State v. Chauvin, No. A05-726.

• Decision Date: 26 October 2006
• Docket Number: No. A05-726.
• Parties: STATE of Minnesota, Respondent, v. Richard Raymond CHAUVIN, Appellant.
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

723 N.W.2d 20

STATE of Minnesota, Respondent, v. Richard Raymond CHAUVIN, Appellant.

No. A05-726.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

October 26, 2006.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Mike Hatch, Attorney General, Thomas R. Ragatz, Assistant Attorney General, Saint Paul, MN, Jan Kolb, Mille Lacs County Attorney, Milaca, MN, For Respondent.

Benjamin J. Butler, Assistant State Public Defender, Office of the Minnesota State Public Defender, Minneapolis, MN, For Appellant.

Heard, considered, and decided by the court en banc.

OPINION

HANSON, Justice.

On appeal from his conviction for felony theft by swindle, appellant Richard Raymond Chauvin challenges the district court's double upward durational departure from the presumptive guideline sentence. Specifically, Chauvin argues that the district court did not have the authority to impanel a jury to make findings on aggravating sentencing factors. Chauvin also challenges the upward departure because it was based on an aggravating factor that did not appear in the complaint. We affirm.

On March 19, 2004, Chauvin waved down a car and asked the driver, 80-year-old D.E., for $200 to help Chauvin get his truck out of a ditch. D.E. was uneasy about the request but agreed because Chauvin knew D.E.'s full name and said that Chauvin sang at a church D.E. occasionally attended. D.E. gave Chauvin the money and a ride after Chauvin promised to pay him back. At one point before the two parted company Chauvin showed D.E. his driver's license, told him his real name, and signed an agreement to return the money. D.E. gave Chauvin another $450 when he returned to D.E.'s home a few hours later and asked for more money to get his truck fixed. The next day someone purporting to be a police officer phoned D.E.'s home and told D.E.'s daughter that Chauvin needed more help and asked that D.E. bring an additional $600. D.E.'s daughter became suspicious and called the police, who identified and arrested Chauvin.

On April 28, 2004, Chauvin was charged by complaint with felony theft by swindle, Minn.Stat. § 609.52, subds. 2(4), 3(3)(a) (2004), and driving after revocation, Minn. Stat. § 171.24, subd. 2 (2004). The complaint was silent about aggravating factors. The presumptive guideline sentence based on the theft charge and Chauvin's criminal history was 24 months commitment to prison.

On June 24, 2004, the United States Supreme Court decided Blakely v. Washington, holding that for Apprendi purposes, the "statutory maximum" is "the maximum sentence a judge may impose solely on the basis of the facts reflected in the jury verdict or admitted by the defendant." Blakely v. Washington, 542 U.S. 296, 303, 124 S.Ct. 2531, 159 L.Ed.2d 403 (2004). In October 2004, about three weeks before trial, the state filed and served on Chauvin a written notice that it would seek an enhanced sentence under Minn.Stat. § 609.1095, subd. 4 (2004) (amended June 2, 2005, eff. Aug. 1, 2005) (five or more prior felonies ("career offender")), and Minn. Sent. Guidelines II. D.2b.(1) (particularly vulnerable victim). The state sought to enhance Chauvin's sentence from 24 months to 60 months, the maximum sentence allowed by Minn.Stat. § 609.1095, subd. 4. The state did not amend its complaint to reflect these aggravating factors.

On the first day of trial the district court told Chauvin and the attorneys that, because the career offender statute requires proof of prior crimes and Blakely requires that the aggravating sentencing factors be found by a jury, it was the court's intention to bifurcate the proceedings by first asking the jury to determine guilt, and then reconvening the jury to hear evidence on and make findings about the existence of the sentencing factors. Outside the presence of the jury the court explained how the bifurcated process would work and told Chauvin that he could waive his right to a jury determination on the sentencing factors if he wished. Chauvin said he did not wish to waive his right to a jury determination on the sentencing factors but objected to any proceeding that would result in a departure from the presumptive sentence of 24 months because there were no rules or statutes authorizing the procedure that the court was contemplating.

After a two-day trial the jury returned a verdict of guilty. The district court then told the jury they could go home, but that they were bound by the same rules as during trial because they would have to return the next day for a "second stage to this trial." After extensive arguments on the state's ability to prove the dates of Chauvin's prior convictions, the state withdrew its motion for an upward departure based on the career offender statute, Minn.Stat. § 609.1095, subd. 4. The court then reconvened the jury for a finding on the other aggravating factor (victim vulnerability), and instructed them as follows:

A separate jury determination is required when a defendant has been found guilty of a crime and the state seeks an increase in the defendant's sentence above the presumptive sentence provided by law. In making that determination the trial jury shall consider those factors relevant to the question of the increased sentence. If you unanimously find beyond a reasonable doubt that one of the following relevant factors exists then the judge may increase the defendant's sentence above the presumptive sentence provided by law. Final determination whether to increase the defendant's sentence remains with the judge.

The court instructed the jury on the state's burden of proof, beyond a reasonable doubt, and on the two elements of a vulnerable victim. The court then said:

If you find that both these elements have been proved beyond a reasonable doubt, then the [victims] were vulnerable adults and you should * * * answer the special interrogatory yes. If you find that either [element] has not been proved beyond a reasonable doubt, the [victims] were not vulnerable adults then you should answer the special interrogatory no.

The attorneys argued to the jury about the sentencing factor based on the evidence presented in the first phase of trial. No new evidence was presented at this sentencing stage. After deliberations the jury returned the interrogatory, finding that "the evidence establishes beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant's victims * * * were vulnerable adults." Based on this jury finding the court sentenced Chauvin to 48 months in prison, double the presumptive sentence. The court of appeals affirmed. State v. Chauvin, No. A05-726, 2005 WL 2979382, at *1 (Minn. App. Nov.8, 2005).

I.

We first address the issue of whether in November of 2004 the district court had the inherent judicial authority to impanel a sentencing jury. This is an issue of law that we review de novo. See State v. Pflepsen, 590 N.W.2d 759, 763 (Minn.1999). At the time of Chauvin's trial and sentencing hearing, the legislature had not yet enacted legislation to specifically authorize the use of juries on sentencing and we had not spoken on the issue of the inherent power of the district court to do so.

A court's inherent judicial authority "grows out of express and implied constitutional provisions mandating a separation of powers and a viable judicial branch of government." In re Clerk of Lyon County Courts' Compensation, 308 Minn. 172, 180, 241 N.W.2d 781, 786 (1976). This authority only extends to a court's "unique judicial functions." State v. C.A., 304 N.W.2d 353, 358-59 (Minn.1981). In Lyon County we identified several guiding principles for analyzing the scope of a district court's inherent judicial authority and concluded:

The test to be applied in these cases is whether the relief requested by the court or aggrieved party is necessary to the performance of the judicial function as contemplated in our state constitution. The test is not relative needs or judicial wants, but practical necessity in performing the judicial function. The test must be applied with due consideration for equally important executive and legislative functions.

Lyon County, 308 Minn. at 181-82, 241 N.W.2d at 786. In other words, a court has inherent judicial authority to engage in activities that are (1) necessary (2) to achieve a unique judicial function (3) without infringing on equally important legislative or executive functions. Applying this test to the facts of this case leads us to conclude that the district court had the inherent judicial authority to impanel a sentencing jury.

First, use of a sentencing jury was necessary because, as the district court correctly determined, the judicial fact finding portion of the Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines was unconstitutional under Blakely. We later confirmed that determination. See State v. Shattuck (Shattuck II), 704 N.W.2d 131, 143 (Minn.2005). In Shattuck II we held that because "Minn. Sent. Guidelines II.D authorize[s] the district court to make * * * an unconstitutional upward durational departure upon finding an aggravating factor without the aid of a jury, we hold that * * * section II.D of the guidelines is unconstitutional as applied." 704 N.W.2d at 142. Without a constitutional mechanism for imposing an upward sentencing departure and without legislative guidance on how to proceed, impaneling a sentencing jury was necessary (1) to carry out the legislative sentencing scheme to the extent that it contemplated that the district court would impose upward departures where such departures were "more appropriate, reasonable, or equitable than the presumptive sentence," see Minn. Sent. Guidelines II.D, 14 Minn.Stat. 347-48 (2004), and (2) to vindicate Chauvin's Sixth Amendment right to a jury determination of aggravating sentencing factors, see Blakely, 542 U.S. at 303-04, 124 S.Ct. 2531.

Chauvin argues that the court's sentencing jury procedure was not necessary because the district court had a constitutional mechanism to sentence him, by imposition of the presumptive sentence. But this argument requires a conclusion that...