State v. Garza
Decision Date | 01 December 1999 |
Docket Number | No. 2 CA-CR 99-0185.,2 CA-CR 99-0185. |
Citation | 196 Ariz. 210,994 P.2d 1025 |
Parties | The STATE of Arizona, Appellee, v. Cynthia Marie GARZA, Appellant. |
Court | Arizona Court of Appeals |
Janet Napolitano, Arizona Attorney General by Paul J. McMurdie and Cynthia A. Ryan, Tucson, Attorneys for Appellee. Isabel G. Garcia, Pima County Legal Defender by Scott A. Martin, Tucson, Attorneys for Appellant.
¶ 1 After a bench trial, the trial court found appellant Cynthia Marie Garza guilty of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, but simultaneously found the state had failed to prove the dangerous nature allegation and later sentenced Garza to a substantially mitigated term of 3.5 years' imprisonment. Because there was sufficient evidence that Garza used a gun and placed the victim in reasonable apprehension of imminent physical injury and because the inconsistency in the court's findings does not mandate reversal, we reject Garza's challenges to the finding of guilt and affirm.
¶ 2 We view the evidence and all reasonable inferences therefrom in the light most favorable to sustaining the judgment of conviction. State v. Yoshida, 195 Ariz. 183, 986 P.2d 216, ¶ 13 (App.1998). The victim, an apartment complex property manager, saw Garza, a nonresident of the complex, hiding in a stairwell and told her to leave the property. Garza insulted the victim and, when the victim continued to approach Garza, she moved her sweater to the side, pointed the gun in her belt at the victim, and told her, "you better think about it." The victim testified that "the hole where the bullet comes out through" was pointed at her. Although the victim did not typically call the police about trespassers, she testified that she had done so here because Garza had pointed a gun at her.
¶ 3 Garza first contends her aggravated assault conviction should be vacated because there was no evidence that the victim was placed in "reasonable apprehension of imminent physical injury." See A.R.S. §§ 13-1203(A)(2), 13-1204(A)(2). We will uphold a trial court's finding of guilt if it is supported by substantial evidence, which may be either circumstantial or direct. Yoshida, 195 Ariz. 183, 986 P.2d 216, ¶ 13; State v. Anaya, 165 Ariz. 535, 543, 799 P.2d 876, 884 (App.1990). "Substantial evidence is more than a mere scintilla and is such proof that `reasonable persons could accept as adequate and sufficient to support a conclusion of defendant's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.'" State v. Mathers, 165 Ariz. 64, 67, 796 P.2d 866, 869 (1990), quoting State v. Jones, 125 Ariz. 417, 419, 610 P.2d 51, 53 (1980)
. See also State v. Fulminante, 193 Ariz. 485, ¶ 24, 975 P.2d 75, ¶ 24 (1999).
¶ 4 The victim was not required to testify that she had been placed in reasonable apprehension of imminent physical injury, as long as that fact was established by other evidence. State v. Wood, 180 Ariz. 53, 66, 881 P.2d 1158, 1171 (1994). The trial court saw the victim's demeanor when she testified that the barrel of a gun had been pointed at her and that she had been personally threatened by Garza. And the victim testified that she was concerned for the safety of children playing nearby and had contacted the police because Garza had a gun, although she would not have done so if Garza were a mere trespasser. This evidence and the reasonable inferences therefrom were sufficient for the trial court to conclude that the victim was placed in reasonable apprehension of imminent physical injury. See State v. Valdez, 160 Ariz. 9, 11, 770 P.2d 313, 315 (1989)
( ); State v. Bolman, 222 Ga.App. 534, 474 S.E.2d 721, 722 (1996) ( ); People v. Ivy, 133 Ill.App.3d 647, 88 Ill.Dec. 786, 479 N.E.2d 399, 405 (1985) ( ); State v. Blaise, 504 So.2d 1092, 1094 (La.App.1987) ( ). See generally State v. Butcher, 120 Ariz. 234, 236, 585 P.2d 254, 256 (App.1978) ( ).
¶ 5 This case is distinguishable from State v. Baldenegro, 188 Ariz. 10, 13-14, 932 P.2d 275, 278-79 (App.1996), on which Garza relies. In that case, we held the evidence of apprehension insufficient as to one of the victims, who had been sitting in a vehicle at which shots were fired, did not see the gun pointed at him or the vehicle, did not see bursts of flame from the shots, and did not react to the shooting. Here, however, the victim saw the barrel of the gun pointed at her, was personally threatened by Garza, and contacted the police because Garza had pointed the gun.
¶ 6 Garza next contends her aggravated assault conviction should be reversed because the trial court's guilty finding and its finding that the state failed to prove the dangerous nature allegation were inconsistent and judges in bench trials cannot enter inconsistent findings. The trial court's conclusions are inconsistent and irreconcilable because, under the facts in this case, aggravated assault and the dangerous nature allegation both required the state to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Garza used a deadly weapon or dangerous instrument. A.R.S. §§ 13-1204(A)(2), 13-604(P).
459 P.2d at 85 ().
¶ 8 Furthermore, the federal constitution does not prohibit a judge in a bench trial from exercising leniency. See Harris v. Rivera, 454 U.S. 339, 348, 102 S.Ct. 460, 465, 70 L.Ed.2d 530, 537 (1981)
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