State v. Easton

• Citation: 510 S.E.2d 465,203 W.Va. 631
• Decision Date: 07 December 1998
• Docket Number: No. 25057, No. 25058.
• Parties: STATE of West Virginia, Plaintiff Below, Appellee, v. George A. EASTON, Defendant Below, Appellant. State of West Virginia, Plaintiff Below, Appellee, v. Kevin True, Defendant Below, Appellant.
• Court: Supreme Court of West Virginia

510 S.E.2d 465

203 W.Va. 631

STATE of West Virginia, Plaintiff Below, Appellee, v. George A. EASTON, Defendant Below, Appellant.

State of West Virginia, Plaintiff Below, Appellee, v. Kevin True, Defendant Below, Appellant.

Nos. 25057, 25058.

Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia.

Submitted September 9, 1998.

Decided December 7, 1998.

Daniel R. James, Barr, James & Pancake, P.L.L.C., Keyser, West Virginia, Attorney for Appellants Easton and True.

Darrell V. McGraw, Jr., Attorney General, Victor S. Woods, Kristine M. Howard, Assistant Attorneys General, Charleston, West Virginia, Attorneys for the Appellee.

DAVIS, Chief Justice:

Defendants below, George A. Easton and Kevin True,¹ appeal from sentencing orders entered September 11, 1997, by the Circuit Court of Hampshire County. Both defendants previously had been convicted of the felony offense of the willful creation, by a custodian, of an emergency situation for an incapacitated adult and misdemeanor battery, which crimes were committed when the defendants were called upon to restrain a patient residing in a personal care home where they were employed. As a result of these convictions, the circuit court sentenced each defendant to a term of confinement of not less than two years nor more than ten years in the West Virginia State Penitentiary for their felony offense and a term of one year in the Hampshire County Jail for their misdemeanor crime, to be served concurrently with the indeterminate term for the felony offense. Upon a review of the parties' arguments on appeal, the record established in this case, and the pertinent authorities, we affirm the decision of the Circuit Court of Hampshire County. In rendering this decision, we find the penal statute under which defendants Easton and True were convicted of willfully creating an emergency situation for an incapacitated adult, former W. Va. Code § 9-6-15(b) (1984) (Repl.Vol.1990), to be constitutional. We also determine that the circuit court did not err in upholding the defendants' convictions or imposing sentences thereon as the record evidence sufficiently supported their convictions; that their sentences, which were imposed in accordance with a repealed penal statute, were authorized by law; and that their multiple convictions did not violate double jeopardy considerations.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

The evidence presented to the jury suggests the following facts. At the center of the events giving rise to the defendants' crimes and their resultant sentences at issue in this appeal is a young man with mental impairments [hereinafter "the patient"] who had been placed in a residential personal care facility. The patient's medical history included mild mental retardation, schizophrenia, and self-injurious behavior. Having been determined to constitute a safety threat to himself and others, he was placed in one care home and then transferred to the Concord home in Hampshire County, West Virginia.² On the day of his arrival at Concord, September 5, 1996, the patient attempted to leave the facility, wearing no shoes or shirt, and was found walking in the middle of a state highway. Upon his return to Concord, the patient engaged in self-injurious behavior, including repeatedly banging his head on the floor and hitting himself. As a result of the patient's proclivities, Concord assigned a house counselor, Harry Eugene Hutts, Jr. [hereinafter "Hutts"], to monitor his behavior.³ More specifically, Hutts was directed to monitor the patient's bedroom to ensure that he did not again attempt to leave Concord or engage in self-injurious behavior.

Mr. Hutts testified that, on September 8, 1996, in spite of his supervision, the patient's aggression again manifested itself. Having obtained permission from Hutts to leave his room to go to the restroom, the patient, instead of returning to his room, attempted to leave the group home. In an effort to prevent the patient's unauthorized departure, Hutts blocked the door. Responding to Hutts' actions, the patient hit Hutts with a large potted plant and threw a medicine box at him. Hutts, who was a relatively new employee at Concord and who had not yet been trained to restrain physically aggressive patients, testified that he called for help. Three other house counselors assigned to the patient's home responded: defendants Easton and True, and a third individual. Easton reportedly instructed Hutts to "move to the kitchen and stay out of the way," and the three house counselors, Easton, True, and the third person, performed a "take down" maneuver, whereby an uncontrollable patient is held by the arms and lowered to the ground in an attempt to calm the individual and minimize the risk of harm to the patient and others.⁴ Hutts then observed, for the next two and one-half hours, the three house counselors repeatedly strike the patient with their fists and open hands, kick him, and curse him. Following this incident, defendant True transported the patient to a nearby medical center where he was noted to have had numerous contusions to his eyes, face, lips, shoulders, and back, but no lacerations or broken bones. The patient was released after being prescribed an over-the-counter analgesic. On September 10, 1996, the patient's family withdrew him from the Concord facility and sought additional medical evaluations of his medical condition resulting from the Concord incident of two days previous.

Thereafter, Easton and True were each charged with two criminal offenses arising from their actions on September 8, 1996, involving the patient⁵: malicious or unlawful assault, a felony pursuant to W. Va.Code § 61-2-9(a) (1978) (Repl.Vol.1997),⁶ and willful creation, by a custodian or caretaker, of an emergency situation involving an incapacitated adult, a felony under W. Va.Code § 9-6-15(b) (1984) (Repl.Vol.1990)⁷. On January 7, 1997, both defendants were indicted on these charges, and, on March 18 and 21, 1997, a Hampshire County jury found defendants Easton and True, respectively, guilty of misdemeanor battery, as defined in W. Va.Code § 61-2-9(c) (1978) (Repl.Vol.1997),⁸ and willfully creating an emergency situation for an incapacitated adult. Following the defendants' jury convictions, the West Virginia Legislature, in April, 1997, repealed W. Va.Code § 9-6-15,⁹see W. Va.Code § 9-6-15 (1997) (Repl.Vol.1998), and enacted a similar statute, W. Va.Code § 61-2-29 (1997) (Repl. Vol.1997),¹⁰ which contained the same penalties as the repealed statute, but which redefined the illegal behaviors, omitting the crime of "willfully creat[ing] an emergency situation for an incapacitated adult." Subsequently, on August 27, 1997, the circuit court held a sentencing hearing during which it imposed upon each defendant a twelve-month term of confinement in the Hampshire County Jail for his battery conviction and an indeterminate term of incarceration in the West Virginia State Penitentiary of not less than two years nor more than ten years for his conviction of willfully creating an emergency situation for an incapacitated adult. The court ordered each defendant's one-year county jail sentence to run concurrently with his indeterminate term of penitentiary incarceration. On September 11, 1997, orders were entered in both defendant Easton's and defendant True's criminal cases reflecting the sentences imposed during the sentencing hearing.

From these convictions and sentences, the defendants appeal to this Court. Because of the identity of the circumstances underlying the crimes with which the defendants were charged, the offenses of which they were convicted, and the sentences which they ultimately received, this Court, by order dated August 31, 1998, consolidated the individual appeals of defendants Easton and True for review and decisional purposes.

II. DISCUSSION

On appeal to this Court, defendants Easton and True complain first that W. Va.Code § 9-6-15(b) (1984) (Repl.Vol.1990), under which they were convicted of willfully creating an emergency situation for an incapacitated adult, is unconstitutional. They also suggest that their convictions of battery and willful creation of an emergency situation and resultant sentences were improper based upon the insufficient evidence supporting such convictions. Furthermore, Easton and True maintain that the circuit court was not authorized to sentence them for the crime of willful creation of an emergency situation since the portion of W. Va.Code § 9-6-15 defining this offense and its punishment was repealed prior to the circuit court's imposition of sentence therefor. Lastly, they challenge the ability of the circuit court to convict and sentence them for battery and willfully creating an emergency situation in consideration of the principles of double jeopardy.¹¹ Following a brief examination of the applicable standard of review, we will address each of these contentions in turn.

A. Standard of Review

In deciding the instant appeal, we refer generally to the standard of review applicable to jury verdicts.¹² Typically, when a case that has been tried before and decided by a jury is appealed to this Court, we afford great deference to the jury's decision. "A reviewing court should not reverse a criminal case on the facts which have been passed upon by the jury, unless the court can say that there is reasonable doubt of guilt and that the verdict must have been the result of misapprehension, or passion and prejudice." Syl. pt. 3, State v. Sprigg, 103 W.Va. 404, 137 S.E. 746 (1927). See also 1B Michie's Jurisprudence Appeal and Error § 267, at 480-81 (Repl.Vol.1995) (1996) ("It has ... been repeatedly held that a verdict fairly rendered ought not to be interfered with by the court, unless manifest wrong and injustice have been done, or unless the verdict is plainly not warranted by the evidence." (footnote omitted)). This deferential standard stems from the supreme importance accorded the jury's fact-finding role. "`The jury is...