State v. Hodde

• Decision Date: 27 September 2004
• Citation: 858 A.2d 1126,181 N.J. 375
• Parties: STATE of New Jersey, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Richard HODDE, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: New Jersey Supreme Court

858 A.2d 1126

181 N.J. 375

STATE of New Jersey, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Richard HODDE, Defendant-Appellant.

Supreme Court of New Jersey.

Argued March 2, 2004.

Decided September 27, 2004.

Kevin G. Byrnes, Designated Counsel, argued the cause for appellant (Yvonne Smith Segars, Public Defender, attorney).

Russell J. Curley, Deputy Attorney General, argued the cause for respondent (Peter C. Harvey, Attorney General of New Jersey, attorney).

Justice ZAZZALI delivered the opinion of the Court.

Defendant Richard Hodde was convicted of receiving stolen property, in violation of N.J.S.A. 2C:20-7a and N.J.S.A. 2C:20-2b(2)(b). This case presents us with the question of whether a defendant may be convicted under those statutes when the property, in fact, is not proven to be stolen. Because we determine that the relevant statutory language requires the State to prove that the property has been stolen, we reverse the judgment of the Appellate Division and remand for a new trial.

I.

As adduced at trial, the facts are as follows. On the morning of September 18, 1999, employees of a Penske Truck leasing facility in Pottsville, Pennsylvania noticed a truck missing from the lot. Suspecting that the truck had been stolen, they contacted the police and provided a description of the vehicle. The police in Pennsylvania, in turn, prepared an "all police broadcast" that the New Jersey State Police subsequently received by Teletype on the evening of September 20, 1999.

After receiving that information, Troopers Jarrett Beatrice and Brett Warne traveled to a truck stop just off of Route 78 in Hunterdon County in search of the vehicle. After arriving, the officers noticed that, although trucks are usually backed into the parking spaces, a truck matching the description of the stolen vehicle had been pulled in headfirst. The vehicle also stood out because it had no trailer attached. A computer check of the license plate confirmed that it was the vehicle reported stolen in Pennsylvania.

Trooper Beatrice climbed onto the front end over the engine and saw defendant in a sleeping bag in the rear compartment of the cab. Trooper Warne also saw pants draped over the driver-side seat. The troopers attempted to wake defendant for five to ten minutes by shouting, knocking on the windows, and shaking the cab. Unsuccessful in their efforts, they walked back to their vehicle to contact their sergeant for guidance. After doing so, they returned to the tractor when Beatrice saw the passenger-side door open and defendant exit the cab. Because Beatrice could not see defendant's right hand, he ordered him to show his hands. The troopers then handcuffed and arrested defendant.

Defendant asked why he was being placed under arrest. The troopers informed him that the tractor had been reported stolen in Pennsylvania. According to the troopers, defendant attempted to explain that the truck was simply "overdue" as a result of a fight he had had with his boss and that, consequently, the stolen-vehicle report "was just a big misunderstanding." Although defendant did not have any keys in his possession, the troopers found a set of keys in the ignition. The troopers observed no evidence of forced entry into the tractor nor did they find any tools or objects indicating that defendant had broken into the vehicle. Defendant possessed a Pennsylvania commercial truck driver's license, but the troopers did not observe defendant drive the tractor.

A Hunterdon County grand jury indicted defendant on one count of third-degree theft by receiving stolen property, contrary to N.J.S.A. 2C:20-7a, and, because a motor vehicle was involved, N.J.S.A. 2C:20-2b(2)(b). After defendant pled not guilty, the case proceeded to trial.

In addition to the testimony of Troopers Beatrice and Warne, the State presented the manager of the truck-leasing facility, Elwin Beadle, as a witness. Beadle testified that the truck and five others were leased to the Phillip VanHeusen Company (VanHeusen). VanHeusen hires its own drivers, who access the trucks directly from the Penske lot. Beadle explained that in order to prevent the drivers from inadvertently locking themselves out of the truck, each driver keeps a key on his person while another key remains in the ignition of each tractor, even when it is parked at the Penske facility. Beadle and other Penske employees are familiar with VanHeusen's drivers because of regular contact with them. Beadle did not recognize defendant as one of the VanHeusen drivers and testified that he had never seen defendant before. Beadle also testified that after recovering the tractor involved in this case, he noticed that it had been driven 1,200 miles since it was last logged in. He said that a small vent-window on the passenger-side door had been damaged. Based on his prior experience involving break-ins with Penske trucks in New York City, he believed that access to the tractor was gained through that opening.

Defendant did not testify at trial. It appears that his strategy was to cast doubt on whether the tractor was stolen. The trial court instructed the jurors that they need only find that defendant believed the vehicle was stolen or probably had been stolen. After receiving that charge, the jury convicted defendant. After conviction, the State moved for an extended sentence. The trial court granted that motion and sentenced defendant to a seven-year prison term and imposed applicable fines.

Defendant appealed, arguing for the first time that the trial court erred in instructing the jury that the State did not have to prove that the truck actually had been stolen. The Appellate Division affirmed, finding no plain error in the trial court's jury charge on receiving stolen property and rejecting his remaining claims of error. We granted certification, 178 N.J. 28, 834 A.2d 402 (2003), and now reverse.

II.

Our analysis of whether N.J.S.A. 2C:20-7a requires that the property actually be stolen begins with the fundamental premise that criminal laws are to be strictly construed. State v. Valentin, 105 N.J. 14, 17, 519 A.2d 322 (1987). With that as our cynosure, we apply the familiar canons of statutory construction. We first inquire whether the statute admits of a plain-meaning interpretation. Burns v. Belafsky, 166 N.J. 466, 473, 766 A.2d 1095 (2001). When "the statutory language is clear and unambiguous, and susceptible to only one interpretation, courts should apply the statute as written without resort to extrinsic interpretative aids." In re Passaic County Utils. Auth., 164 N.J. 270, 299, 753 A.2d 661 (2000). Statutory provisions, however, cannot be read in isolation. Matturri v. Bd. of Trs. of Jud. Ret. Sys., 173 N.J. 368, 383-84, 802 A.2d 496 (2002). They must be construed in concert with other legislative pronouncements on the same subject matter so as to give full effect to each constituent part of an overall legislative scheme. Ibid. If two interpretations of the language are plausible, we must effectuate the legislative intent by resorting to extrinsic evidence. Burns, supra, 166 N.J. at 473, 766 A.2d 1095.

With those principles to guide us, we turn to N.J.S.A. 2C:20-7a, which provides:

Receiving stolen property.

a. Receiving. A person is guilty of theft if he knowingly receives or brings into this State movable property of another knowing that it has been stolen, or believing that it is probably stolen. It is an affirmative defense that the property was received with purpose to restore it to the owner. Receiving means acquiring possession, control or title, or lending on the security of the property.

[(Emphasis added).]

Although the highlighted language suggests that belief alone will suffice and that the property need not actually be stolen, those are not the Legislature's only words on the subject. The Code of Criminal Justice (Code) organizes all provisions concerning "Theft and Related Offenses" into a single Chapter, N.J.S.A. 2C:20-1 to -37. A common set of definitions applies to those offenses, N.J.S.A. 2C:20-1, and they are graded collectively in N.J.S.A. 2C:20-2. Revealingly, N.J.S.A. 2C:20-2b(2)(b) states that "[t]heft constitutes a crime of the third degree if ... [t]he property stolen is a firearm, motor vehicle, vessel, boat, horse, domestic companion animal or airplane[.]" (Emphasis added). Therefore, putting aside whether N.J.S.A. 2C:20-7a read in isolation would require the property involved be stolen in fact when a defendant acquires possession of it, N.J.S.A. 2C:20-2b(2)(b) expressly requires that the property be stolen.

We realize that N.J.S.A. 2C:20-2 comprises the applicable grading provisions, but we have expressly recognized that such provisions can contain facts that the State must prove to warrant a conviction. For instance, in State v. Federico, 103 N.J. 169, 173-77, 510 A.2d 1147 (1986), we held that in a prosecution for kidnapping under N.J.S.A. 2C:13-1, the fact that "the actor releases the victim unharmed," N.J.S.A. 2C:13-1c, which down-grades a kidnapping offense from first- to second-degree, is an element of that offense despite its inclusion in the "grading" subsection of N.J.S.A. 2C:13-1. See also State v. Damiano, 322 N.J.Super. 22, 51-52, 730 A.2d 376 (App.Div.1999)

(holding that in aggregating amounts of thefts for grading under N.J.S.A. 2C:20-2b(4), element of offense is whether thefts were part of "a single scheme or course of conduct" that could be aggregated), certif. denied, 163 N.J. 396, 749 A.2d 369 (2000); State v. Smith, 279 N.J.Super. 131, 139-42, 652 A.2d 241 (App. Div.1995) (applying Federico to hold that, under revised version of kidnapping statute, factors included in grading provision constitute elements of offense). We find it similarly appropriate in these circumstances to take into account information the Legislature has provided in the applicable grading provision.

Furthermore, viewing the grading provisions more broadly, and in conjunction with N.J.S.A. 2C:20-7, leads us to...