State v. Hyde, 21010
| Decision Date | 08 June 1995 |
| Docket Number | No. 21010,21010 |
| Citation | 898 P.2d 71,127 Idaho 140 |
| Parties | STATE of Idaho, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Steven Lee HYDE, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | Idaho Court of Appeals |
Alan G. Lance, Atty. Gen., Michael A. Henderson, Deputy Atty. Gen., Boise, for respondent. Michael A. Henderson, argued.
A jury found Steven Lee Hyde guilty of ten counts of robbery. I.C. § 18-6501. Based on the evidence, the district court vacated one of the ten verdicts. Hyde was sentenced to nine concurrent unified terms of life imprisonment, with minimum periods of incarceration of twenty-five years. The district court ordered the sentences to also run concurrently with sentences Hyde received in a similar Ada County case. Hyde appeals from the judgments of conviction and sentences and from the denial of his I.C.R. 35 motion to reduce his sentences. We affirm.
On February 18, 1993, a man entered the Jehovah's Witnesses Kingdom Hall in Boise during evening services and robbed members of the congregation. The man then left Ada County and proceeded to the Jehovah's Witnesses Kingdom Hall in Nampa. Upon entering the Hall in Canyon County, the robber pulled a sawed-off shotgun out from beneath his coat and threatened to shoot anyone in the congregation who did not give him their money. After shouting his demands, using Because the robberies were so close in time and carried out in similar fashions, law enforcement officers from both Ada and Canyon Counties suspected the same perpetrator had committed both crimes. Three days after the incidents, the officers assembled approximately seventy victims from both robberies into a room. The victims were each provided with a sheet of paper and asked to identify the perpetrator from five pictures that were displayed on the wall. Steven Lee Hyde was identified by the victims as the person who had committed both robberies.
[127 Idaho 144] profane language, the robber ordered a man in the congregation to collect the money into a bag. The robber left with the bag containing the money, without firing the gun.
The police determined that Hyde had left the state after the robberies. He was later apprehended in Oregon and returned to Idaho to answer to the Ada County charges and to ten counts of robbery filed in connection with the Canyon County incident. On June 25, 1993, Hyde entered not guilty pleas to all counts in the Canyon County case.
Prior to his trial on the Canyon County charges, a jury convicted Hyde of seventy-three counts of robbery in connection with the Ada County charges. With regard to the Ada County convictions, a presentence investigation (PSI) report was prepared. Based on this report, the Ada County court imposed concurrent sentences of life imprisonment, with minimum periods of confinement of twenty years. 1
In the Canyon County proceedings, Hyde filed numerous motions, including a motion for change of venue, a motion to suppress identifications made from the photo lineup, and a motion to be unshackled during trial. The district court denied all of the motions. On the first day of trial, however, the district court ordered that one of Hyde's hands could be free during trial. On October 7, 1993, the jury rendered a verdict of guilty on all ten counts. The district court scheduled a sentencing hearing.
On the day of the sentencing hearing, Hyde moved for a continuance, requesting that the district court order the preparation of a psychological report. Hyde also objected to the district court's use of the Ada County PSI report and filed a motion for an updated PSI report. The motions were denied by the district court.
Before imposing sentence, the district court vacated one of the ten verdicts, then sentenced Hyde to twenty-five years to life on each of the nine remaining verdicts. The sentences were to run concurrently with each other and with the sentences related to the Ada County case. Hyde appealed from the judgments of conviction and sentences. Hyde then filed a motion to reduce his sentences pursuant to I.C.R. 35 and requested preparation of a progress report in support of his Rule 35 motion. The district court summarily denied Rule 35 relief, and Hyde filed an amended notice of appeal.
Hyde raises several issues. He asserts that the district court erred in denying his pretrial motions to change venue, to suppress the photo lineup identifications and to be unshackled during trial. Hyde claims error in the admission of testimony regarding a long, green Army coat and a Panama hat which were allegedly worn by Hyde during the robbery. Hyde also challenges the district court's denial of his motion for an updated presentence report, the denial of his motion for a psychological examination, the length of his sentences, the denial of a progress report in support of his Rule 35 motion and the denial of his motion for reduction of sentences.
Hyde's motion for change of venue alleged that pretrial publicity had been extensive and continued up to the day of trial. Because of the numerous newspaper articles and television coverage of this case and the Error cannot, however, be predicated on the mere existence of pretrial publicity concerning a criminal case. State v. Winn, 121 Idaho 850, 856, 828 P.2d 879, 885 (1992), citing Murphy v. Florida, 421 U.S. 794, 95 S.Ct. 2031, 44 L.Ed.2d 589 (1975); State v. Needs, 99 Idaho 883, 890, 591 P.2d 130, 137 (1979). The validity of a court's decision to try a case in a particular venue is tested by whether, in the totality of existing circumstances, juror exposure to pretrial publicity resulted in a trial that was not fundamentally fair. Winn, 121 Idaho at 856, 828 P.2d at 885.
[127 Idaho 145] Boise robbery of which Hyde was convicted, Hyde asserted that juror impartiality had been adversely affected. Hyde asserts on appeal that it was error for the district court to deny the motion for change of venue.
In conjunction with the motion, Hyde's counsel attached copies of newspaper articles concerning reports of the Ada and Canyon County cases, Hyde's violent act directed at his Ada County public defender, his escape from the Ada County jail, and a planned escape from the Canyon County jail which was discovered and averted. At the voir dire, three of the potential jurors admitted that they had no knowledge of Hyde or of the crime he was alleged to have committed in Canyon County. Of the remaining fifty-two potential jurors, counsel moved to strike only two individuals for cause when they stated that they had already formed an opinion in the case based on news reports of the crime. One of defense counsel's challenges for cause was overruled by the district court, but that individual was not ultimately seated on the jury. Both the prosecution and the defense exercised all available peremptory challenges and expressed no dissatisfaction with the twelve jurors selected.
The district court considered the nature and content of the pretrial publicity as well as the potential jurors' familiarity with the news reports. The district court acknowledged that there had been a significant amount of publicity concerning Hyde. However, none of the potential jurors voiced any recollection of any particular broadcasts or printed articles. Upon review of the record, we conclude that Hyde "has failed to show that the setting of the trial was inherently prejudicial or that the jury-selection process of which he complains permits an inference of actual prejudice." Id., quoting Murphy v. Florida, 421 U.S. at 803, 95 S.Ct. at 2038. See also State v. Fee, 124 Idaho 170, 175, 857 P.2d 649, 654 (Ct.App.1993); State v. Hall, 111 Idaho 827, 727 P.2d 1255 (Ct.App.1986). Accordingly, we hold that the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying Hyde's motion for change of venue.
Hyde asserts that the photo lineup was unnecessarily suggestive because of too few photographs, differences in the brightness between his photo and the other photos, and inadequate safeguards used in conducting the lineup. He argues that because the identification procedure was so unduly prejudicial, the resulting identification from the lineup should have been suppressed.
The standard for evaluating challenges to photo lineup identifications is outlined in Simmons v. United States, 390 U.S. 377, 88 S.Ct. 967, 19 L.Ed.2d 1247 (1968). The United States Supreme Court has ruled that it is a denial of due process for an out-of-court photo lineup to be "so impermissibly suggestive as to give rise to a very substantial likelihood of irreparable misidentification." Id. at 384, 88 S.Ct. at 971; State v. Kysar, 116 Idaho 992, 783 P.2d 859 (1989). Such a claim of suggestiveness must be evaluated in light of the totality of the circumstances. Simmons at 383, 88 S.Ct. at 970-71; Stovall v. Denno, 388 U.S. 293, 87 S.Ct. 1967, 18 L.Ed.2d 1199 (1967). Only if we determine that the procedure was unnecessarily suggestive do we then inquire whether the resulting identifications were so tainted that they should have been excluded. State v. Smith, 116 Idaho 553, 556, 777 P.2d 1226, 1229 (Ct.App.1989), citing Manson v. Brathwaite, 432 U.S. 98, 97 S.Ct. 2243, 53 L.Ed.2d 140 (1977).
Hyde maintains that the suggestiveness of the lineup was the result of an insufficient number of photographs being used. The photo lineup consisted of five faxed copies We are not aware of any constitutional requirement that a photo array be composed of a particular number to minimize the risk of misidentification. Moreover, inherent in the use of photo identification is the implication that one of the individuals in the photo lineup was connected with a crime. See People v. Davis, 88 Misc.2d 774, 388 N.Y.S.2d 816, 819 (1976). It has been held, however, that single photo showups are inherently suspect and generally not...
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...Id. A lineup may be considered unduly suggestive if a witness's attention is focused on the defendant. State v. Hyde, 127 Idaho 140, 146, 898 P.2d 71, 77 (Ct.App.1995). Single subject showups; multiple lineups, with the same individual recurring; and showing a witness a lineup in the presen......
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