State ex rel. M.B.
| Decision Date | 28 November 2008 |
| Docket Number | No. 20070671-CA.,20070671-CA. |
| Citation | 2008 UT App 433,198 P.3d 1007 |
| Parties | STATE of Utah, in the interest of M.B., a person under eighteen years of age. M.B., Appellant, v. State of Utah, Appellee. |
| Court | Utah Court of Appeals |
Kristine M. Rogers, Salt Lake City, for Appellant.
Mark L. Shurtleff, atty. gen., and Ryan D. Tenney, asst. atty. gen., Salt Lake City, for Appellee.
Before GREENWOOD, P.J., McHUGH and ORME, JJ.
¶ 1 The main issue in this appeal is whether a minor can be an accomplice to vehicular burglary and theft when he or she just sits in the front passenger seat of a parked vehicle, without any overt or affirmative action taken to aid in the crime, while two adult companions burglarize a vehicle. We conclude that no definitive inferences regarding such a passenger's involvement in the crime can be drawn without resort to impermissible conjecture or speculation and that a fact-finder could therefore not conclude, beyond a reasonable doubt, that such a person was an accomplice. We accordingly reverse M.B.'s convictions.
¶ 2 At around 2:00 a.m. on the morning of April 13, 2007, two men broke into a truck owned by a Salt Lake City couple, damaging the truck and taking its stereo and some CDs. At about the same time, the wife awoke to the sound of a dog barking and a car door shutting. She looked out her window and first observed an unfamiliar car parked on the street across from her driveway. She then saw one man crawling out the back of her truck's camper shell and a second man exiting the driver's side door carrying the stereo and CDs. When the two men returned to the unfamiliar car and opened a door, the dome light came on and she observed the silhouette of M.B. "[j]ust sitting" in the passenger seat. Her husband, who had called the police shortly after she saw the first man exit the camper shell, gave the police information about the vehicle and the direction it was headed. A short time later, police stopped the vehicle and arrested its occupants.
¶ 3 The responding officer stated that M.B. and the two men were wearing dark clothing. Upon investigation of the vehicle, the officer found a screwdriver between the console and the front passenger seat, and some gloves in the console. In the trunk, he found two additional screwdrivers and three more pairs of gloves, along with a car stereo that still had some of the couple's truck's dashboard connected to it.
¶ 4 The State brought the following delinquency allegations against M.B. in juvenile court: (1) vehicular burglary, see Utah Code Ann. § 76-6-204(1) (2003); (2) theft, see id. § 76-6-404; (3) unlawful possession of burglary tools, see id. § 76-6-205; and (4) theft by receiving stolen property, see id. § 76-6-408(1) (Supp.2008). After trial, the juvenile court determined that M.B. was guilty of vehicular burglary, theft, and unlawful possession of burglary tools.1 This appeal followed.
¶ 5 M.B. argues that there was insufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he was guilty of vehicular burglary, theft, or possession of burglary tools. "When reviewing a juvenile court's decision for sufficiency of the evidence, we must consider all the facts, and all reasonable inferences which may be drawn therefrom, in a light most favorable to the juvenile court's determination[.]" In re V.T., 2000 UT App 189, ¶ 8, 5 P.3d 1234. We will reverse only if the ruling "is `against the clear weight of the evidence, or if [we] otherwise reach[ ] a definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been made.'" Id. (quoting State v. Walker, 743 P.2d 191, 193 (Utah 1987)). See In re R.L.I., 771 P.2d 1068, 1070 (Utah 1989).
¶ 6 M.B. claims that his mere passive presence in the front passenger seat of the parked vehicle did not provide enough evidence to support a conclusion that he was an accomplice to vehicular burglary or theft. Specifically, he argues that no evidence admitted in this case could be construed as proving, beyond a reasonable doubt, that "[he] engaged in some active behavior, or at least speech or expression, that served to assist or encourage another to unlawfully enter the vehicle" and take the items in question. We agree.
¶ 7 "Any person who unlawfully enters any vehicle with intent to commit a felony or theft is guilty of a burglary of a vehicle." Utah Code Ann. § 76-6-204 (2003). "A person commits theft if he obtains or exercises unauthorized control over the property of another with a purpose to deprive him thereof." Id. § 76-6-404. "Every person, acting with the mental state required for the commission of an offense who directly commits the offense, who solicits, requests, commands, encourages, or intentionally aids another person to engage in conduct which constitutes an offense shall be criminally liable as a party for such conduct." Id. § 76-2-202. We only address whether M.B. "encourage[d]" or "intentionally aid[ed]" his two adult companions, as the facts clearly do not support a conclusion that M.B. "directly commit[ted] the offense, ... [or] solicit[ed], request[ed], [or] command[ed]" that the others commit vehicular burglary or theft. Id.
¶ 8 Our precedents clearly show that "[m]ere presence, or even prior knowledge, does not make one an accomplice to a crime absent evidence showing—beyond a reasonable doubt—that [a] defendant advised, instigated, encouraged, or assisted in perpet[r]ation of the crime." In re V.T., 2000 UT App 189, ¶ 11, 5 P.3d 1234 (quoting State v. Labrum, 959 P.2d 120, 123 (Utah Ct.App.1998)) (internal quotation marks omitted). However, "[w]hile mere presence at the scene of a crime affords no basis for a conviction, presence, companionship, and conduct before and after the offense are circumstances from which one's participation in the criminal intent may be inferred." American Fork City v. Rothe, 2000 UT App 277, ¶ 7, 12 P.3d 108 (citation and internal quotation marks omitted) (alteration in original).
¶ 9 In re V.T., 2000 UT App 189, 5 P.3d 1234, is the Utah case most directly on point. There, this court concluded that a juvenile defendant's presence during and after a theft did not support a conclusion that he was an accomplice because no evidence suggested his active involvement. See id. ¶ 20. The evidence showed that the defendant had been with friends when they stole a camcorder and that he remained in their presence following the theft while his friends discussed the crime. See id. ¶¶ 2-5. The State argued that this evidence, coupled with the defendant's friendship with the thieves, supported an inference that the defendant encouraged the theft and was, therefore, guilty of the crime as an accomplice. See id. ¶ 10. The juvenile court agreed. See id. ¶ 7. We overturned the juvenile court's ruling, concluding that "[t]he facts ... prove[d] only that [the defendant] was present before, during, and after the theft of the camcorder" and that "[t]he lack of any evidence showing that he at least encouraged the other defendants in stealing the camcorder preclude[d]" a determination that he was culpable as an accomplice. Id. ¶ 20.
¶ 10 Other Utah cases show that a defendant's conviction based on accomplice liability will be upheld when the evidence and circumstances show some active participation or involvement in the underlying crime. In State v. Johnson, 6 Utah 2d 29, 305 P.2d 488 (1956), for example, the evidence showed that the defendant was spotted "walking rapidly away from the" scene of the burglary, id. at 488, and that another man involved could only have gained access to the burglarized building via a ladder, which the police soon discovered, hidden by cardboard. See id. at 489. The Utah Supreme Court observed that the totality of the evidence supported an inference that the defendant had aided the burglary because the other man, who was apprehended inside the building, could not have hidden the ladder after he climbed it and entered the building. See id. Accordingly, the totality of the circumstances allowed an inference beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant had actively aided the other man and was therefore an accomplice. See id. Also, in American Fork City v. Rothe, 2000 UT App 277, 12 P.3d 108, this court upheld the conviction of the defendant based on accomplice liability when there was evidence that, beyond his being present during the commission of the crime, the defendant actively looked up and down two separate store aisles, apparently acting as a lookout, while a companion stole items off the shelves of a grocery store. See id. ¶¶ 2, 9-10.
¶ 11 The State presented no evidence in the instant case suggesting M.B. actually behaved as a lookout or otherwise aided or encouraged the crimes of vehicular burglary and theft. For example, no evidence showed that M.B. looked up and down the street, was in the driver's seat poised to whisk his companions away, handled any of the stolen property, or otherwise acted to ensure that his companions were not discovered or apprehended while they committed vehicular burglary and theft. The only evidence pertaining to M.B. was that he was wearing dark clothes and sat in the passenger seat of the vehicle while his two adult companions broke into the couple's truck, removed CDs and a stereo, and returned to the getaway car, placing the stolen items in the trunk. Without any evidence showing more than just a passive presence, we conclude that the juvenile court's determination that M.B. was guilty of vehicular burglary and theft was erroneous as a matter of law.
¶ 12 The State, relying heavily on federal case law, urges that M.B.'s dark clothing and presence in the idling getaway car2 allows a fact-finder to draw an inference that he was a lookout ready to give a warning if needed or to otherwise aid the men in their efforts to commit the crimes without being apprehended. The juvenile court also seems to have found3 that M.B.'s dark clothing,...
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