Sanchez-Rengifo v. US

• Decision Date: 12 September 2002
• Docket Number: No. 98-CF-995, No. 01-CO-580.
• Citation: 815 A.2d 351
• Parties: Humberto SANCHEZ-RENGIFO, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES, Appellee.
• Court: D.C. Court of Appeals

815 A.2d 351

Humberto SANCHEZ-RENGIFO, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES, Appellee.

Nos. 98-CF-995, 01-CO-580.

District of Columbia Court of Appeals.

Argued June 26, 2002.

Decided September 12, 2002.

Kelli S. Irvine, Public Defender Service, with whom James Klein, Public Defender Service and Jaclyn S. Frankfurt, Public Defender Service, were on the brief, for appellant.

Dorann E. Banks, Assistant United States Attorney, with whom Roscoe C. Howard, Jr., United States Attorney, and John R. Fisher, Mary Patrice Brown, and Vincent W. Caputy, Assistant United States Attorneys, were on the brief, for appellee.

Before WAGNER, Chief Judge, and TERRY and WASHINGTON, Associate Judges.

WAGNER, Chief Judge.

Following a jury trial, appellant, Humberto Sanchez-Rengifo, was convicted of the following offenses: (1) first-degree burglary while armed (D.C.Code §§ 22-1801(a), -3202 (1981)); (2) threats to injure a person (D.C.Code § 22-2307 (1981)); (3) second-degree child sexual abuse while armed (D.C.Code §§ 22-4109, - 4120(a)(6), -3202 (1981)); and (4) three counts of first-degree child sexual abuse while armed (D.C.Code §§ 22-4108, -3202 (1981)).¹ The court sentenced appellant to six concurrent terms of imprisonment as follows: life without parole for each count of first-degree child sexual abuse while armed; fifteen years to life for second-degree child sexual abuse while armed; fifteen years to life for first-degree burglary while armed; and six years and eight months to twenty years for threats to injure a person. On appeal, he argues that the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Constitution bars separate convictions for the three counts of first-degree child sexual abuse while armed and second-degree child sexual abuse while armed because the conduct involved was a part of one continuous course of action, and therefore, these offenses merge. He also argues that the trial court erred in denying, without a hearing, his post-trial motion to vacate the convictions based on alleged ineffective assistance of his trial counsel. We hold the convictions are for separate criminal acts for which there is no Double Jeopardy bar. We also find no error in the trial court's denial of appellant's motion to vacate convictions.

I. Factual Background

The offenses occurred on June 16, 1997, the fifteenth birthday of N.V., the complaining witness. N.V. testified that on that afternoon, she was in her family's apartment with one of her friends when she went to the door in response to a knock. She observed a man, whom she identified later as Sanchez-Rengifo, wearing a paint-splattered blue and white striped shirt and blue pants, an orange and white "Home Depot" hat, and brown paintsplattered boots. She testified that the man told her that he was there to make repairs in the apartment and assured her that her mother knew about the work. N.V. admitted Sanchez-Rengifo into the apartment where he looked around the apartment, including her mother's bedroom. N.V. pointed out a problem with the bars on her bedroom window. Sanchez-Rengifo told N.V. that he would return, and left the apartment. Soon afterwards, N.V.'s friend left the apartment.

Within minutes, Sanchez-Rengifo returned, and N.V. let him in. N.V. was talking on the telephone at the time, and Sanchez-Rengifo asked her to end the conversation so that they could talk about the repairs. N.V. complied, walked into her mother's bedroom, and as she turned around, she saw that Sanchez-Rengifo was holding a knife. He warned her that he would kill her if she made any noise. He then ordered her to sit on her mother's bed and to remove her clothes, which she did. For the next two hours approximately, Sanchez-Rengifo forced N.V. to engage in various sexual acts.²

II.

Sanchez-Rengifo argues that his convictions for first and second-degree child sexual abuse while armed merge because the criminal conduct involved constitutes one continuous sexual assault. Therefore, he contends, the convictions of these offenses under the circumstances violate the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Constitution. The government argues that there is no Double Jeopardy bar to the convictions because the indictment charged four separate and distinct acts of criminal conduct which were submitted separately for consideration by the jury, and the evidence dispelled the claim that the various sexual assaults constituted a continuous course of conduct resulting in only one criminal violation.

A. Applicable Legal Principles

We review a claim of merger of convictions de novo "`to determine whether there has been a violation of the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.'" Maddox v. United States, 745 A.2d 284, 294 (D.C.2000) (quoting Nixon v. United States, 730 A.2d 145, 151-52 (D.C.), cert. denied, 528 U.S. 899, 120 S.Ct. 233, 145 L.Ed.2d 196 (1999)). "The Double Jeopardy Clause prohibits a second prosecution for a single crime and protects against multiple punishments for the same offense." Id. (quoting Gardner v. United States, 698 A.2d 990, 1002 (D.C.1997) (citing North Carolina v. Pearce, 395 U.S. 711, 717, 89 S.Ct. 2072, 23 L.Ed.2d 656 (1969)). Where there are duplicate convictions for the same offense, one or more must be vacated in order that only one conviction and sentence remains for a single offense. Brown v. United States, 795 A.2d 56, 63 (D.C.2002). Even when concurrent sentences are imposed, the Double Jeopardy Clause precludes duplicate convictions because of the potential adverse collateral consequences of the convictions.³ Id. (citing (Samuel) Byrd v. United States, 500 A.2d 1376, 1380-82 (D.C.1985)), adopted en banc, 510 A.2d 1035 (D.C. 1986)); see also Robinson v. United States, 501 A.2d 1273, 1274 n. 2

(citing (Samuel) Byrd, 500 A.2d at 1380-81; Harling v. United States, 460 A.2d 571, 572 (D.C. 1983); Doepel v. United States, 434 A.2d 449, 459 (D.C.), cert. denied, 454 U.S. 1037, 102 S.Ct. 580, 70 L.Ed.2d 483 (1981)). "The Fifth Amendment does not prohibit separate and cumulative punishment for separate criminal acts." Owens v. United States, 497 A.2d 1086, 1094-95 (D.C.1985),

cert. denied, 474 U.S. 1085, 106 S.Ct. 861, 88 L.Ed.2d 900 (1986).

In determining whether multiple convictions are constitutionally permissible for criminal conduct which violates two distinct statutory provisions, absent a clearly contrary legislative intent, we apply the Blockburger test. (Lindbergh) Byrd, supra note 3, 598 A.2d at 389 (citing Blockburger v. United States, 284 U.S. 299, 304, 52 S.Ct. 180, 76 L.Ed. 306 (1932)). The Blockburger test is based on the statutory elements of the offense as opposed to the specific facts of the case. Id. Under that test, whether there are two offenses for which punishment may be imposed or only one depends upon "whether each provision requires proof of a fact which the other does not." Id. (quoting Blockburger, 284 U.S. at 304, 52 S.Ct. 180).

On the other hand, "a fact-based approach remains appropriate where a defendant is convicted of two violations of the same statute." Morris v. United States, 622 A.2d 1116, 1130 (D.C.1993), cert. denied, 510 U.S. 899, 114 S.Ct. 270, 126 L.Ed.2d 221 (1993). Under a fact-based analysis, whether separate criminal acts have occurred depends upon whether they can be found to be factually separate. See Gray v. United States, 544 A.2d 1255, 1257-59 (D.C.1988)

. For purposes of this fact-based merger analysis, criminal acts are considered separate when there is an appreciable length of time "between the acts that constitute the two offenses, or when a subsequent criminal act `was not the result of the original impulse, but a fresh one.'" Hanna v. United States, 666 A.2d 845, 853 (D.C.1995) (quoting Blockburger, supra, 284 U.S. at 303,

52 S.Ct. 180). Both Sanchez-Rengifo and the government take the position that in determining whether the conduct involved in this case constitutes one or more criminal acts, a fact-based analysis applies.

Three of the convictions involved in Sanchez-Rengifo's challenge are for violations of D.C.Code §§ 22-4108, -3202 (first-degree child sexual abuse while armed), and the fourth is for violation of D.C.Code §§ 2-4109, -3202 (second-degree child sexual abuse while armed).⁴ The term "sexual act" is defined, in pertinent part, in D.C.Code § 22-4101(8)⁵ as: "(A) [t]he penetration, however slight, of the ... vulva of another by a penis; [or] (B) [c]ontact between the mouth and the penis, the mouth and the vulva ...." The term "sexual contact" is defined in the statute in pertinent part as "the touching with any... body part ... of the ... breast ... of any person with an intent to abuse, ... arouse or gratify the sexual desire of any person." D.C.Code § 22-4101(9). The indictment charges Sanchez-Rengifo with committing each of these acts described in the foregoing statutory provisions.⁶

B. Analysis

Sanchez-Rengifo argues that the sexual offenses involved here, like other forms of criminal assault, are considered "continuing crimes" for which multiple punishments are barred on Double Jeopardy grounds. Indeed, "[w]e have recognized that `[s]ome crimes by their very nature, tend to be committed in a single continuous episode rather than in a series of individually chargeable acts.'" Gardner, supra, 698 A.2d at 1002 (quoting Owens, supra, 497 A.2d at 1096). Among these are rape and assault. Id. Thus, that an assault is accomplished by several blows or methods, does not mean that multiple crimes and sentences may be imposed. Owens, 497 A.2d at 1096 (citing Smith v. United States, 135 U.S.App.D.C. 284, 285, 418 F.2d 1120, 1121, cert. denied, 396 U.S. 936, 90 S.Ct. 280, 24 L.Ed.2d 235 (1969) (other citation omitted)). Similarly, repeated acts of forced sexual intercourse, if committed in a single course of conduct, will not be converted into separate rapes. Gray, supra, 544 A.2d at 1258-59. Sanchez-Rengifo relies upon Gray in support of his argument that his convictions for child sexual...