State v. Cheatham
| Decision Date | 29 June 2000 |
| Docket Number | No. 25570., No. 25504 |
| Citation | 134 Idaho 565,6 P.3d 815 |
| Parties | STATE of Idaho, Plaintiff-Appellant-Cross Respondent, v. Richard Dale CHEATHAM, Defendant-Respondent-Cross Appellant. State of Idaho, Plaintiff-Appellant-Cross Respondent, v. Alicia Duyungan, Defendant-Respondent-Cross Appellant. |
| Court | Idaho Supreme Court |
Hon. Alan G. Lance, Attorney General, Boise, for appellant. Michael A. Henderson, Deputy Attorney General, argued.
Hutchinson, Lammers & Clark, Chtd., Twin Falls; Randy J. Stoker, Twin Falls, for respondent Richard Dale Cheatham. Randy J. Stoker argued.
Anthony M. Valdez, Twin Falls and John A. Olson, The Dalles, for respondent Alicia Duyungan. Anthony M. Valdez argued.
The State of Idaho appeals from the district judge's grant of the defendants', Richard Cheatham (Cheatham) and Alicia Duyungan (Duyungan), motion to dismiss the felony murder charges filed against them. The State argues the district judge incorrectly interpreted Idaho law as it applied to this case and substantial evidence exists to support the charges of first degree murder in the commission of a robbery and, alternatively, first degree murder in the commission of burglary, as to both defendants. Because we find the district judge correctly determined the intent to commit the underlying felony must exist prior to the killing in order to be felony murder, we affirm this portion of the district judge's decision. However, we reverse his order dismissing the felony murder charges because sufficient evidence exists to support the charges of murder in the commission of a robbery or burglary. We also affirm the district judge's denial of Cheatham and Duyungan's motion to suppress evidence obtained pursuant to the search warrant issued for the residence in which they were residing, and Cheatham's motion to suppress statements made to law enforcement officers.
On September 6, 1997, the body of Wayne Lafferty (Lafferty) was found in the Monument Peak area south of Twin Falls, Idaho. Lafferty's body was tightly wrapped in a blanket and tarp tied together with orange bailing twine. An autopsy performed by Dr. John Gray on September 7, 1997 revealed Lafferty had died as the result of craniocerebral trauma due to multiple blows to the back of his head. Lafferty's blood-alcohol concentration was found to be approaching .08.
Although Lafferty's body was discovered near Monument Peak, police believed Lafferty was killed in his residence due to the blood spatter evidence found at that location. According to a forensic blood spatter expert, the blood spatter evidence indicated Lafferty was moving across the room in an upright position as he was being struck from behind.
William Wright (Wright) was a neighbor and friend of Lafferty. In July 1997, Cheatham and Duyungan began living as guests in Wright's house. On Friday, September 5, 1997, Cheatham and Duyungan arrived at Wright's house with three videotapes. At 10:00 p.m., having watched one of the videotapes with Wright, Cheatham and Duyungan left the residence, telling Wright they were going to Lafferty's house to watch the remaining videos. Cheatham and Duyungan returned to Wright's residence at approximately 2:00 a.m. on September 6, 1997. On September 7, 1997, the police investigators interviewed Cheatham and Duyungan. While both denied any knowledge of the circumstances surrounding Lafferty's death, they did acknowledge they had both had frequent contact with Lafferty in the months preceding his death. Later that same day, a search warrant was issued for Wright's residence. Pursuant to that search warrant, police investigators found a gold bracelet with the initials "W.L." and Lafferty's Costco card in an area of the house occupied by Cheatham and Duyungan.
In early December of 1997, Cheatham and Duyungan arrived at the residence of Cheatham's aunt, Margaret Lair (Lair), in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. When they arrived, Cheatham had several items of gold jewelry in his possession, including a ring with diamonds, a large gold crucifix on a gold chain, and a Seiko watch. During the course of their stay, Cheatham persuaded Lair to pawn the gold ring with diamonds at an Oklahoma City pawnshop. Lair observed no jewelry in the possession of Duyungan.
At some point after the visit to Cheatham's aunt in Oklahoma, Cheatham and Duyungan arrived in Greenville, South Carolina. According to records obtained from a pawnshop in Greenville, a woman named Alicia Duyungan sold a bracelet to the business using a Washington state identification card to identify herself. Additional records from that same pawnshop indicate a man named Richard Cheatham pawned a gold cross using a Louisiana state driver's license as identification. Those items were subsequently recovered from the pawnshop.
At the preliminary hearing Wilma Lafferty, Wayne Lafferty's ex-wife, testified the jewelry recovered from the pawnshop was similar to jewelry owned by Lafferty (she could not identify any differences between the recovered jewelry and the jewelry owned by Lafferty). She also testified Lafferty had been wearing that jewelry on September 1, 1997, the last time she had seen Lafferty before his death.
On April 23, 1998, Cheatham and Duyungan were arrested in South Carolina for the theft of Lafferty's jewelry. Cheatham was interviewed by police in South Carolina and during the interview, Cheatham admitted pawning the gold cross but maintained the cross was a present from his aunt, Margaret Lair. He denied any knowledge of Lafferty's death.
On May 11, 1998, Detective Curtis Gambrel and Deputy Nutting arrived in South Carolina to transport Cheatham back to Idaho. During the three-day trip back to Idaho, Cheatham indicated he wished to speak with Gambrel about Lafferty's death. On May 13, 1998, Detective Gambrel interviewed Cheatham in Rawlins, Wyoming. During this interview, Cheatham admitted involvement in Lafferty's death. Cheatham stated he had come to the aid of Duyungan who was being attacked by Lafferty. Cheatham further admitted to wrapping Lafferty's body up while still in the residence and using Lafferty's truck to dispose of the body. Cheatham also admitted to taking Lafferty's ring and gold chain and cross.
Following her arrest, Duyungan was also transported back to Idaho. While awaiting trial in the Twin Falls County jail, Duyungan told her cellmate she had struck a man with a hammer and "Richard" had finished the man. She said she had been defending herself from Lafferty who was trying to molest her. Duyungan also stated she had taken the man's jewelry and pawned it. Duyungan made similar admissions to two other inmates.
Cheatham and Duyungan were originally charged with premeditated first degree murder, and alternatively with two counts of first degree felony murder with robbery and burglary as the underlying felonies. Following the preliminary hearing, the magistrate judge dismissed the premeditated first degree murder charges, but bound Cheatham and Duyungan over on the felony murder charges.1 Cheatham and Duyungan filed motions to dismiss the information for lack of sufficient evidence to bind them over for trial, which were denied. They then filed motions to reconsider, which were likewise denied. In August 1998, Cheatham and Duyungan each filed a motion to suppress evidence obtained pursuant to the September 7th search warrant, on the grounds the affidavit underlying the search warrant was, as a matter of law, insufficient to establish probable cause for issuance of the search warrant. The district judge denied these motions.
In October of 1998, Cheatham filed a motion to suppress certain statements made by him to law enforcement officers, on the grounds the statements were involuntary and that his Miranda rights were violated. The district judge granted the motion in part and denied it in part.
Finally, Cheatham and Duyungan renewed their motion to dismiss the information for insufficient evidence. After hearing argument and reviewing the evidence, the district judge granted the motion to dismiss the felony murder charges, thereby reducing the charges to second degree murder. The State has appealed this decision pursuant to Idaho Appellate Rule 11(c)(3) and (5). Cheatham and Duyungan have cross-appealed the district judge's denial of their motion to suppress evidence and Cheatham has cross-appealed the district judge's denial of his motion to suppress the statements he made to law enforcement officers.
The trial judge granted the motion to dismiss the felony murder charges (and reduced the charges to second degree murder), just before the trial was scheduled to begin. The State argues this decision was essentially a grant of a motion for a judgment of acquittal as to the felony murder charges, pursuant to Rule 29 of the Idaho Criminal Rules. In contrast, Cheatham and Duyungan argue the motion was granted pursuant to I.C.R. 48(a)(2), allowing the judge to dismiss a criminal charge when such dismissal will "serve the ends of justice and the effective administration of the court's business." Under I.C.R. 29, a trial judge may grant a motion for a judgment of acquittal after "the evidence on either side is closed." While the trial had not yet begun in this case, it is clear the trial judge considered the State's offer of proof of what the evidence would show at trial, and then used that as the basis for his ruling on the motion to dismiss. Neither party objected to this procedure. In examining the procedural posture of this case and the court's ruling, it appears the district judge was relying on I.C.R. 29.
When reviewing the district judge's grant of a motion for acquittal, we examine the record for sufficiency of the evidence supporting the trial court's determination. See State v. Griffith, 127 Idaho 8, 11, ...
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State v. Pina, Docket No. 34192 (Idaho 3/18/2010)
...would not be part of the same general criminal occurrence and Cheatham and Duyungan could not be convicted of felony murder. Id. at 571, 6 P.3d at 821. Where the intent to commit the felony was present at the time of the homicide, the homicide is considered part of the same general criminal......
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State v. Lankford, Docket No. 35617
...It is equally true that Lankford could not be guilty of felony murder if he was an accessory after the fact. State v. Cheatham , 134 Idaho 565, 571, 6 P.3d 815, 821 (2000) ( "The general rationale behind the felony murder rule is that the intent to commit the felony substitutes for the mali......
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State v. Lankford
...It is equally true that Lankford could not be guilty of felony murder if he was an accessory after the fact. State v. Cheatham , 134 Idaho 565, 571, 6 P.3d 815, 821 (2000) ("The general rationale behind the felony murder rule is that the intent to commit the felony substitutes for the malic......
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State v. Hoyle
...than the Hoyle decision, the two cases that cite to Griffith do not adopt the "some evidence of guilt" language. In State v. Cheatham 134 Idaho 565, 6 P.3d 815 (2000), the Court cited Griffith for two propositions. First, "we examine the record for sufficiency of the evidence supporting the......