State v. Pierce
| Decision Date | 19 June 1984 |
| Docket Number | No. 14295,14295 |
| Citation | 107 Idaho 96,685 P.2d 837 |
| Parties | STATE of Idaho, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Ronnie PIERCE, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | Idaho Court of Appeals |
Randy J. Stoker, Twin Falls, for defendant-appellant.
Jim Jones, Atty. Gen., Lynn E. Thomas, Sol. Gen., and Stephen J. Gledhill and Myrna A.I. Stahman (argued), Deputy Attys. Gen., Boise, for plaintiff-respondent.
A jury found Ronnie Pierce guilty of robbery for his role in the holdup of a Twin Falls convenience store. After trial, Pierce admitted to his status as a persistent violator. The district judge sentenced Pierce to two concurrent, indeterminate terms not exceeding thirty years. On appeal, Pierce raises numerous issues which we have consolidated into three groups. Part I of our opinion discusses the requirement that testimony given by an accomplice be corroborated, and we consider whether lack of such corroboration at a preliminary hearing may be raised as an issue on appeal from a judgment of conviction. Part II examines the permissible scope of cross-examination of witnesses concerning prior convictions and plea bargains. Part III treats three unrelated issues: (a) whether the state should have been allowed to file an amended information, (b) whether the state's failure to disclose the expected testimony of a witness deprived Pierce of a fair trial, and (c) whether the sentences imposed were unduly harsh. As part of our discussion of the sentencing issue, we note irregularities in the judgment of conviction, including the sentences, and direct the district court to correct them on remand. Finding no reversible error, we affirm the judgment in all other respects.
We turn first to the question of corroboration. Idaho Code § 19-2117 provides that a defendant cannot be convicted upon the uncorroborated testimony of an accomplice. Pierce contends that the state presented insufficient corroboration of accomplice testimony at the preliminary hearing and at trial. We address the preliminary hearing and trial issues separately.
Our threshold inquiry is whether we may review the sufficiency of evidence to support a determination of probable cause at a preliminary hearing, after the defendant has been convicted at trial. In the past, Idaho has viewed this question differently from the federal courts. In either jurisdiction, a defendant may challenge his detention without probable cause before he is convicted. However, as noted in Gerstein v. Pugh, 420 U.S. 103, 119, 95 S.Ct. 854, 865, 43 L.Ed.2d 54 (1975), federal courts will not review the sufficiency of evidence to establish probable cause for detention, after the defendant has been convicted in a fair trial. The Idaho Supreme Court, on the other hand, traditionally has agreed to review probable cause determinations made at preliminary hearings even though the issue is raised after the conviction cutoff imposed by federal courts. See, e.g., State v. Owens, 101 Idaho 632, 619 P.2d 787 (1980) (decided after Gerstein ); State v. Braithwaite, 3 Idaho 119, 27 P. 731 (1891). We recognized this divergence in State v. Williams, 103 Idaho 635, 651 P.2d 569 (Ct.App.1982). Based upon prior Idaho Supreme Court decisions, we held in Williams that a district court's denial of a motion to dismiss a criminal information, due to lack of probable cause to bind the defendant over for trial, could be reviewed on appeal from a judgment of conviction.
However, it now appears that Idaho has switched to the federal track. In State v. Mitchell, 104 Idaho 493, 660 P.2d 1336 (1983), our Supreme Court--without mentioning Williams or its own prior decisions--cited Gerstein and adopted a conviction cutoff for reviewing probable cause determinations at preliminary hearings. The Supreme Court noted that Idaho law previously had imposed a conviction cutoff for review of probable cause determinations upon arrest warrants. See, e.g., State v. Watson, 99 Idaho 694, 587 P.2d 835 (1978). The court reasoned that a similar cutoff should be adopted with respect to preliminary hearings.
Technically, Williams and Mitchell might be distinguished upon the ground that Mitchell was concerned with "admissibility" of the evidence at a preliminary hearing, while Williams dealt with the "sufficiency" of the admissible evidence. However, because evidence at a preliminary hearing must be both admissible, under the standards applicable to such hearings, and sufficient to establish probable cause, this distinction would be one without a genuine difference. Therefore, we feel constrained to hold that Mitchell implicitly has overruled Williams and previous Supreme Court decisions. For reasons stated below, we find that Pierce was properly convicted following a fair trial. Therefore, we decline to examine the sufficiency of the corroborative evidence presented at the preliminary hearing.
We now review the sufficiency of corroborative evidence presented at trial. As noted above, the corroboration requirement is set forth in I.C. § 19-2117. The full text of the statute reads as follows:
A conviction cannot be had on the testimony of an accomplice, unless he is corroborated by other evidence, which in itself, and without the aid of the testimony of the accomplice, tends to connect the defendant with the commission of the offense; and the corroboration is not sufficient, if it merely shows the commission of the offense, or the circumstances thereof.
The critical language is the phrase "tends to connect the defendant with the commission of the offense." To determine whether the evidence in this case had that tendency, we will examine first the inculpatory testimony given by one of Pierce's accomplices, then the testimony of other witnesses and physical evidence presented at trial. In determining whether such other testimony and physical evidence tended to connect Pierce with commission of the robbery, we are mindful of the general rule that in reviewing convictions after jury trials, we must view the evidence most favorably to the prosecution. State v. Fenley, 103 Idaho 199, 646 P.2d 441 (Ct.App.1982). We defer to the jury's right to determine the credibility of witnesses and to draw any permissible inferences. State v. Mata, 106 Idaho 184, 677 P.2d 497 (Ct.App.1984).
It is undisputed that in March, 1981, a single individual entered the Twin Falls convenience store and conducted the holdup. One Charles Spencer pled guilty to robbery for committing those acts. Another individual, Dain DeLucia, pled guilty to a charge that he had been an accessory to the crime. A third individual was charged with aiding and abetting the robbery. That person was the present appellant, Ronnie Pierce. Both DeLucia and Spencer testified at Pierce's trial. DeLucia testified against Pierce, Spencer for him. Because Spencer's testimony did not inculpate Pierce, the corroboration issue is narrowed to the testimony of DeLucia.
DeLucia stated that Pierce was involved in both the planning and the execution of the robbery. The planning process involved the acquisition of two guns, one from DeLucia and one from another mutual friend who did not participate in the crime. DeLucia asserted that the three men also had purchased a ski mask and together had "cased" other businesses before deciding to rob the store in question. Although DeLucia acknowledged that Pierce had not entered the store at the time of the holdup, he stated that Pierce acted as a lookout for Spencer. DeLucia admitted driving the getaway car. Pierce disputed DeLucia's testimony. He testified, with some support from Spencer, that he had been unaware of any scheme to rob a store and that he had been unconscious from intoxication, sleeping in the back of the getaway car, when the robbery occurred.
Thus, the jury was faced with conflicting versions of events. The jury was entitled to accept DeLucia's testimony if corroborated. Before examining the corroborative evidence it is important to explain the meaning and purpose of corroboration. "Corroborate" is defined as "[t]o strengthen; to add weight or credibility to a thing by additional and confirming facts or evidence." BLACK'S LAW DICTIONARY 311 (rev. 5th ed. 1979). "Corroborating evidence" is further defined as Id. Our Supreme Court has held that although the corroboration must connect the accused with the crime, it may be slight and need only go to one material fact. State v. Orr, 53 Idaho 452, 24 P.2d 679 (1933). See also State v. Bassett, 86 Idaho 277, 385 P.2d 246 (1963); State v. Larsen, 91 Idaho 42, 415 P.2d 685 (1966).
The purpose of the corroboration rule, embodied in I.C. § 19-2117, is to offset the danger that an accomplice may wholly fabricate testimony, inculpating an innocent person, in order to purchase immunity from prosecution, or lenient treatment, for his own complicity in the crime. State v. Boetger, 96 Idaho 535, 531 P.2d 1180 (1975); see also 7 J. WIGMORE, EVIDENCE IN TRIALS AT COMMON LAW §§ 2057, 2059 (Chadbourn rev. ed. 1978). That purpose is served when the corroborative evidence independently tends to link the defendant with commission of the crime.
In the instant case, the state presented police testimony that Pierce had been seen with DeLucia and Spencer before and after the crime. Pierce was observed driving the getaway car before the crime, and was pulled over by a police officer who issued a warning against travelling the wrong way on a one-way street. Another witness stated that Pierce, Spencer and DeLucia together visited his home about one-half hour after the crime had been committed. Later, when the three were apprehended, Pierce again was driving the car. A gun used in the robbery was found in the car and introduced in evidence. Motor vehicle registration records presented at trial showed that the...
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