Mendicoa v. State

• Citation: 780 P.2d 1346
• Decision Date: 02 October 1989
• Docket Number: No. 88-260,88-260
• Parties: Modesto MENDICOA, Appellant (Petitioner), v. The STATE of Wyoming, Appellee (Respondent).
• Court: Wyoming Supreme Court

Page 1346

780 P.2d 1346

Modesto MENDICOA, Appellant (Petitioner), v. The STATE of Wyoming, Appellee (Respondent).

No. 88-260.

Supreme Court of Wyoming.

Oct. 2, 1989.

Michael D. Newman, Rock Springs, for petitioner.

Joseph B. Meyer, Atty. Gen., John W. Renneisen, Deputy Atty. Gen., and Karen A. Bryne, Sr. Asst. Atty. Gen., Cheyenne, for respondent.

Before CARDINE, C.J., and THOMAS, URBIGKIT, MACY and GOLDEN, JJ.

GOLDEN, Justice.

This appeal arises from a criminal action originally brought in Sweetwater County court. On a petition for review on certiorari from the county court, after an initial appeal to the district court, petitioner Modesto Mendicoa (Mendicoa) seeks reversals of his convictions on two counts of "importing" livestock into Wyoming without valid health certificates, in violation of W.S. 11-19-111 (1977), and the Governor's Livestock Import proclamation.

Mendicoa's issues are:

1. Did the District Court err in not ruling that W.S. 11-19-111 and the Governor's Livestock Import proclamation are unconstitutional in that the legislative branch has improperly delegated to the executive branch the authority to establish a new and distinct crime for shipping and transporting livestock through Wyoming to a destination in another state?

2. Did the District Court err in not finding that the Governor's Livestock Import proclamation was unconstitutional because it unlawfully burdened interstate commerce?

3. Did the District Court err in not finding that the trial court's instructions to the jury gave the impression that it is unlawful and a violation of W.S. 11-19- 111 to ship, transport or move any livestock into or within the State of Wyoming unless the livestock are accompanied by an official health certificate in possession of the driver?

4. Did the District Court err in affirming the trial court's denial of Defendant's Motion for Acquittal concerning the weight, sufficiency and admissibility of the evidence presented at trial, notwithstanding the jury's verdict?

We reverse Mendicoa's convictions on the grounds of insufficiency of the evidence.

In December, 1985, Kimball Call purchased 189 cattle from the Cattle Owners Association in Grantsville, Utah, with a check from Mendicoa. Shortly after the purchase, Call arranged to sell the cattle to Albert Bouziden from Oklahoma. Call obtained Utah health certificates on the cattle and loaded them onto trucks for transportation to Oklahoma. When the trucks carrying the cattle reached the Wyoming state line, they were rerouted to Manila, Utah, to be reweighed because of a dispute over the weighing process that occurred in Grantsville. Due to the time delay caused by the rerouting, the sale fell through with Bouziden and the cattle were released into Mendicoa's corrals, where they were kept separate from Mendicoa's herds.

Call renegotiated the sale with Bouziden and, on January 5, 1986, made a second attempt to ship the cattle. The trucks were again stopped at the Wyoming border, this time due to questions about the brand inspections of the cattle, and were forced to return to Manila where the cattle were again placed in Mendicoa's corrals. Due to this second delay, the deal with Bouziden again fell through.

Call renegotiated yet another deal with Bouziden and made arrangements with Ray Widmer, an independent trucker, to transport fifty-three of the Grantsville cattle to Oklahoma on January 23, 1986. After loading these cattle, Widmer went to McKinnon, Wyoming, where an additional thirty-nine cattle were loaded onto the truck, and then to Mountain View, Wyoming, where another twenty-seven cattle were loaded. While on his way to Rock Springs, Wyoming, to have health inspections performed on all the cattle, Widmer's truck was stopped by the then Deputy Sheriff of Sweetwater County, Detective Paine. When asked to produce brand and health inspections on the cattle, Widmer produced only Utah brand inspections for the fifty-three Grantsville cattle. ¹ Widmer was directed to go to Rock Springs, where health inspections were conducted on all the cattle by Veterinarian Paul Zancanella. After the inspections were completed, health certificates were issued for all the cattle, and Widmer proceeded with the cattle to Oklahoma, where Bouziden received the cattle and paid Mendicoa for the cattle owned by Call and for the additional cattle picked up in McKinnon and Mountain View, Wyoming.

At the end of February, 1986, Bouziden hired Widmer to haul more cattle to Oklahoma. Widmer loaded sixty cattle in Idaho and another twenty-eight at Mendicoa's ranch in Utah. Because he did not receive health certificates on the twenty-eight Utah cattle, Widmer contacted Zancanella and arranged to have health inspections performed on them in Rock Springs. Widmer was again stopped by Paine before arriving in Rock Springs and requested to produce health certificates. Because Widmer did not have valid health certificates for the Utah cattle, Paine impounded the cattle and ordered them shipped to Rock Springs, where Zancanella performed the inspections and issued health certificates for twenty-four of the cattle; four of the cattle were detained because of questionable ownership. The twenty-four Utah cattle and sixty Idaho cattle were then transported to Bouziden in Oklahoma.

On March 18, 1986, Mendicoa was criminally charged with two counts of importing livestock into Wyoming without valid health certificates, in violation of W.S. 11-19-111, resulting from the January 23, and March 5, 1986, shipments of cattle by Widmer. A jury trial was held on March 24, and 25, 1987. At the close of the state's case, Mendicoa argued that the state had failed to produce sufficient evidence to support a conviction of the counts against him and moved to dismiss. The trial court treated the motion as a motion for acquittal and denied it. The jury found Mendicoa guilty. On April 3, 1987, Mendicoa moved for acquittal and for a new trial, which motions were denied by the county court on April 16, 1987. Mendicoa appealed his convictions to the district court, which affirmed his convictions on September 14, 1988. Mendicoa then filed a Petition for Review on Certiorari with this court, which we granted.

I. CONSTITUTIONALITY OF PROCLAMATION

W.S. 11-19-111 authorizes the Governor to regulate by proclamation the importation into Wyoming of livestock or anything suspected of being infected with livestock disease germs. The pertinent portions of the statute read:

(a) The governor, upon recommendation of the Wyoming livestock board, may regulate by proclamation the importation into Wyoming from any other state any livestock, or any virulent blood or live virus of any disease affecting livestock, or anything suspected of being infected with livestock disease germs, except under such conditions as he deems proper for the protection of the livestock of Wyoming. All requirements in the governor's proclamation shall be enforced by the Wyoming livestock board.

(b) After a proclamation is issued by the governor it is unlawful for any person to import into Wyoming or receive imports within this state from any other state any livestock, virulent blood or live virus or diseases affecting livestock, or any product or thing suspected of being infected with livestock disease germs, except under such conditions as may be imposed by the proclamation. Any person who violates this section shall be punished as provided in W.S. 11-1-103. The violator is civilly liable for all damages and loss sustained by any person by reason of violation of the proclamation.

Pursuant to the statute the Governor issued a proclamation in 1984, which reads in pertinent part:

(2)(d) All livestock shipped or in any manner transported or otherwise moved or received into Wyoming * * * shall be accompanied by an official health certificate which shall be in the possession of the driver of the vehicle or person in charge of the livestock. Such livestock shall not be diverted from destination for any purpose.

* * * * * *

(iv) Health certificates shall be valid for ten days following date of inspection and issuance. All health certificates shall be issued to comply in all respects with requirements of the State of Wyoming unless specifically authorized in writing by the Wyoming State Veterinarian.

In his first issue Mendicoa contends that the proclamation expands on the activities intended by the legislature to be regulated under W.S. 11-19-111, by including within its scope shipping and transporting of livestock through Wyoming to a destination in another state, as opposed to the mere importation into Wyoming. He argues that the statute constitutes an improper delegation of legislative authority to the executive branch, which enabled the Governor to exceed his authority by establishing a new and distinct crime for shipping and transporting livestock through the state. We disagree.

When interpreting a statute or provision we search for legislative intent. Department of Revenue and Taxation of the State of Wyoming v. Hamilton, 743 P.2d 877, 879 (Wyo.1987). We always begin that search by focusing on the language of the legislative enactment, giving that language plain and ordinary meaning unless otherwise indicated. Schultz v. State, 751 P.2d 367, 370 (Wyo.1988); Hamilton, 743 P.2d at 879; Mahoney v. L.L. Sheep Company, 79 Wyo. 293, 333 P.2d 712, 715 (1958).

Department of Revenue and Taxation v. Casper Legion Baseball Club, 767 P.2d 608, 610 (Wyo.1989). W.S. 8-1-103(a)(i) (1977) provides: "Words and phrases shall be taken in their ordinary and usual sense, but technical words and phrases having a peculiar and appropriate meaning in law shall be understood according to their technical import."

The words and phrases used in the statute and the proclamation are not technical, and their meanings are easy to understand. W.S. 11-19-111 uses the word "importation" to denote the activity to be regulated. Black's Law Dictionary defines "importation" as the ...