State v. Henninger

• Decision Date: 25 August 1997
• Docket Number: No. 22619,22619
• Citation: 945 P.2d 864,130 Idaho 638
• Parties: STATE of Idaho, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. William James HENNINGER, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: Idaho Court of Appeals

Page 864

945 P.2d 864

130 Idaho 638

STATE of Idaho, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. William James HENNINGER, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 22619.

Court of Appeals of Idaho.

Aug. 25, 1997.

Rehearing Denied Oct. 22, 1997.

Randall D. Schulthies, Bannock County Public Defender; Thomas E. Eckert, Deputy Public Defender (argued), Pocatello, for Defendant-Appellant.

Alan G. Lance, Attorney General; Jon T. Simmons, Deputy Attorney General (argued), Boise, for Plaintiff-Respondent.

LANSING, Chief Judge.

This is an appeal from a judgment of conviction for the theft of a pickup from a vehicle dealership. The defendant had been allowed to take the pickup from the dealership after he signed an installment sale contract to purchase the vehicle and a $5,000 short-term promissory note for the "down payment." When the defendant neither paid the promissory note nor returned the vehicle, he was charged with grand theft by unauthorized control, I.C. § 18-2403(3), and he was found guilty following a jury trial. We hold that the evidence is insufficient to sustain the finding of guilt of the crime as charged, and we therefore reverse the judgment of conviction.

FACTS

The trial evidence showed that during the morning of June 5, 1995, William James Henninger arrived at the Phil Meador Toyota dealership in Pocatello (hereinafter "the dealership") and stated that he was interested in purchasing a pickup. He selected a 1991 Toyota pickup and reached a mutually agreeable price with the salesman. According to the salesman's testimony, Henninger represented that his parents in Nevada were holding $5,000 that Henninger had received as an insurance settlement and that he could have his parents wire the money to him that same day for use as a down payment. The dealership agreed to sell the truck to Henninger, taking as a "down payment" a $5,000 promissory note due the next day, June 6, 1995. The balance of the purchase price was financed under terms of an installment sale contract. Both parties signed a purchase order and the installment sale contract, and Henninger signed the $5,000 promissory note. The dealership also prepared and placed in the rear window of the pickup a temporary registration form and executed and delivered to Henninger an application form for issuance of a certificate of title in Henninger's name. According to dealership employees, they then allowed Henninger to drive away in the pickup with the understanding that he would return later that day The case was tried before a jury. At the close of the State's case-in-chief, Henninger moved for a judgment of acquittal under Idaho Criminal Rule 29, arguing that the evidence showed only a breach of contract, not a theft. This motion was denied, and Henninger then testified in his own defense. The jury returned a guilty verdict. Henninger now appeals from the judgment of conviction, contending that the court erred in denying his motion for a judgment of acquittal and that the court committed several other trial errors.

to pay the $5,000 promissory note for the down payment. When Henninger did not return, dealership personnel attempted to contact him and found that he no longer lived at the residence address he had given them, that he had not returned to his employment after the date of the pickup purchase, and that the Nevada address and telephone number he had given for his parents were false. An employee of the dealership then contacted law enforcement authorities and reported the pickup stolen. Nineteen days after the purchase, Henninger was arrested and charged with grand theft by unauthorized control.

ANALYSIS

Henninger asserts that the facts introduced at trial show a contract dispute over nonpayment of the promissory note, that the appropriate remedy lies in the civil law arena, and that in light of the contract between Henninger and the dealership there was no demonstrated theft by unauthorized control.

Henninger frames this issue on appeal as an assertion of error in the district court's denial of his motion for a judgment of acquittal at the conclusion of the State's evidence. However, by presenting evidence in defense at trial, Henninger waived any objection to the denial of that motion. State v. Watson, 99 Idaho 694, 698, 587 P.2d 835, 839 (1978). This Court, therefore, will conduct a review of all of the evidence presented at trial to determine whether it is sufficient to support the jury's verdict. Id., citing State v. Gardner, 231 Or. 193, 372 P.2d 783, 784 (1962). On appellate review, a jury verdict finding the defendant guilty of a crime will not be disturbed if there is substantial evidence upon which a reasonable trier of fact could have found that the prosecution sustained its burden of proving the essential elements of the offense beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 2789, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979); State v. Ashley, 126 Idaho 694, 696, 889 P.2d 723, 725 (Ct.App.1994). We do not substitute our view for that of the jury as to the credibility of the witnesses, the weight to be given to the testimony, or the reasonable inferences to be drawn from the evidence. Id.; State v. Decker, 108 Idaho 683, 684, 701 P.2d 303, 304 (Ct.App.1985). If, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, we conclude that the evidence is insufficient to support the guilty verdict, the judgment must be reversed. State v. Warden, 97 Idaho 752, 754, 554 P.2d 684, 686 (1976); State v. Whiteley, 124 Idaho 261, 270, 858 P.2d 800, 809 (Ct.App.1993).

The theft offense with which Henninger was charged is defined as follows: "A person commits theft when he knowingly takes or exercises unauthorized control over, or makes an unauthorized transfer of an interest in, the property of another person, with the intent of depriving the owner thereof." I.C. § 18-2403(3). ¹ The question before us is whether there was substantial evidence to support the jury's finding that Henninger's possession of the pickup constituted "unauthorized control" of property of which he was not the "owner," as those terms are used in Section 18-2403(3).

We begin by noting that, as the State acknowledges, Henninger did not exercise unauthorized control when he took possession of the vehicle on June 5, 1995. The It is the State's theory that Henninger's right to possess the pickup ended when he failed to pay the promissory note on the June 6 due date, and that his possession thereby became unauthorized control. Henninger, on the other hand, contends that this default was merely a breach of contract without implications in the criminal law. Resolution of this issue turns upon interpretation of the statute defining the offense of theft by unauthorized control.

                State's own evidence showed that a transaction was completed by which the dealership had sold the pickup to Henninger before he drove it away.  The installment sale contract executed by both parties provided that Henninger was purchasing the pickup, with the dealership retaining a security interest in the vehicle to secure Henninger's obligation to make installment payments.  The dealership also signed and delivered to Henninger the documents necessary to transfer title and placed a temporary registration form in the window of the pickup.  The dealership thus relinquished to Henninger all the badges of ownership and did everything that it could do to transfer title to him.  Consequently, when Henninger drove away in the pickup, it was not the property of another "owner" and his control of the vehicle was not "unauthorized."   Indeed, under the parties' contract, the dealership had no further right to possession except to the extent that it would be entitled to repossess the vehicle upon default by terms of the security agreement and Idaho law governing the rights of secured creditors
                

In construing a statute, our objective is to ascertain and effectuate the intent of the legislature. Kootenai Electric Co-op., Inc. v. Washington Water Power Co., 127 Idaho 432, 435, 901 P.2d 1333, 1336 (1995); Carpenter v. Twin Falls County, 107 Idaho 575, 582, 691 P.2d 1190, 1197 (1984); State v. Martinez, 126 Idaho 801, 803, 891 P.2d 1061, 1063 (Ct.App.1995). To accomplish this, statutes must be construed as a whole, without separating one provision from another. George W. Watkins Family v. Messenger, 118 Idaho 537, 539, 797 P.2d 1385, 1387 (1990). When it is a criminal statute that is at issue, the court must construe the statute strictly and in favor of the defendant. State v. McCoy, 128 Idaho 362, 365, 913 P.2d 578, 581 (1996); State v. Barnes, 124 Idaho 379, 380, 859 P.2d 1387, 1388 (1993); Martinez, supra. This was explained by the Idaho Supreme Court in State v. Hahn, 92 Idaho 265, 441 P.2d 714 (1968), as follows:

A statute defining a crime must be sufficiently explicit so that all persons subject thereto may know what conduct on their part will subject them to its penalties. A criminal statute must give a clear and unmistakable warning as to the acts which will subject one to criminal punishment, and courts are without power to supply what the legislature has left vague. An act cannot be held as criminal under a statute unless it clearly appears from the language used that the legislature so intended.

Id. at 267, 441 P.2d at 716 (citations omitted).

In reviewing I.C. § 18-2403(3), which defines theft by unauthorized control, we are not persuaded that the legislature intended the statute to apply where a purchaser in a secured credit sale has defaulted in payments and the creditor has thereby become entitled to retake possession of the goods. We acknowledge that Idaho Code Section 18-2402(6) defines "owner" for purposes of the theft statute as follows: "When property is taken, obtained, or withheld by one (1) person from another person, an owner means any person who has a right to possession thereof superior to that of the taker, obtainer, or withholder." It may be legitimately argued that under this...