State v. Hansen

Decision Date09 June 1994
Docket NumberNo. 20045,20045
Citation125 Idaho 927,877 P.2d 898
PartiesSTATE of Idaho, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Russell A. HANSEN, Defendant-Appellant. Boise, February 1994 Term
CourtIdaho Supreme Court

Chenoweth & Whitehead, Orofino, for appellant. Richard L. Baughman, argued.

Larry EchoHawk, Atty. Gen. and Thomas P. Watkins, Deputy Atty. Gen., argued, Boise, for respondent.

McDEVITT, Chief Justice.

I. FACTS AND PROCEDURE

On September 28, 1990, Russell A. Hansen ("Hansen") and Jeff McAdam ("McAdam") were indicted on charges of racketeering, stemming from their participation in the growing and processing of marijuana around Dworshak Reservoir in 1988 and 1989. McAdam pled guilty to the charge on October 25, 1991. On January 6, 1992, Hansen moved to dismiss the indictment, arguing that the facts alleged are not sufficient to support a conviction on the charge of racketeering. Hansen's motion was supported by an affidavit, in which Hansen admitted the essential facts the State sought to prove at trial.

The facts stipulated in Hansen's affidavit explained the relevant activities of Hansen and others involved in the growing and processing large amounts of marijuana. According to the affidavit, Hansen, McAdam and Robert Moore ("Moore") mutually agreed to direct the marijuana growing operation. Moore provided financial backing and Hansen, McAdam, Moore and others provided labor, and the profits were to be split equally. The three men flew from California to Idaho in Hansen's airplane to locate appropriate sites for the operation in early 1988. During that same period, Hansen was growing marijuana seedlings at his vineyard in California. After selecting the site around Dworshak Reservoir to grow marijuana, Hansen McAdam and Moore purchased a houseboat for use in monitoring the marijuana crops around the reservoir. They then transported the marijuana seedlings and supplies from California to Idaho in a rented truck. They planted and cultivated marijuana in an area near the reservoir through the summer of 1988.

In order to process the marijuana, Hansen, McAdam, and Moore recruited and transported workers from Hansen's California vineyard to the Dworshak Reservoir area. The site used to process the marijuana was a trailer-house near Kamiah, Idaho. Hansen signed a lease for the trailer and Moore paid the rent. The processed marijuana was stored in a rented storage unit in Orofino, Idaho. In November 1988, Hansen transported the marijuana to Chico, California, where it was divided among the parties involved in the growing operation.

The following year, Hansen and McAdam returned to the same area for the same purpose. Hansen rented a house near the Kamiah, Idaho airport. Although Hansen paid rent on the house, McAdam was to reimburse him after the 1989 marijuana harvest. During the spring and summer of 1989, Hansen, McAdam, and Dave Flancy ("Flancy") planted and cultivated marijuana near Dworshak Reservoir in the same manner as the previous year. Flancy was one of the workers hired to process marijuana the previous year. In September 1989, the other workers from the prior year were again invited to help process the harvested marijuana. The workers were again transported to Idaho in Hansen's airplane.

Before the 1989 crop could be harvested, Hansen and the others became concerned about police surveillance. In order to provide a cover for their presence while monitoring the crops, they purchased hunting and fishing equipment. Eventually, Hansen and McAdam, fearing arrest, burned several garbage bags of marijuana leaves that had been stored at the house in Kamiah, and hired two of the processors to drive a rental truck containing Hansen's belongings from the Kamiah residence to his home in Chico, California.

Based on these facts, the district court issued a memorandum decision and order denying Hansen's motion. After the district court denied Hansen's motion to reconsider, Hansen changed his plea to a conditional plea of guilty, retaining his right to appeal the trial court's denial of his motion to dismiss under I.C.R. 11(a)(2).

The district court sentenced Hansen to the custody of the Idaho State Board of Corrections for a minimum period of four years, with a maximum period not to exceed ten years. The court further ordered that Hansen pay the county $70,000 in restitution for the costs of investigating and prosecuting the action against him.

On appeal, Hansen contends that the trial court erred when it denied his motion to dismiss, and challenges the constitutionality of the racketeering statute. Hansen also appeals the sentence imposed by the district court, claiming that the severity of his sentence, when compared with the sentences imposed on his co-defendants, violates the Equal Protection clause of the U.S. Constitution. Finally, Hansen argues that the applicable restitution statute did not grant the district court authority to order that restitution be paid to the county for the costs of investigating and prosecuting this case.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

Although this Court will not weigh facts stipulated to by the parties below, Linn With regard to Hansen's challenge to the sentence imposed by the trial court, however, this Court's inquiry is whether the trial court abused its discretion. State v. Araiza, 124 Idaho 82, 95, 856 P.2d 872, 885 (1993) (applying State v. Broadhead, 120 Idaho 141, 814 P.2d 401 (1991), overruled on other grounds State v. Brown, 121 Idaho 385, 825 P.2d 482 (1992)). For a sentence to constitute an abuse of the trial court's discretion, that sentence must be unreasonable in light of the stated goals of sentencing. Id.

[125 Idaho 930] v. North Idaho Dist. Medical Serv. Bureau, Inc., 102 Idaho 679, 688, 638 P.2d 876, 888 (1981), it is free to draw its own legal conclusions from those facts. Ada County v. Roman Catholic Diocese, 123 Idaho 425, 428, 849 P.2d 98, 101 (1993). In order to draw such conclusions when ruling on a motion for dismissal, which is properly treated as though it was offered as a motion for a directed verdict of acquittal, both this Court and the district court below must determine whether the evidence is sufficient to sustain a conviction of the crime charged. State v. Holder, 100 Idaho 129, 594 P.2d 639 (1979). Hansen's challenge to the indictment therefore requires this Court to determine whether the facts before the district court were sufficient to sustain a conviction of the crime of racketeering. Hansen's challenge to the constitutionality of the racketeering act presents purely a question of law. Harris v. Department of Health & Welfare, 123 Idaho 295, 297, 847 P.2d 1156, 1158 (1993). As such, this Court reviews the district court's ruling de novo. Id.

III. THERE IS SUFFICIENT EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT HANSEN'S CONVICTION OF THE CHARGE OF RACKETEERING

Under Idaho's Racketeering Act, I.C. § 18-7801 et seq., it is unlawful to be "associated with any enterprise to conduct or participate, directly or indirectly, in the conduct of the affairs of such enterprise by engaging in a pattern of racketeering activity." I.C. § 18-7804(c). The definition of "racketeering" includes violations of the Uniform Controlled Substances Act. I.C. § 18-7803(a)(20). On appeal, Hansen contends that the evidence is insufficient to establish the existence of an "enterprise" within the meaning of the Racketeering Act. We disagree.

The Racketeering Act defines "enterprise" as follows:

"Enterprise" means any sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, business, labor union, association or other legal entity or any group of individuals associated in fact although not a legal entity, and includes illicit as well as licit entities[.]

I.C. § 18-7803(c).

Although there are no Idaho cases addressing this issue, cases applying the federal racketeering act 1 have required the existence of three elements to establish an enterprise for racketeering purposes. Those elements are (1) a common or shared purpose; (2) continuity of structure and personnel; and (3) an ascertainable structure distinct from the inherent conduct of the pattern of racketeering activity itself. United States v. Kragness, 830 F.2d 842, 855 (8th Cir.1987) (citing United States v. Turkette, 452 U.S. 576, 580, 101 S.Ct. 2524, 2527 (1981)). Hansen argues that the evidence before the district court did not establish the existence of an enterprise independent from the predicate acts of racketeering under any of these three elements.

a. Common purpose.

Hansen contends that, although the participants had the common purpose of manufacturing marijuana during the summers of 1988 and 1989, they did not have a The language of I.C. § 18-7803(c) explicitly rejects this proposition by including sole proprietorships, partnerships, corporations, businesses, labor unions, associations and other legal entities within the definition of enterprise. Any enterprise other than an illicit association in fact is inherently interested in issues other than the acts of racketeering which it has allegedly participated in.

[125 Idaho 931] single, common interest from the time the first predicate act was committed in 1988 until the last predicate act was committed in 1989. Hansen provides no authority for the proposition that the State must prove an absolute focus of intent in order to prove that the participants shared a common purpose in the pattern of racketeering activity, and no federal court has ever so held. See, e.g., Kragness, 830 F.2d at 856 (common purpose element present where "[e]ach defendant shared the common purpose alleged in the indictment, to import, receive, conceal, buy, sell, and otherwise deal in narcotic and dangerous drugs, and each to some extent carried out this purpose.").

b. Continuity of structure and personnel.

Continuity of structure requires that the enterprise be an ongoing organization whose members function as a continuing unit. See Turkette, 452 U.S. at 583, 101 S.Ct. at 2528 (An association in fact enterprise is ...

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