State v. Lambert
| Decision Date | 19 September 1996 |
| Docket Number | No. 95-335,95-335 |
| Citation | 280 Mont. 231,929 P.2d 846 |
| Parties | STATE of Montana, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. David B. LAMBERT, Defendant and Appellant. . Heard |
| Court | Montana Supreme Court |
Joseph P. Mazurek, Attorney General, Cregg W. Coughlin, Assistant Attorney General, Helena, Montana; George Corn, Ravalli County Attorney, Hamilton, for Respondent.
Following a jury trial in the Twenty-first Judicial District Court, Ravalli County, David B. Lambert (Lambert) was found guilty of criminal endangerment, a felony, and was sentenced to a term of years at the Montana State Prison. Lambert appealed.
We reverse and remand with instructions.
We address the following issue:
Did the District Court apply an incorrect mental state element to the offense of criminal endangerment?
On August 20, 1994, Christine Peterson, along with her three children and a friend of theirs, was driving south on U.S. Highway 93 toward Darby, Montana, Peterson's hometown. The group had just spent the day in Missoula shopping for school clothes. As they approached the town of Stevensville, travelling at about 50 or 55 miles per hour, Ms. Peterson saw a car pulling out of a roadside parking lot to her left. That car, driven by Lambert, proceeded across the highway immediately ahead of Ms. Peterson's car, and Ms. Peterson applied her brakes, expecting to collide with the middle or rear side of Lambert's car. Instead, Lambert turned his car toward Ms. Peterson's car; his car was now facing north in Ms. Peterson's southbound lane, and the two vehicles collided head-on.
Witnesses at the scene immediately after the collision occurred noted that Lambert smelled and acted as if he had been drinking. A Montana highway patrol officer, after questioning Lambert and conducting a field sobriety test, determined that Lambert had indeed been drinking and suspected that he was intoxicated. Lambert was unable to provide the officer a driver's license or proof of auto insurance, and the officer soon discovered that Lambert's driving privileges had previously been revoked. Lambert was ultimately charged with the following offenses: criminal endangerment; DUI; driving while license suspended or revoked; failure to have auto insurance; and failure to use a seatbelt.
Lambert proceeded to trial on the charges of criminal endangerment and DUI, having previously entered guilty pleas to the other three charges. After the State presented its case-in-chief, Lambert moved for an acquittal of the criminal endangerment charge, claiming that the State had not proven beyond a reasonable doubt that Lambert had acted "knowingly," the requisite mental state for the offense of criminal endangerment. The court denied Lambert's motion, after first hearing arguments from Lambert and the State regarding which definition of "knowingly" applied to criminal endangerment.
After the defense rested without calling any witnesses, the parties and the court settled jury instructions. The court decided to instruct the jury on three out of four definitions of "knowingly" contained in a pattern jury instruction, and to instruct the jury that Lambert did not need to intend the result that occurred in order to have acted with the requisite mental state. The court also decided to instruct the jury that a person in an intoxicated condition is criminally responsible for his conduct, and that an intoxicated condition could not be taken into account in determining the existence of a mental state which is an element of the offense. Lambert objected to these instructions.
The jury returned a verdict finding Lambert guilty of criminal endangerment, but did not return a verdict on the DUI charge. Lambert was subsequently sentenced to a term of years at the Montana State Prison. This appeal followed.
Did the District Court apply an incorrect mental state element to the offense of criminal endangerment?
Lambert argues that the District Court misinterpreted the meaning and application of "knowingly," the mental state element of the offense of criminal endangerment. We review a district court's interpretation or application of the law to determine if that interpretation or application was correct. State v. Christensen (1994), 265 Mont. 374, 877 P.2d 468.
Section 45-5-207(1), MCA, provides, in pertinent part, that a person commits the offense of criminal endangerment if he "knowingly engages in conduct that creates a substantial risk of death or serious bodily injury to another." Section 45-2-101(34), MCA, provides multiple definitions of "knowingly":
[A] person acts knowingly with respect to conduct or to a circumstance described by a statute defining an offense when the person is aware of the person's own conduct or that the circumstance exists. A person acts knowingly with respect to the result of conduct described by a statute defining an offense when the person is aware that it is highly probable that the result will be caused by the person's conduct. When knowledge of the existence of a particular fact is an element of an offense, knowledge is established if a person is aware of a high probability of its existence.
In denying Lambert's motion for acquittal, the court determined that "knowingly," the mental state element of the offense of criminal endangerment, could be established by evidence showing that a defendant was aware of his conduct. The court decided that the State had presented sufficient evidence on this issue for the case to go to the jury. Later, when settling jury instructions, the court determined that it would instruct the jury as to three distinct definitions of "knowingly." Instruction No. 12, given to the jury, reads as follows:
Knowingly
A person acts knowingly:
(1) when he is aware of his conduct or
(2) when he is aware under the circumstances that his conduct constitutes a crime or
(3) when he is aware there exists the high probability that his conduct will cause a specific result. (Emphasis added.)
Lambert argues that the court applied an incorrect mental state element to the offense of criminal endangerment, and that the court, in relying on this mistaken interpretation of the law, erred in denying Lambert's motion for an acquittal and erred in instructing the jury with respect to the applicable definition of "knowingly." We will review the court's interpretation of the law, and then determine whether it was proper for the court to rely on this interpretation of the law in denying Lambert's motion for acquittal and in instructing the jury.
Lambert contends that the different definitions of "knowingly" found in § 45-2-101(34), MCA, distinguish between different elements of criminal offenses, and that therefore "the statute defining the offense" governs which definition of "knowingly" applies. Lambert contends that the offense of criminal endangerment is defined in terms of the result of conduct. Under that construction, Lambert argues that in order to prove the "knowingly" element of criminal endangerment beyond a reasonable doubt, the State must establish that an accused was aware of the high probability that his conduct would cause a substantial risk of death or serious bodily injury to another. Lambert contends that we reached this same conclusion in State v. Crisp (1991), 249 Mont. 199, 814 P.2d 981.
In Crisp, we rejected a constitutional challenge to the criminal endangerment statute. The defendant in that case alleged that the statute was unconstitutionally vague because it did not require a specific intent to cause the substantial risk. We noted that the appropriate mental state was "knowingly," set out the definitions of "knowingly" provided in § 45-2-101(33), MCA (these same definitions of "knowingly" are now found in § 45-2-101(34), MCA (1995)), and concluded that "[a]ccordingly, a defendant commits the crime of criminal endangerment when he is aware that there is a high probability that his conduct may cause a substantial risk of death or serious bodily injury to another." Crisp, 814 P.2d at 983.
The State argues that our holding in Crisp does not imply that there can be only one definition of "knowingly" applied to the offense of criminal endangerment. Put another way, the State argues that in defining criminal endangerment as we did in Crisp, we were merely asserting one of a number of different definitions of "knowingly" that could apply. The State also contends that Crisp is not controlling here because the issue of which definition of "knowingly" applied to criminal endangerment was not before us in that case. In any event, the State argues that the definition of "knowingly" that we used in Crisp was incorrect; the language of the criminal endangerment statute plainly provides that "knowingly" refers to a defendant's conduct, not the result of his conduct.
While we agree with the State that our holding in Crisp does not directly control the disposition of the matter before us, we cannot agree that in Crisp we applied the wrong definition of "knowingly" to the offense of criminal endangerment. Moreover, we cannot agree that any one of the definitions of "knowingly" found in § 45-2-101(34), MCA, is applicable to the offense of criminal endangerment. Finally, agreeing as we do that the issue of what definition of "knowingly" applies to this offense has not previously been before this Court does not require us to ignore how we have consistently articulated the elements of criminal endangerment. See Crisp, 814 P.2d at 983; State v. Smaage (1996), 276 Mont. 94, 98, 915 P.2d 192, 195. We find Lambert's arguments persuasive, and dispose of this issue in his favor.
Our reading of the criminal endangerment statute is that it emphasizes result over conduct. The portion of the statute that we are reviewing here does not particularize the conduct that, if engaged in, results in the...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
State v. Ilk
...to be instructed on the mental state pertinent to the crime charged. Rothacher , 272 Mont. at 310, 901 P.2d at 86-87 ; State v. Lambert , 280 Mont. 231, 236-37, 929 P.2d 846, 849-50 (1996) ; State v. Patton , 280 Mont. 278, 291, 930 P.2d 635, 642-43 (1996) ; State v. Azure , 2005 MT 328, ¶ ......
-
State v. Giffin
...that where he was shooting could cause the substantial risk of death or serious bodily injury. Giffin relies on State v. Lambert , 280 Mont. 231, 929 P.2d 846 (1996). In Lambert , we defined "knowingly" as it applies to the offense of criminal endangerment. We further analyzed and clarified......
-
State v. Giffin
...known, that where he was shooting could cause the substantial risk of death or serious bodily injury. Giffin relies on State v. Lambert, 280 Mont. 231, 929 P.2d 846 (1996). In Lambert, we defined "knowingly" as it applies to the offense of criminal endangerment. We further analyzed and clar......
-
Montana v. Deveraux
...is the avoidance of this singular result, the risk of death or serious harm, that the law attempts to maintain." State v. Lambert , 280 Mont. 231, 236, 929 P.2d 846, 849 (1996). ¶32 Deveraux argues, without citation to specific authority, that SIWOC is a result-based offense. Deveraux conte......