Mainville v. State, 5177

• Decision Date: 27 February 1980
• Docket Number: No. 5177,5177
• Parties: Paul Donald MAINVILLE, a/k/a Robert Johnson, Appellant (Defendant), v. The STATE of Wyoming, Appellee (Plaintiff).
• Court: Wyoming Supreme Court

Page 339

607 P.2d 339

Paul Donald MAINVILLE, a/k/a Robert Johnson, Appellant (Defendant), v. The STATE of Wyoming, Appellee (Plaintiff).

No. 5177.

Supreme Court of Wyoming.

Feb. 27, 1980.

Richard H. Honaker, Public Defender, Cheyenne, Gerald M. Gallivan, Director, Wyoming Defender Aid Program, Laramie, and Michael N. Deegan, Student Intern, Wyoming Defender Aid Program (argued), for appellant.

John D. Troughton, Atty. Gen., Gerald A. Stack, Deputy Atty. Gen., and Gay Vanderpoel, Asst. Atty. Gen. (argued), for appellee.

Before RAPER, C. J., and McCLINTOCK, THOMAS, ROSE, and ROONEY, JJ.

RAPER, Chief Justice.

The defendant-appellant, Paul Donald Mainville, was found guilty by a jury on March 22, 1979 ¹ of aggravated burglary ² and assault and battery. ³ He was sentenced by District Judge W. J. Nicholas to a term of eight years in the Wyoming State Penitentiary with a stipulation in the judgment and sentence that appellant not be eligible for parole until he had served at least five years of that sentence. The district court also imposed a $1,000 fine.

Appellant asserts two issues:

(1) There is not sufficient evidence to support the jury's verdict of guilty of aggravated burglary;

(2) The district court's instructions on the nature of specific and general intent and on the effect of intoxication, vis-a-vis specific intent, were incorrect and mislead and confused the jury.

We will affirm the judgment of the district court.

The facts of this case are that the appellant and a male friend apparently began drinking while they were at work washing dishes at Jackson Lake Lodge. They finished work sometime before midnight and then went to the employees' bar at the lodge and drank beer until it closed around midnight. They then went to one of the employee's dorms where they planned to attend a party. That party had already pretty well broken up, so they went back to their dorm room and drank rum for a while and talked. Sometime later, in the early morning hours of September 11, 1976, the appellant and his companion, Timothy Stratton, ⁴ decided to go to one of the dorms occupied by female employees. Stratton testified before the jury that the appellant stated to him that his intention was to engage in sexual intercourse even if it had to be by force. Stratton further testified that he thought it wrong to do that by force " * * * if there is some other way to do it. * * * " However, Stratton accompanied the appellant to a dorm building and they both went inside. Once inside, they opened and peered in several doors. This activity awakened several of the dorm occupants, including those who eventually caught the appellant as he was fleeing from the dorm. They found an unlocked room and both went inside. Stratton was to take the left side of the room, and appellant the right. Stratton heard the girl in the bed he was approaching gasp, so he placed his hand over her mouth to prevent her from screaming. The woman in the bed bit his finger and Stratton, once he had extricated himself, fled from the girl's dorm, went to his own room, packed his gear, and hitchhiked home to Nevada that very night. Appellant also encountered difficulties. The woman he approached began screaming and threw herself on the floor from where she was able to reach the door knob and open the door. The appellant had struck several blows to the woman he attacked and she suffered some bruising and a chipped tooth in the episode. Her screams awakened others in the dorm who came to her rescue. The appellant attempted to flee not long after Stratton did. He was hobbled somewhat because his pants were down around his ankles and he stumbled and fell several times before he was able to make his way out of the dorm. He was chased by another woman resident of the dorm who hit him several times as he was running down the hall, thus impeding his escape. A male acquaintance of this latter woman, who was staying the night in the dorm with her, was also awakened by the commotion. He got out of bed, dressed, chased the appellant, and caught him just outside the dorm. He held the appellant down on the ground for several minutes but then released him and allowed him to return to his dorm. Later that evening another employee of the Jackson Lake Lodge Company, to whom the incident had been reported, went to appellant's dorm and, after a short discussion, asked appellant to accompany him to the main lodge. There, with the help of park rangers, a sort of lineup ⁵ procedure was conducted with the appellant and another dishwasher who was suspected of being the other individual involved in the break-in. Several of the witnesses, including one of the women attacked, recognized the appellant. He was then taken by the park rangers to the sheriff's office and placed in custody.

The appellant asserts there was insufficient evidence to support the jury's verdict that the appellant was guilty of aggravated burglary. In our examination of the sufficiency of the evidence on appeal of a criminal matter, we examine and accept as true the evidence of the prosecution, leaving out of consideration entirely the evidence of the defendant in conflict therewith, and give the evidence of the prosecution every favorable inference which may reasonably and fairly be drawn therefrom. Padilla v. State, Wyo.1979, 601 P.2d 189; see cases, West's Wyoming Digest, Criminal Law, Key Number 1144.13(4, 5). The appellant apparently concedes that there was sufficient evidence to constitute a burglary. However, to constitute aggravated burglary the appellant had to intend to commit rape at the time he entered the room. It is here that appellant asserts that the State's case fails. This argument is premised largely upon the fact that the jury found the appellant "not guilty" of attempted rape. ⁶ The appellant posits that: If the jury found him not guilty of attempted rape, it is inconsistent that the jury could have found him guilty of aggravated burglary when to make such a finding the jury had to find that he entered the room intending to commit rape. ⁷ In view of the facts recited above, and about which there is no dispute, the argument requires very little discussion. The appellant asserts that we must discount all the evidence which related to the attempted rape because the jury did not find the appellant guilty of that crime. The authority cited for this proposition simply does not support such a conclusion. The jury could have considered all the facts and circumstances presented to them in arriving at a conclusion as to whether the appellant intended to commit rape when he entered the room.

The appellant further asserts that the jury found that the appellant did not intend to rape the victim at the moment of the assault because they found him not guilty of attempted rape. This assertion has no basis whatsoever. All that can be concluded from that verdict of not guilty is that the appellant did not attempt ⁸ to rape the victim i. e., he did not make " * * * a direct but ineffectual act done toward its commission," 6.102, Wyoming Pattern Jury Instructions, Criminal (W.P.J.I.Cr.). An individual may intend to do something without having attempted to do it. It is as simple as that.

Finally, appellant wants this court to ignore the testimony of the accomplice (an adequate accomplice instruction was given) who stated that appellant specifically voiced an intent to rape if that proved necessary. As to why this should be done, both appellant's brief and argument are incomprehensible. From this testimony, as well as from other evidence and circumstances presented to the jury (e. g., the appellant's pants were down), there was sufficient evidence from which a jury could find an intent to commit rape in the context of the aggravated burglary charge. Delmont v. State, 1907, 15 Wyo. 271, 88 P. 623. And see, State v. Acheson, Kan.App.1979, 601 P.2d 375, 380-381; Flynn v. State, 1977, 93 Nev. 247, 562 P.2d 1135, 1136; People v. Matson, 1974, 13 Cal.3d 35, 117 Cal.Rptr. 664, 528 P.2d 752; State v. Rich, 1968, 183 Neb. 128, 158 N.W.2d 533; People v. Bard, 1968, 70 Cal.2d 3, 73 Cal.Rptr. 547, 447 P.2d 939; People v. Robles, 1962, 207 Cal.App.2d 891, 24 Cal.Rptr. 708.

Appellant also asserts it is inconsistent for the jury to find he intended to rape at the time he entered the room but did not when he stood over his victim with his pants down. We need only iterate that such a conclusion need not, indeed logically cannot, be drawn from the circumstances of this case. All that can be concluded from the verdict is that the jury found the appellant intended to commit rape when he entered the room and that he did not actually attempt a rape once he stood at the assaulted victim's bedside. Moreover, verdicts need not necessarily be consistent. State v. Hickenbottom, 1947, 63 Wyo. 41, 178 P.2d 119, 126-127; 2 Wright, Federal Practice and Procedure: Criminal § 514. The record contains sufficient evidence from which the jury could conclude that the appellant intended to commit a rape when he entered the room of the victim.

The appellant questions the instructions of the court in several regards. The appellant complained that instructions numbered 4 ⁹ and 5 ¹⁰ simply use some form of the word "intention." Then in Instruction Number 14 ¹¹ specific intention is defined but is not limited to the "intentions" listed in earlier instructions which are specific rather than general. Appellant asserts that since the instructions do not differentiate between specific and general intent, the jury was, in essence, instructed that the intent to enter was a specific intent when any " * * * lawyer knows that the intent to enter in a burglary charge does not comprehend specific intent * * *." As is quite readily apparent, the argument proves too much. The appellant is basically correct in his analysis. The result is, however, that the instructions were unnecessarily favorable to the appellant and there is no conceivable harm to him. ...