of sixteen, sexual abuse of a child under the age of sixteen, and multiple counts of sexual exploitation of a child. He challenged the district court’s denial of his motion to sever, admission of Rule 404(b) evidence against him, and delivery of a jury instruction on deliberation that varied from the standard instruction. After review, the Idaho Supreme Court affirmed the district court’s denial of Anderson’s motion to sever but reversed the district court’s evidentiary rulings with respect to admitting Rule 404(b) evidence against Anderson. The errors in admitting this evidence were not harmless, and, as such, the Court vacated Anderson’s judgment of conviction and remanded this matter for a new trial. View "Idaho v. Anderson" on Justia Law

During a traffic stop, police confiscated a pipe, a bong, and some marijuana possessed by defendant-appellant Richard Heath. Heath was charged with misdemeanor possession of marijuana and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia. Heath moved to suppress the pipe and bong as evidence against him and the magistrate court granted the motion. Heath also moved for the return the pipe and the bong under Idaho Criminal Rule 41(f), but the magistrate court denied the motion after holding that the pipe and bong were contraband. Heath appealed the denial of his motion to the district court, which affirmed. Finding no reversible error, the Idaho Supreme Court also affirmed. View "Idaho v. Heath" on Justia Law

Defendant-respondent Dale Sutterfield stole a cell phone owned by a restaurant in Garden City, Idaho. A restaurant employee and his co-worker confronted Sutterfield, recovered the cell phone, and subsequently contacted the Garden City police for assistance. After the police arrived, the restaurant employee signed an affidavit and citizen’s arrest form. The police arrested Sutterfield for petit theft and conducted a search incident to arrest. During their search, the police found a small quantity of methamphetamine. Sutterfield was also arrested for felony possession of a controlled substance. Sutterfield moved to suppress the methamphetamine evidence, asserting his arrest and the search incident to that arrest violated his rights under the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article I, Section 17 of the Idaho Constitution. After determining that Sutterfield had been arrested by a peace officer for a completed misdemeanor that occurred outside of the officer’s presence in violation of the Idaho Constitution, the district court granted Sutterfield’s motion to suppress. The district court dismissed the felony count of possession of a controlled substance, and Sutterfield pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor count of petit theft. The State timely appealed dismissal of the felony charge. The Idaho Supreme Court reversed, finding that the citizen’s arrest did not offend the Idaho Constitution, and defendant's arrest was not one by a peace officer for a completed misdemeanor that occurred outside of the officer’s presence. Therefore, the Court held the search-incident-to-an-arrest exception applied. Police were not precluded from conducting a warrantless search of Sutterfield after placing him under citizen’s arrest. Moreover, the evidence obtained by the officer during the search incident to the citizen’s arrest was not subject to the exclusionary rule. Therefore, the district court erred when it granted Sutterfield’s motion to suppress. View "Idaho v. Sutterfield" on Justia Law

While responding to a call regarding an ongoing robbery at a mobile home park in Grangeville, Idaho, officers with the Grangeville Police Department interacted with defendant-appellant William Clark. Upon learning that Clark had an outstanding warrant for his arrest in Nez Perce County, Idaho, the officers attempted to arrest him. Clark fled, first entering a nearby home where the owner of the home implored him to leave. After exiting the first home, Clark entered the home next door, successfully evading the officers for approximately ten minutes. The officers eventually located Clark, hiding underneath a bed in the second home, where he was arrested. After a bench trial, the district court found Clark guilty on both counts of felony unlawful entry, concluding that the officers’ pursuit to execute the arrest warrant constituted “fresh pursuit” as defined in Idaho Code section 19-705. Clark appealed, arguing that pursuit to execute an outstanding warrant did not fall under either the common law or statutory definition of “fresh pursuit.” As a result, Clark argued the State failed to present sufficient evidence of the pursuit element for felony unlawful entry. Finding that "fresh pursuit," as defined in section 19-705 included pursuit to execute an arrest warrant, the Idaho Supreme Court affirmed Clark's conviction. View "Idaho v. Clark" on Justia Law