State v. Charette, 20040001

• Decision Date: 12 October 2004
• Docket Number: No. 20040001,20040001
• Citation: 2004 ND 187,687 NW 2d 484
• Parties: State of North Dakota, Plaintiff and Appellee v. Waylon L. Charette, Defendant and Appellant.
• Court: North Dakota Supreme Court

2004 ND 187

687 NW 2d 484

State of North Dakota, Plaintiff and Appellee v. Waylon L. Charette, Defendant and Appellant.

No. 20040001

Supreme Court of North Dakota.

Filed October 12, 2004

Cynthia M. Feland, Assistant State's Attorney, 514 East Thayer, Bismarck, ND 58501-4413, for plaintiff and appellee.

Steven D. Mottinger (argued) and Douglas W. Nesheim (appeared), 15 9th Street South, Fargo, ND 58103-1830, for defendant and appellant.

Opinion of the Court by VandeWalle, Chief Justice.

VandeWalle, Chief Justice.

[¶1] Waylon Charette appealed from a criminal judgment and commitment entered upon a jury verdict. The jury found Charette guilty of one count of murder, a class AA felony; one count of gross sexual imposition, a class A felony; and two counts of burglary, class B felonies. Charette claims there was insufficient evidence to support these verdicts and that the district court erred in two of its evidentiary rulings at trial. After reviewing the proceedings below, we hold the district court did not err in its evidentiary rulings and we affirm Charette's convictions.

I.

[¶2] At approximately 8:00 p.m. on the evening of December 27, 2002, Diane Bate's Driscoll home was burglarized and Bate's wallet was stolen. Bate saw the suspect leaving her home and noticed the suspect fall while walking away from the residence. Bate drove to a local bar, called 911, and offered police a description of the person she saw leaving her house. Subsequently, Bate's wallet was discovered in the neighboring home of Marian Swenning. Swenning had been sexually assaulted and murdered and her house had been ransacked. One of Swenning's neighbors saw an individual looking into Swenning's bay window at approximately 8:15 p.m. Another neighbor received a call from Swenning's residence at 8:20 p.m., as noted on the neighbor's caller identification system. The neighbor's phone rang only twice and then stopped. A third neighbor saw an individual in the vicinity of the Swenning residence between approximately 9:00 and 10:00 p.m. This neighbor stated that the individual fell while walking. There were shoe or boot tracks between Bate's home and Swenning's residence, and the tracks showed that the right foot appeared to be dragging in the snow, as if the right leg was injured.

[¶3] Charette had been drinking since around noon on December 27, 2002, and he was asked to leave a local bar that evening. Charette left the bar and began walking in the direction of the Bate and Swenning residences. Charette's sister testified Charette left the bar slightly after 8:00 p.m.; another witness placed Charette's departure time at around 8:30-8:45 p.m. Charette's whereabouts were unaccounted for from the time he left the bar until he returned to his home at approximately 9:30-10:00 p.m. wearing only a coat and complaining of a knee injury. Charette was taken to an emergency room in Bismarck where he handed a security officer a coin purse he stated he found behind a telephone in the waiting area. The State later introduced evidence at trial that the coin purse belonged to Marian Swenning.

[¶4] Officers investigating the Swenning crime scene found a pair of hiking boots and pants between the victim's legs. Charette claimed the boots and pants were not his, the pants were not of the size he was then wearing, and that the color of the pants did not match witnesses' descriptions of the clothing he was wearing that day. Charette's girlfriend testified that the pants found at the crime scene belonged to Charette. DNA found on a pair of boxer shorts discovered in Swenning's home did not exclude Charette as a source of the DNA. A bloody footprint found at the Swenning crime scene matched Charette's footprint. A bloody fingerprint found at Swenning's home matched Charette's print. The shirt Charette was wearing on December 27th, which police later discovered in Charette's yard, contained bloodstains matching Swenning's DNA profile. Swenning's bloodstained shoes and a box containing various items of Swenning's property were discovered at Charette's home.

[¶5] Charette testified he was attacked by two men after leaving the bar, abducted, and hit over the head. Charette stated he did not remember anything after being hit on the head until later waking up in the yard of his mother's home.

[¶6] Charette points to the fact he does not meet the physical description of the person Diane Bate saw walking away from her home and that none of Bate's belongings were found in his possession. Charette stresses that certain witnesses placed him at a local bar until after the time Bate placed her 911 call. Charette argues that, even if one accepts the time line offered by the State, he simply could not have single-handedly committed the burglaries, sexual assault, and murder in the time provided. He contends the evidence does not support the conclusion he was responsible for placing the box of Marian Swenning's possessions outside his home and that various witnesses testified he was wearing dark blue or black pants on December 27th, whereas the pants discovered at the crime scene were tan.

II.

[¶7] In an appeal challenging the sufficiency of the evidence, this Court "look[s] only to the evidence most favorable to the verdict and the reasonable inferences therefrom to see if there is substantial evidence to warrant a conviction." State v. Knowels, 2003 ND 180, ¶ 6, 671 N.W.2d 816 (quoting State v. Kunkel, 548 N.W.2d 773, 773 (N.D. 1996)). "A conviction rests upon insufficient evidence only when no rational fact finder could have found the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt after viewing the evidence in a light most favorable to the prosecution and giving the prosecution the benefit of all inferences reasonably to be drawn in its favor." Id. This Court "will not weigh conflicting evidence, nor judge the credibility of witnesses." State v. Klose, 2003 ND 39, ¶ 19, 657 N.W.2d 276. "A verdict based on circumstantial evidence carries the same presumption of correctness as other verdicts, and will not be disturbed on appeal unless it is unwarranted." State v. Steinbach, 1998 ND 18, ¶ 16, 575 N.W.2d 193. "A conviction may be justified on circumstantial evidence alone if it is of such probative force as to enable the trier of fact to find the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt." Id. And, importantly, "[a] jury may find a defendant guilty even though evidence exists which, if believed, could lead to a verdict of not guilty." State v. Wilson, 2004 ND 51, ¶ 9, 676 N.W.2d 98 (quoting State v. Hatch, 346 N.W.2d 268, 277 (N.D. 1984)); see also Zander v. Workforce Safety and Insurance, 2003 ND 194, ¶ 13, 672 N.W.2d 668 ("The existence of conflicting testimony or other explanations of the evidence does not prevent the fact-finder from reaching a conclusion the evidence is clear and convincing or even clear beyond a reasonable doubt." (quoting Zundel v. Zundel, 278 N.W.2d 123, 129 (N.D. 1979))).

[¶8] There is an abundance of evidence in the record before us from which a rational jury could have found Waylon Charette guilty on all counts. Few cases with such overwhelming circumstantial evidence have come before this Court. Many pieces of evidence link Charette to the Swenning crime scene. Boots, pants, and boxer shorts found at the crime scene were identified as belonging to Charette. Upon returning to his residence on the evening of December 27th, Charette was wearing only a coat. DNA profiles for both Charette and Swenning were found on the aforementioned boxer shorts. Hair found under Swenning's body was microscopically similar to Charette's hair. Bloody foot impressions found at the Swenning crime scene were consistent in size to Charette's foot. A bloody fingerprint from the Swenning crime scene matched Charette's print. DNA evidence established to a statistical certainty that Swenning's blood was on Charette's shirt and shoes belonging to Swenning, both of which were discovered at Charette's home. Charette had bruises, scratches, and abrasions on his body that were consistent with a sexual assault. Charette turned over a coin purse, later identified as Swenning's, to a security guard in a Bismarck emergency room. Various pieces of Swenning's property were discovered at Charette's residence. Testimony was adduced at trial that placed Charette in the location of the Bate and Swenning residences at the time the crimes occurred. Charette's sister and two other witnesses testified that Charette left a local bar around 8:00 p.m. and began walking in the direction of Swenning's residence. Charette's whereabouts were unaccounted for from this time until he returned to his residence between approximately 9:30 and 10:00 p.m. Multiple witnesses reported seeing a single individual either on or in the vicinity of Swenning's property. Finally, witnesses reported seeing this individual fall on multiple occasions, which could be consistent with Charette's heavy drinking.

[¶9] There are also key pieces of evidence that serve to link Charette to the Bate burglary. Bate's wallet was discovered at the Swenning crime scene. Investigators located track evidence between the Bate and Swenning residences, and the tread pattern of the tracks matched the tread pattern of the boots recovered from the Swenning crime scene. Once again, these boots were linked to Charette at trial. The track evidence also exhibited a noticeable drag of the right leg, and the State introduced evidence at trial that Charette had previously injured his right leg. Finally, Diane Bate saw the person who had burglarized her home and noted that the person was heading in the direction of Swenning's residence. This evidence could logically and rationally permit a jury to find that the party responsible for the Swenning crimes was also responsible for the Bate burglary.

[¶10] When viewed in a light most favorable to the prosecution's case, the evidence allowed the jury to conclude Waylon Charette was guilty of the...