State v. Barnett
Decision Date | 30 November 2004 |
Docket Number | No. 2 CA-CR 2003-0386.,2 CA-CR 2003-0386. |
Citation | 101 P.3d 646,209 Ariz. 352 |
Parties | The STATE of Arizona, Appellant, v. Daniel James Alexander BARNETT, Appellee. |
Court | Arizona Court of Appeals |
Barbara LaWall, Pima County Attorney, By Amy Pignatella Cain, Tucson, for Appellant.
Isabel G. Garcia, Pima County Legal Defender, By Robb P. Holmes, Tucson, for Appellee.
¶ 1 The state appeals from the trial court's dismissal of prohibited possessor charges against appellee, Daniel James Alexander Barnett, based on the court's interpretation of the phrase "release on any other basis" in A.R.S. § 13-3101(A)(6)(d). We affirm the dismissal.
¶ 2 On August 22, 2003, Barnett pled guilty in CR-20031221 to solicitation to unlawfully possess a narcotic drug and unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia. He was released from custody on his own recognizance awaiting sentencing, which was scheduled for September 9.
¶ 3 On September 2, Barnett was arrested for possessing a deadly weapon in violation of A.R.S. § 13-3102. Barnett was subsequently indicted on two counts of possession of a deadly weapon by a prohibited possessor stemming from the arrest. Count one charged that Barnett had knowingly possessed a deadly weapon after he had been convicted of a felony. Count two charged that Barnett had knowingly possessed a deadly weapon after being released.
¶ 4 Pursuant to a plea agreement, Barnett attempted to plead guilty on November 4, 2003, to count two of the indictment. At the change-of-plea hearing, the trial court asked whether Barnett could be a prohibited possessor if he had been on preconviction release, not yet having been convicted in the prior case. The court deferred accepting the guilty plea and directed counsel to research the issue.
(Emphasis added.) And, because Barnett had not yet been convicted in the prior case, he argued he could not have been on post-conviction release when he was arrested. Barnett also argued that neither subsection (b)1 nor (d) applied to him. In its response, the state argued only that the phrase "release on any other basis" in subsection (d) refers to any type of release from confinement.
The trial court dismissed both counts without prejudice,2 and the state appealed.
Standard of Review
827 P.2d at 1136; see also Tanque Verde Unified Sch. Dist. No. 13 v. Bernini, 206 Ariz. 200, 76 P.3d 874 (App.2003).
¶ 8 Our interpretation of § 13-3101(A)(6)(d) necessarily includes a determination of whether the phrase "release on any other basis" includes preconviction release as the state suggests or, as Barnett argues, only post-conviction release and that phrase's relationship to a defendant contemporaneously "serving a term." For purposes of this decision, and both because the state did not argue to the contrary in the trial court and because a judgment of guilt had not yet been entered in CR-20031221, we assume that, when he was arrested in this case, Barnett had not yet been convicted when he pled guilty on the drug offense.3 The state argues for the first time on appeal that Barnett was convicted of the drug charges in CR-20031221 on August 22, 2003, when he pled guilty. We do not address this issue, however, both because the state did not raise it in the trial court, see State v. Bolton, 182 Ariz. 290, 896 P.2d 830 (1995)
(, and because the record is inadequate for such a review. )
¶ 9 The state next argues that "release on any other basis" includes the release of a defendant on his or her own recognizance pending sentencing, as Barnett was here. The state asserts that subsection (d) does not pertain only to post-conviction release because such an interpretation would render subsection (b) of § 13-3101(A)(6) superfluous. That subsection defines a prohibited possessor as any person "[w]ho has been convicted within or without this state of a felony or who has been adjudicated delinquent and whose civil right to possess or carry a gun or firearm has not been restored." The state contends there would be no need for subsection (d) if it only pertained to post-conviction release because defendants who have been convicted of a felony offense are already deemed to be prohibited possessors under subsection (b).
¶ 10 Barnett, however, offers another interpretation. He argues that all the other types of release listed in subsection (d) require a "final adjudication" before a person loses the right to possess a firearm. Barnett points out that placement on probation for domestic violence or a felony offense or placement on parole, community supervision, work furlough, and home arrest can only result after a judgment of conviction and sentence. Barnett contends that "[i]t [would] seem[] anomalous that the statute would create a single exception to the prerequisite of a final adjudication."
¶ 11 We first look to the plain language of the statute to determine legislative intent. State v. George, 206 Ariz. 436, 79 P.3d 1050 (App.2003). The language here is subject to different interpretations. And, although the parties offer different plausible interpretations of this clause, we cannot be sure what other types of release the legislature meant. The trial court reasoned that, perhaps, there was "some hybrid release that you can have from prison" in addition to the several forms of post-conviction release already described in subsection (d). For example, Arizona law provides an avenue for post-conviction release from confinement pending appeal from the judgment of guilt and sentence or placement on a term of probation. See Ariz. R.Crim. P. 7.2(b)(1), 16A A.R.S.; but see A.R.S. § 13-3961.01; State v. Kearney, 206 Ariz. 547, 81 P.3d 338 (App.2003).
¶ 12 We conclude from this confusion that the statute is ambiguous on its face and, consequently, are unable to determine legislative intent based on its plain language. Thus, we must turn to other canons of statutory construction to determine its meaning. See Kyle v. Daniels, 198 Ariz. 304,
¶ 8, 9 P.3d 1043, 1045 (2000) ().
¶ 13 In so doing, we find helpful the history of § 13-3101. The section was enacted in 1978 and has been amended several times. The legislature added subsection (d) in 1993, defining a prohibited possessor as any person "[w]ho is at the time of possession serving a term of parole, work furlough, home arrest or release on any other basis." 1993 Ariz. Sess. Laws, ch. 13, § 1. In 1994, the legislature added "community supervision" to the list in subsection (d). 1994 Ariz. Sess. Laws., ch. 236, § 8.
¶ 14 In 2000, the phrase "pursuant to a conviction for a domestic violence offense as defined in section 13-3601 or a felony offense" was inserted, leaving the remainder of the subsection unchanged. 2000 Ariz. Sess. Laws, ch. 143, § 1. That the legislature retained the phrase "serving a term" throughout while serially adding other types of release persuades us that it intended subsection (d) to apply only to a person who is "serving a term" of one of the listed releases. We interpret that phrase, as it currently reads, to require that a person be "serving a term" of probation, parole, community supervision, work furlough, home arrest, or release on any other basis. To be "serving a term," a person must have been first convicted of a crime and either sentenced to a term of confinement and then released or have been placed on probation.
¶ 15 We also find the ejusdem generis canon of construction applicable. "This rule provides that general words which follow the enumeration of particular classes of persons or things should be interpreted as applicable only to persons or things of the same general nature or class." State v. Barnett, 142 Ariz. 592, 596, 691 P.2d 683, 687 (1984). The general nature or class at issue includes those "serving a term" of "probation" or "parole, community supervision, work furlough, [or] home arrest." § 13-3101(A)(6)(d). A person on any of those forms of release must have been first convicted of an offense before being later released to one of...
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