State v. Caudill
| Decision Date | 15 March 1985 |
| Docket Number | No. 14727,14727 |
| Citation | 706 P.2d 456,109 Idaho 222 |
| Parties | STATE of Idaho, Plaintiff-Respondent, Cross-Appellant, v. William B. CAUDILL, Defendant-Appellant, Cross-Respondent. |
| Court | Idaho Supreme Court |
Scott Bean and William Caudill were jointly tried for the October 28, 1981 murder of Neal Walker in Idaho Falls. Both were convicted of first degree murder. Bean was sentenced to a fixed term of life imprisonment, and Caudill was sentenced to an indeterminate term of life imprisonment.
Evidence adduced at trial established that for a time before the murder, Caudill and Bean associated with a group of individuals, at least some of whom were involved with illegal drugs. Members of the group testified to conversations among Caudill, Bean and others in which Caudill and Bean discussed their concern that the victim Walker, was a "narc" and whether he should be killed.
There was testimony to the effect that Caudill, Bean and others drove around looking for Walker with the intent to kill him on two separate occasions prior to the date of the murder.
Caudill told members of the group that he had lured Walker to Kevin Nield's apartment and that he and Bean had stabbed Walker to death. In addition to the admissions separately attributable to Caudill, he and Bean jointly described the murder to other people. Caudill and Bean acted out the murder plan for one witness shortly before the murder.
Upon Nield's return to his apartment, Bean told Nield that he and Caudill had "wasted" Walker.
Witnesses testified that Caudill showed them Walker's body in the bathtub.
In a warranted search of Nield's apartment, police and forensics investigators found a shotgun, three knives, and numerous traces of Type A blood on the gun, the walls, the floor, the mattress cover, the bathtub, tiles on the bathroom floor and on the stairwell. The gun belonged to Bean. Walker's clothing was soaked with Type A blood. Caudill also has Type A blood but had no bleeding injuries. A rug had been removed from the bedroom floor. Walker's body was found wrapped in a rug, together with articles of bloodstained clothing which fit the description of clothing Bean had been wearing earlier that day. Bean arrived at his mother's home that evening wearing someone else's pants. Caudill admitted ownership of a second pair of blood-stained pants which were found wrapped with the body.
Bean spontaneously admitted the killing at the time of his arrest.
At trial, Caudill admitted that he had induced Walker to come to the apartment and that he had been present at the time of the murder. He claimed that he had intended only to rob Walker in order to return money Walker had allegedly taken from Caudill's friends. He also asserted that he had not slashed or stabbed Walker, but had only "poked" him slightly. According to Caudill, Bean was the real killer, and he, Caudill, had been surprised when Bean stabbed Walker. Caudill testified that the witnesses against him had misinterpreted his words or were lying.
After a sentencing hearing, the district court found that the murder occurred during a robbery and was accompanied by a specific intent to kill which is an aggravating factor. The court rejected aggravating factor, I.C. § 19-2515(f)(6), (see footnote 2, infra) that the murder exhibited utter disregard for human life, because this factor required "the exclusion of all other standards."
The sentencing judge found several mitigating factors, including Caudill's youthful age, prior nonviolent nature, lack of prior criminal record, potential for rehabilitation, and remorse. The final mitigating factor found was the fact that the victim, together with the defendant, was engaged in the illegal delivery and use of drugs.
Caudill appeals his conviction, alleging that the trial court erred in failing to sever his trial from that of his co-defendant and in admitting photographs of the victim into evidence. Caudill claims that the trial court erroneously denied his motion for a change of venue and failed to properly instruct the jury. He further argues that he was denied the right of confrontation and that the evidence adduced at trial was insufficient to support the verdict. The State of Idaho cross-appeals arguing that the trial court erred in considering the victim's prior criminal conduct to be a mitigating factor and in concluding that I.C. § 19-2515(f)(6), describing an aggravating factor, was not applicable.
We first address Caudill's contention that his joint trial with Bean constituted reversible error. Specifically, Caudill argues that he was denied his Sixth Amendment right to confront Bean whose extrajudicial confession implicating both men was admitted into evidence, that he and Bean had antagonistic defenses and that the jury could have found him guilty by association with Bean. We discuss each point in turn.
Caudill testified at the joint trial; Bean did not. One witness, an Officer Hagen, testified to a conversation which had taken place between Bean and an Officer Ericsson at the time Bean was arrested. Hagen stated, Hagen also testified, This testimony, which clearly implicated Caudill, was elicited on direct examination by Caudill's own counsel; it was not introduced by the prosecution.
As a result of the admission of this testimony, Caudill claims that he was denied the right to confront an accomplice since Bean did not testify at the joint trial. In support of this proposition, he relies upon Bruton v. United States, 391 U.S. 123, 88 S.Ct. 1620, 20 L.Ed.2d 476 (1968). In Bruton, in a joint trial of the petitioner and his accomplice, the prosecutor introduced the accomplice's confession into evidence through the testimony of a postal inspector. The accomplice did not testify. The confession explicitly incriminated the petitioner. He objected, claiming a denial of confrontation. The district court cautioned the jury that the confession was admissible only against the accomplice. The court of appeals affirmed. On certiorari, the Supreme Court reversed. It found a denial of the right of confrontation notwithstanding the trial court's cautionary jury instruction.
In response, the state argues that the Bruton rule does not apply to the admission in a joint trial of extrajudicial statements of a non-testifying co-defendant which are admissible against the defendant by the operation of some rule of evidence such as an exception to the hearsay rule. In making this assertion, however, the state paints with too broad a brush. The hearsay rule and the confrontation clause of the Sixth Amendment cannot be equated. Dutton v. Evans, 400 U.S. 74, 91 S.Ct. 210, 27 L.Ed.2d 213 (1970). In Bruton, the Court held that, quite apart from the law of evidence, " a cautionary instruction to the jury is not an adequate protection for the defendant where the co-defendant does not take the witness stand." Nelson v. O'Neil, 402 U.S. 622, 91 S.Ct. 1726, 29 L.Ed.2d 222 (1971). Even were we to assume that the state's reading of Bruton is accurate, the record does not support the state's contention that Bean's confession would be admissible against Caudill under the co-conspirator exception to the hearsay rule which provides that where a conspiracy to commit a crime has been established, each declaration of any of the conspirators, during the pendency of the criminal enterprise, in pursuance of the original plan and with reference to the common object, is competent evidence against each of them. See G. Bell, Handbook of Evidence for the Idaho Lawyer, 172-173 (2d ed. 1972); State v. Brooks, 103 Idaho 892, 655 P.2d 99 (1983 Ct.App.) It is not necessary that a formal charge of conspiracy be made against co-conspirators before this exception applies, but is necessary that there be some evidence of conspiracy or promise of its production before the court can admit evidence of statements made in furtherance of the conspiracy. State v. Brooks, supra.
We are satisfied that the prosecution established a prima facie showing of a conspiracy; however, the record does not establish that the statement here objected to was made in furtherance of the conspiracy; on the contrary, it was made after the crime had been completed and at a time when the accomplice had "come clean." Clearly, Bean was not, at the time he made his confession, attempting to further conceal the crime or to obstruct justice. Since his confession and accompanying statement implicating Caudill were not made until after the conspiracy terminated, they were not properly admitted under the co-conspirator exception to the hearsay rule.
Although under Bruton this error would appear to compel reversal, we will not reverse for the reason that one may not successfully complain of errors one has consented to or acquiesced in. In other words, invited errors are not reversible. State v. Owsley, 105 Idaho 836, 673 P.2d 436 (1983). In the instant case the prosecution did not introduce the extrajudicial statement or elicit the testimony to which Caudill now objects, rather Caudill's own counsel elicited the testimony. If we were to reverse this case we would in effect be inviting defense counsel to turn all joint trials into reversible trials by simply eliciting constitutionally impermissible hearsay on direct examination. This we decline to do.
Caudill next asserts that his defense and that of his co-defendant were...
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State v. Shackelford, Docket No. 27966 (Idaho 1/20/2010)
...of the conspiracy because the co-conspirator was not "attempting to further conceal the crime or to obstruct justice." 109 Idaho 222, 226, 706 P.2d 456, 460 (1985). During the trial, Dorothy Cox testified that Sonja told her "we're going to burn her house down."7 Judy Foster also testified ......
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State v. Adamcik
...the detective had previously had with the Caudill's codefendant violated Caudill's Sixth Amendment right of confrontation. 109 Idaho 222, 225, 706 P.2d 456, 459 (1985). This Court found that, although the testimony in question would have constituted a violation of Caudill's right to confron......
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State v. Shackelford
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...the detective had previously had with the Caudill's codefendant violated Caudill's Sixth Amendment right of confrontation. 109 Idaho 222, 225, 706 P.2d 456, 459 (1985). This Court found that, although the testimony in question would have constituted a violation of Caudill's right to confron......