Jaeger v. State
| Decision Date | 20 November 1997 |
| Docket Number | No. 26944,26944 |
| Citation | 113 Nev. 1275,948 P.2d 1185 |
| Parties | John JAEGER, Appellant, v. The STATE of Nevada, Respondent. |
| Court | Nevada Supreme Court |
Appellant John Jaeger was convicted of grand larceny, given a seven year suspended prison sentence, and placed on probation for a period not to exceed five years. A probation revocation hearing was conducted after Jaeger allegedly tested positive for methamphetamine usage, and Jaeger's probation was revoked. Jaeger argues that the district court erred by quashing his subpoena prior to the hearing, by not requiring the prosecution to call as witnesses the people who conducted the laboratory analysis of his urine samples, and by considering his community service obligations when deciding to revoke his probation.
We conclude that Jaeger's arguments lack merit, and we therefore affirm the district court's order.
On March 1, 1990, Jaeger took his paycheck to the Carson Station Casino after he got off work. While at the Carson Station Casino, he got drunk and gambled away his entire paycheck. Jaeger was ashamed to go home to his wife and children with no money, so he stole the purse of an eighty-five-year-old woman, knocking her down in the process. Jaeger was arrested that night and shortly thereafter admitted to committing the crime.
On April 17, 1990, Jaeger pleaded guilty to one count of grand larceny. Because of Jaeger's lack of a prior criminal record, supportive family environment, and desire to remain sober, the Department of Parole and Probation recommended probation. On May 22, 1990, the trial judge sentenced Jaeger to a term of seven years in prison, suspended that sentence, and placed Jaeger on probation for a period not to exceed five years. As a condition of probation, Jaeger agreed to submit to random, warrantless searches by Parole and Probation officers for the presence of alcohol, and this condition included chemical testing. Additionally, Jaeger agreed to serve 300 hours of community service, submit to substance abuse evaluation, and if necessary, submit to substance abuse counseling.
On November 28, 1990, the Department of Parole and Probation filed an incident report concerning Jaeger. The report stated that in late November 1990 Jaeger had twice been seen by a sheriff's detective consuming alcohol in a bar. The report also stated that an officer of the Department of Parole and Probation had seen Jaeger drinking alcohol once in August 1990 and once in October 1990. No action was taken against Jaeger.
On October 2, 1991, the Department of Parole and Probation filed a probation violation report. The report indicated that Jaeger had been arrested for a DUI on September 30, 1991, after his breath test showed a .18 percent blood alcohol content. The report also indicated that since being placed on probation, Jaeger had repeatedly failed to follow the conditions of his probation in that he had completed only forty hours of community service in seventeen months and had not attended counseling. On November 14, 1991 a probation revocation hearing was held. After admitting to all the probation violations, Jaeger was placed on house arrest for ninety days, and his probation was reinstated.
On February 16, 1994, the Department of Parole and Probation filed a second probation violation report. The report stated the following allegations: (1) on January 17, 1994, Jaeger was arrested on one count of being an ex-felon in possession of a firearm, but that case was dismissed; (2) on January 27, 1994, Jaeger had taken a urine test and tested positive for methamphetamine; (3) Jaeger had been in the company of a person with a known criminal record; and (4) Jaeger had continually failed to perform his community service work. Based on this report, on February 17, 1994, a bench warrant was issued for Jaeger's arrest. On February 25, 1994, Jaeger was arrested. A probation revocation hearing was set for March 22, 1994.
Sometime between Jaeger's arrest and the probation revocation hearing, Parole and Probation officers and Tri-Net officers conducted a search of Jaeger's home. Julie Jaeger, Jaeger's wife, testified as follows regarding the search. She was sleeping on the couch when the officers came through the door. A female Parole and Probation officer performed a full strip/body cavity search on her. The officers took the three children, ages five, four, and one, and attempted to search them, but the children were taken by a neighbor before the police could perform the search. The search yielded a small amount of marijuana. Mrs. Jaeger was arrested for possession of marijuana; however the charges were later dismissed. The Jaegers filed a complaint with the Department of Motor Vehicles, Internal Affairs Unit concerning the search, and an investigation ensued. Jaeger was unsuccessful in his various attempts to obtain the results of that investigation.
On March 22, 1994, a hearing was held regarding the second probation violation report. Jaeger admitted to the charges in the report. He also stated that he had completed 136 hours of his community service obligation. At the conclusion of the hearing, the judge reinstated Jaeger's probation, added extensive supervision requirements, and ordered Jaeger to work toward completing his community service requirements whenever he was not otherwise employed.
On January 5, 1995, the Department of Parole and Probation filed a third probation violation report. The report stated that on December 4, 1994, Jaeger had been arrested for child endangerment after leaving his five-year-old son unattended in a car for approximately one and one-half to two hours with a razor knife on the seat and a "dagger" stuck into the dashboard. Jaeger also had failed to pay traffic fines for driving on a suspended license and had refused to comply with a court ordered substance abuse counseling program. Additionally, the report stated that Jaeger tested positive for methamphetamine on December 22 and 29, 1994. This time Jaeger denied the allegations, and a third revocation hearing was set.
Prior to the revocation hearing, Jaeger subpoenaed Investigator Dan Luke ("Luke") of the Department of Motor Vehicles and Public Safety, Internal Affairs Unit, requesting production of the case file concerning the search of the Jaegers' house, including the final investigation report. According to Jaeger, the file was necessary to prove his defense theory that the Department of Parole and Probation had fabricated the December drug test results in retaliation for Jaeger's attempts to expose the criticism of the Parole and Probation employees presumably contained in the investigation report. The prosecutor filed a motion to quash the subpoena based on the fact that producing such information would be unreasonably burdensome and also that the information was confidential. The judge granted the motion to quash, stating that the investigation report was not relevant to the issue of whether Jaeger tested positive for drug use.
At the revocation hearing commenced on March 10, 1995, Laura Alvarez, Jaeger's probation officer, provided the bulk of the testimony against Jaeger. She testified that Jaeger had tested positive for methamphetamine use, and Jaeger objected to this testimony on the grounds that Alvarez had no personal knowledge of the actual testing procedures employed by the laboratory technicians, could testify only as to the drug testing procedures recommended by the Department of Parole and Probation, and was merely supplying a hearsay account of the test results. Jaeger's counsel argued that permitting Alvarez to testify deprived Jaeger of the right to confront those who had conducted the drug tests. Jaeger's counsel further argued that she needed to question those who had conducted the drug tests in order to prove that the results of those tests had been fabricated. The court overruled the objections, stating that the right to confront witnesses applies in the guilt phase but does not apply to probation proceedings and that Alvarez's testimony constituted reliable hearsay.
Alvarez stated that the December 22, 1994 urine sample was tested by the Department of Parole and Probation on December 28, 1994, and that the results showed the sample tested positive for methamphetamine. She then stated that the sample was sent to an independent laboratory for confirmation, and again, the sample tested positive for methamphetamine. On December 29, 1994, the Department of Parole and Probation collected and tested another urine sample, and again, the sample tested positive for methamphetamine. Alvarez testified as to how the drug tests were normally conducted, but she did not personally conduct the drug tests at issue, was not present when the tests were conducted, and therefore could not state that the laboratory technicians followed the normal, recommended procedures. Prompted by questions from the district judge, Alvarez stated that Jaeger still needed to complete 100 hours of his community service obligation. Finally, she testified that Jaeger had failed to complete substance abuse counseling and exhibited a general lack of cooperation with regard to his probation requirements.
The district judge concluded that Jaeger violated the terms and conditions of his probation. Specifically, the district judge found that Jaeger had "test[ed] dirty for controlled substances," failed to cooperate with his Parole and Probation officer, and failed to complete his community service obligation. After making these findings, the court revoked Jaeger's probation just two months before the probationary period was scheduled to end and sentenced Jaeger to serve his entire seven year...
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