State v. Courville, 00-800.

• Decision Date: 20 December 2002
• Docket Number: No. 00-800.,00-800.
• Parties: STATE of Montana, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Matthew Calvin COURVILLE, Defendant and Appellant.
• Court: Montana Supreme Court

61 P.3d 749

2002 MT 330

313 Mont. 218

STATE of Montana, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Matthew Calvin COURVILLE, Defendant and Appellant.

No. 00-800.

Supreme Court of Montana.

Submitted on Briefs September 20, 2001.

Decided December 20, 2002.

For Appellant: Milton Datsopoulos, Datsopoulos, MacDonald & Lind, Missoula, Montana.

For Respondent: Mike McGrath, Montana Attorney General, John Paulson, Assistant Montana Attorney General, Helena, Montana; Robert J. Long, Lake County Attorney, Polson, Montana.

Justice JAMES C. NELSON delivered the Opinion of the Court.

¶ 1 Appellant Matthew Courville (Courville), appeals an order of the Twentieth Judicial District Court, Lake County, denying his motion to suppress and motion for a new trial. We affirm.

¶ 2 We address the following issues on appeal:

¶ 3 1. Did the District Court properly deny Courville's motion to suppress evidence?

¶ 4 2. Did the District Court properly instruct the jury regarding the statutory prohibition against the use of force to resist arrest?

¶ 5 We do not address the final issue presented by Courville, whether his sentence enhancement under § 46-18-221, MCA, for use of a weapon is valid under Apprendi v. New Jersey (2000), 530 U.S. 466, 120 S.Ct. 2348, 147 L.Ed.2d 435, because he failed to preserve this issue for appeal. The general rule is that issues not raised before the trial court and new legal theories are not considered by this Court on appeal because it is unfair to fault the trial court on an issue it was never given an opportunity to consider. Unified Indus., Inc. v. Easley, 1998 MT 145, ¶ 15, 289 Mont. 255, ¶ 15, 961 P.2d 100, ¶ 15 (citing Day v. Payne (1996), 280 Mont. 273, 276, 929 P.2d 864, 866). While Courville claims he preserved this issue for appeal because he mentioned due process concerns with the sentence enhancement under § 46-18-221, MCA, we do not agree that these general assertions to the trial court without any argument analyzing his assertions in the context of Apprendi—indeed, he did not even cite to this case-were sufficient to preserve this issue for appeal.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

A. The Facts

¶ 6 On or about September 10 and 11, 1999, Lake County Deputy Sheriff Larry Kirby (Kirby) was patrolling in the southern portion of Lake County, west of Ronan near Sloan's Bridge. Kirby decided to patrol this area because earlier in the evening, he overheard a dispatch to officers in Ronan reporting possible underage drinking in the area. While he was checking out an abandoned vehicle, Kirby received and responded to a call for assistance from Flathead Tribal Officer Orsino Walker (Walker). Walker was also in the area and had come across possible a drinking party. Individuals at that party informed Kirby that people in two trucks that left when Walker initially approached had possibly been drinking and were of questionable age.

¶ 7 Walker and Kirby decided to continue patrolling and split up in order to cover a larger area. After encountering rough road, Walker turned around and the two decided to meet again near the bridge. As Kirby approached the bridge, two trucks pulled onto the road from a side road and proceeded in front of him. Walker was approaching from the opposite direction. When he saw the trucks, Walker activated his overhead lights, but the trucks failed to stop. A pursuit ensued in which Walker and Kirby followed the two trucks.

¶ 8 One truck, the one driven by Courville, pulled off the main road onto a river access road. Kirby followed Courville's vehicle while Walker continued to pursue the truck on the main road. Courville eventually stopped his truck and his passenger, Garrett Finley (Finley), bailed out of the truck and took off running, later testifying that he did not want to be arrested.

¶ 9 Kirby saw Finley run off and then saw the driver's side door of Courville's vehicle open but no one got out. Kirby drew his gun and approached the truck. Courville was sitting in the driver's seat, staring ahead with his hands on the steering wheel. Kirby identified himself and Courville eventually released the steering wheel and allowed Kirby to remove him from the truck. Kirby had Courville face the truck and put his hands on top of the truck. Kirby then pushed Courville's legs apart to put him in a wider stance.

¶ 10 As Kirby was putting his gun back into his holster in order to get handcuffs for Courville, the two somehow ended up on the ground with Courville on top. Courville struck Kirby in the face a number of times. Courville jerked Kirby's gun away from him and hit him in face with it. Courville then got off Kirby, threw the gun into the back of his truck and attempted to leave. Kirby got to his feet and was able to retrieve the gun. He attempted to stop Courville but was unable to and Courville fled the scene.

¶ 11 Later examination revealed that Courville had struck Kirby's head in seven places, damaging his left eye and causing some loss of vision. Courville shattered the bones in Kirby's nose requiring surgical reconstruction. In addition, Kirby lost four teeth, broke a leg bone, fractured ribs, and required a number of stitches, among other injuries. Much of the incident was recorded by the video camera on the front of Kirby's patrol car. Courville was arrested a few hours later and admitted he struck Kirby with Kirby's gun.

B. The Procedural History

¶ 12 As a result of this incident, Courville was charged with two counts of felony assault on a police officer, felony criminal endangerment, misdemeanor reckless driving, and misdemeanor resisting arrest. Courville pled guilty to the two misdemeanors. He then made a motion to dismiss the remaining charges on grounds of double jeopardy. Both the District Court and this Court, on Courville's petition for a writ of supervisory control, denied Courville's motion. Courville also made a motion to suppress, asserting that all the evidence that served as grounds for the charges against him should be suppressed under the exclusionary rule because Kirby did not have particularized suspicion to stop him in the first place. Based on this motion, Courville asserted that all the charges against him should be dismissed. The District Court denied the motion, holding that Kirby had particularized suspicion.

¶ 13 The felony charges were then submitted to a jury trial. The jury returned a verdict of guilty on one count of felony assault on a police officer in violation of § 45-5-210(1)(d), MCA, and found Courville not guilty on the other two counts. Following trial, Courville renewed his motion to suppress. He also filed a motion for a new trial arguing that the trial court erred by instructing the jury on the prohibition against the use of force to resist arrest by a peace officer. The District Court ruled against Courville on both issues and sentenced him to a term of twenty years, eight suspended, for the assault. The court also sentenced Courville to a consecutive term of ten years, with six suspended, based on his use of Kirby's gun in the commission of the offense. Courville now appeals.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

¶ 14 We review a district court's denial of a motion to suppress evidence to determine whether the court's findings of fact are clearly erroneous and whether those findings are correctly applied as a matter of law. State v. Dawson, 1999 MT 171, ¶ 13, 295 Mont. 212, ¶ 13, 983 P.2d 916, ¶ 13. Further, we will affirm a district court's ruling if the court reaches the correct result for the wrong reason. State v. Parker, 1998 MT 6, ¶ 20, 287 Mont. 151, ¶ 20, 953 P.2d 692, ¶ 20.

¶ 15 The standard of review of jury instructions in criminal cases is whether the instructions, as a whole, fully and fairly instruct the jury on the law applicable to the case. State v. Hall, 1999 MT 297, ¶ 39, 297 Mont. 111, ¶ 39, 991 P.2d 929, ¶ 39. A district court has broad discretion when it instructs the jury. Hall, ¶ 39. To constitute reversible error, the jury instructions must prejudicially affect the defendant's substantial rights. State v. Goulet (1997), 283 Mont. 38, 41, 938 P.2d 1330, 1332.

III. DISCUSSION

¶ 16 1. Did the District Court properly deny Courville's motion to suppress evidence?

¶ 17 Courville first asserts that the District Court erred in denying his motion to suppress. He argues that all evidence of the encounter he had with Kirby is inadmissible under the exclusionary rule because Kirby did not have particularized suspicion to pull him over for an investigatory stop in the first place. This evidence includes the videotape of the incident, Kirby's statements, Courville's statements, evidence of Kirby's injuries, and any other evidence of the incident. Because Courville's conviction is based only on the events following the stop, Courville asserts that once this evidence is suppressed, the charges against him must be dismissed.

¶ 18 The State counters that Kirby had particularized suspicion to investigate Courville. Alternatively, the State asserts that even if Kirby did not have particularized suspicion, the evidence was properly admitted because criminal conduct committed in response to a Fourth Amendment violation is admissible. Courville argues that we cannot address this alternative position because the State raised it for the first time on appeal. We disagree. Our review of the record shows that the State did make this argument to the District Court in its response to Courville's initial motion to suppress.

¶ 19 While the trial court determined that Kirby did have particularized suspicion for his stop of Courville, we agree with the State that we do not need to reach that issue because the evidence in this case would be admissible whether the stop was supported by particularized suspicion or not. And, as already mentioned, we will affirm a trial court when it reaches the correct result even if for the wrong reason. Parker, ¶ 20.

¶ 20 It is well settled that the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and ...