State v. Murray

• Citation: 148 P.3d 1278
• Decision Date: 30 November 2006
• Docket Number: No. 32394.,32394.
• Parties: STATE of Idaho, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Blaine MURRAY, Defendant-Respondent.
• Court: Court of Appeals of Idaho

148 P.3d 1278 STATE of Idaho, Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
Blaine MURRAY, Defendant-Respondent. No. 32394. Court of Appeals of Idaho. November 30, 2006.

Hon. Lawrence G. Wasden, Attorney General; Kenneth K. Jorgensen, Deputy Attorney General, Boise, for appellant. Kenneth K. Jorgensen argued.

Blaine Murray, Idaho Falls, pro se respondent.

LANSING, Judge.

After a bench trial in the magistrate division, Blaine Murray was convicted of a misdemeanor for traveling on a road that had been closed by the Forest Service. He appealed, asserting that he had been deprived of due process because the charging citation did not adequately identify the offense with which Murray was charged. The district

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court reversed the conviction on due process grounds and dismissed the case. The State now appeals from the district court's decision. We affirm the district court's dismissal order, but on the separate basis that the citation failed to charge any offense and was, therefore, jurisdictionally defective.

I. BACKGROUND

On November 24, 2004, sixty-eight-year-old Blaine Murray was driving his pickup on United States Forest Service land in Fremont County. Earlier that day, Officer Charlie Anderson, a senior conservation officer with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, received reports from hunters that persons were driving on closed roads on Forest Service property, spoiling their hunt. Anderson went to the location to observe activity and ultimately saw Murray drive past. Anderson flagged Murray to a stop and issued a citation which stated that the charged offense was "Violate Forest Service Road Closure" in violation of "I.C. § 36-401(b)10(C)." The officer made a mistake, for there is no such Idaho Code subsection. The closest code section is Idaho Code § 36-401(b), which provides that no fishing license is required on "free fishing day." There is also no Idaho statute with the title "Violate Forest Service Road Closure" or any similar wording.

The matter proceeded to a court trial before the magistrate with the citation as the operative charging document. Murray defended himself pro se. Immediately before the commencement of trial, the prosecutor moved to amend the charging citation to change the referenced statute, stating that "it's actually 1401(b), which is a general misdemeanor provision." The magistrate allowed the amendment, without giving Murray an opportunity to object or respond. The magistrate interlineated the citation by writing a "1" in front of the "401," so that the citation now identified the violated statute as "I.C. § 36-1401(b)10(C)." Although not noted by the parties or the magistrate at anytime during proceedings in the magistrate division, there is no Idaho Code section 36-1401(b)10(C). The closest section is I.C. § 36-1401(b), which provides that, generally, violations of other sections in Title 36 of the Idaho Code are misdemeanors.¹ This statute is not itself a substantive criminal statute, for it describes no prohibited conduct.

When Murray was asked to present his defense at trial following the State's case-in-chief, he complained to the magistrate that he had attempted to research the original statutory designation, "I.C. § 36-401(b)10(C)," and had been unable to locate any such statute. The magistrate informed Murray that the State had been allowed to amend the citation before the trial began to specify a different statute, which Murray apparently had been unaware of.² Murray objected that the citation did not mention section 36-1401, so he had not researched that section. The magistrate nevertheless adhered to the ruling allowing the amendment and observed that the face of the citation put Murray on notice that he had been charged with the crime of violating a Forest Service road closure.

Murray then proceeded with his defense in which he testified that he had relied on the contents of a Forest Service map showing closed and open roads, that he thought he was on an open road but apparently was mistaken, and that he had not seen a small sign stating that the road was closed.

The magistrate found Murray guilty without making reference to the elements of the crime or identifying the applicable statute. Murray was sentenced to ten days "discretionary"

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jail time, a two hundred dollar fine, and one year of probation, and his hunting license was suspended for one year. The written judgment does not contain a citation to an Idaho statute but states that Murray was convicted of "Violate Forest Service Road Closure."

Murray obtained counsel and appealed to the district court. Among other issues, he asserted a due process violation stemming from the incorrect statutory citations in the charging document. The district court first held that under the unique facts of the case, Murray's mid-trial due process objection to the citation was timely. The district court further held that Murray's due process rights had been violated, reversed the conviction and, "in the interest of justice," dismissed the case instead of remanding for a new trial. The State now appeals from the district court's decision.

II. ANALYSIS

The State presents three arguments in the alternative: (1) that Murray's due process objection was not timely under Idaho Criminal Rule 12(b)(2); (2) that Murray's due process rights were not violated because he was not prejudiced by the erroneous statutory reference in the charging citation; and (3) that reversal of the conviction and remand for a new trial, rather than dismissal of the charge, is the appropriate remedy for a due process violation. Prior to oral argument, however, this Court requested supplemental briefing from the parties to address whether the citation failed to charge any offense and was therefore insufficient to confer subject matter jurisdiction on Idaho courts. A question of subject matter jurisdiction is fundamental, may not be ignored by a court, and even if not raised by the parties may be addressed on the court's own initiative. See State v. Kavajecz, 139 Idaho 482, 483, 80 P.3d 1083, 1084 (2003); State v. Lopez, 98 Idaho 581, 585, 570 P.2d 259, 263 (1976); State v. Byington, 135 Idaho 621, 624, 21 P.3d 943, 946 (Ct.App.2001). Pursuant to Idaho Criminal Rule 12(b)(2), an assertion that a charging document fails to show jurisdiction of the court or to charge an offense may be raised at any time during the pendency of the proceedings. Whether a court lacks jurisdiction and whether a charging document conforms to the requirements of law are questions of law over which appellate courts exercise free review. State v. Jones, 140 Idaho 755, 757, 101 P.3d 699, 701 (2004). Because this Court concludes the jurisdictional issue to be dispositive, we do not address the due process issues raised by the parties.

In the appellate proceedings before the district court and before this Court, the State has contended that Murray was properly tried and convicted under I.C. § 36-104(b)(10), which provides:

10. In the event owners or lawful possessors of land have restricted the operation of motor-propelled vehicles upon their land, the commission, upon consultation with all other potentially affected landowners, and having held a public hearing, if requested by not less than ten (10) residents of any county in which the land is located, may enter into cooperative agreements with those owners or possessors to enforce those restrictions when the restrictions protect wildlife or wildlife habitat. Provided, however, the commission shall not enter into such agreements for lands which either lie outside or are not adjacent to any adjoining the proclaimed boundaries of the national forests in...