State v. Rienhardt

• Decision Date: 24 December 1997
• Docket Number: No. CR-96-0294-AP,CR-96-0294-AP
• Citation: State v. Rienhardt, 190 Ariz. 579, 951 P.2d 454 (Ariz. 1997)
• Parties: , 259 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 28 STATE of Arizona, Appellee. v. Charles Bradley RIENHARDT, Appellant.
• Court: Arizona Supreme Court

Page 454

951 P.2d 454

190 Ariz. 579, 259 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 28

STATE of Arizona, Appellee. v. Charles Bradley RIENHARDT, Appellant.

No. CR-96-0294-AP.

Supreme Court of Arizona En Banc.

Dec. 24, 1997.

Grant Woods, Attorney General by Paul J. McMurdie, Chief Counsel, Criminal Appeals Section Ginger Jarvis, Assistant Attorney General, Phoenix, for the State of Arizona.

Harriette P. Levitt, Tucson, for Charles Bradley Rienhardt.

OPINION

MARTONE, Justice.

A jury convicted Charles Rienhardt of one count of first degree murder, one count of kidnaping, one count of attempted transfer of a dangerous drug, and one count of attempted arson of a structure. The trial court sentenced him to death for the murder, and to prison terms for the non-capital convictions. Appeal to this court is automatic under Rules 26.15 and 31.2(b), Ariz. R.Crim. P., and direct under A.R.S. § 13-4031. We affirm his convictions and sentences.

I. BACKGROUND

On the evening of September 4, 1995, Rienhardt sought to purchase a large quantity of methamphetamines in Tucson. He arranged to meet two men at a friend's apartment, Michael Ellis, the victim in this case, and James Breedlove. Once the deal was made, Rienhardt gave Breedlove $1,180 with the understanding that Breedlove would return to the apartment with the drugs. In order to secure the return of Breedlove, the parties agreed that Michael Ellis would remain in the apartment with Rienhardt.

Breedlove never came back. As the evening progressed, Rienhardt became increasingly agitated. He threatened Ellis, and insisted that Ellis locate Breedlove by telephone. At one point, Rienhardt told Breedlove's girlfriend, over the phone, that if Breedlove did not return, he would take Ellis on a hike in the desert, blindfold him hang him over the edge of a cliff, remove the blindfold, and drop him. After midnight, Charles Nadeau, a friend of Rienhardt's, arrived at the apartment. For reasons that are not clear, Nadeau struck Ellis across the face hard enough to make him bleed. At one point, Breedlove phoned the apartment with news that the deal was taking longer than expected. Rienhardt told Breedlove that for every ten minutes that Breedlove did not return, Rienhardt would hurt Ellis some more.

Rienhardt and Nadeau eventually left the apartment with Ellis. When two witnesses returned to the apartment, they discovered a trail of blood leading from the apartment, blood on the living room carpet, blood on Ellis's chair, and pieces of teeth on the floor. They also discovered a shotgun on a couch near where Ellis had been seated.

Later that evening, Rienhardt contacted Christina George, his girlfriend, and told her to meet him at a Circle K market near Reddington Pass because there was an emergency and he needed a ride. George drove to the appointed spot in a stolen Toyota MR-2, waited for some time, and then decided to drive up Reddington Pass to a place where she and Rienhardt had recently been jumping off of rocks. Less than a mile up the dirt road, she ran into Rienhardt and Nadeau on foot. Rienhardt told her that their white Buick got stuck on a rock. He also told her that Ellis had not died from shotgun wounds, that they had dropped a rock on his head, and that, "I have brains all over my pants." Tr. of Feb. 16, 1996 at 38.

The group dislodged the Buick, and drove both cars to a nearby shopping plaza. They decided to burn the Buick. As George and Nadeau prepared to burn the car, a sheriff's deputy approached the group. The three jumped into the stolen MR-2, a chase ensued, and the three were arrested. The white Buick, left at the shopping plaza, had blood smeared on the driver's side, a bloody towel inside, and a large blood stain in the back seat. Police found Michael Ellis's wallet in the Buick, and a shotgun with a missing stock.

The next night, Charles Nadeau led police to Ellis's body near the dirt road leading to Reddington Pass. He had been severely beaten about the head and torso, had shotgun wounds, and had had one or two large rocks dropped on his head. Pieces of a wood shotgun stock were found around a pool of blood near the body. The pieces matched the make and model of the shotgun found in the abandoned Buick.

Charles Nadeau's trial on the above charges was severed. Christina George was charged with attempted arson, and with hindering prosecution. George also faced unrelated felony charges. George entered into a plea agreement in return for her testimony against Rienhardt at trial.

II. ISSUES

On appeal, Rienhardt raises the following issues:

A. Trial Issues

1. Whether the trial court committed reversible error by admitting gruesome photographs.

2. Whether Rienhardt was denied his constitutional rights to due process by virtue of the late disclosure and non-disclosure of letters exchanged between Rienhardt and Christina George.

3. Whether the trial court violated Rienhardt's rights to due process by allowing the state to introduce evidence of an unrecorded conversation between Christina George and Rienhardt's defense counsel.

4. Whether the trial court committed reversible error by allowing the state to identify Rienhardt's voice through circumstantial evidence.

5. Whether the evidence was sufficient to sustain a conviction on count five, attempted arson of a structure.

B. Sentencing Issues

1. Whether the trial court erred in finding that Rienhardt himself killed, attempted to kill, or planned to kill pursuant to Enmund v. Florida, 458 U.S. 782, 102 S.Ct. 3368, 73 L.Ed.2d 1140 (1982) and Tison v. Arizona, 481 U.S. 137, 107 S.Ct. 1676, 95 L.Ed.2d 127 (1987).

2. Whether the trial court erred in finding that the murder was committed in an especially heinous, cruel, or depraved manner pursuant to A.R.S. § 13-703(F)(6).

3. Whether the trial court erred in finding that the murder was committed in expectation of the receipt of anything of pecuniary value pursuant to A.R.S. § 13-703(F)(5).

4. Whether the trial court properly balanced aggravating and mitigating factors before imposing the death penalty.

III. ANALYSIS

A. Trial Issues

1. Admission of Gruesome Photographs of Victim

Rienhardt argues that the trial court erred in admitting photographs of the victim's injuries. While Rienhardt does not specify which photographs he finds objectionable, the record contains two graphic photographs of the victim's injuries. State's Exhibit 58 shows Ellis's head and torso at the medical examiner's office. State's Exhibit 61 shows Ellis's right hand severely wounded by a shotgun blast. Rienhardt argues that the photographs were not relevant, because he did not dispute the cause of death at trial. He also argues that the photographs served only to inflame the passions of the jury. We disagree.

Inflammatory photographs are admissible if they are relevant and their probative value outweighs the danger of unfair prejudice. State v. Thornton, 187 Ariz. 325, 332, 929 P.2d 676, 683 (1996), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 117 S.Ct. 1706, 137 L.Ed.2d 831 (1997). The trial court's ruling on the admissibility of photographs will not be overturned on appeal absent an abuse of discretion. State v. Gulbrandson, 184 Ariz. 46, 60, 906 P.2d 579, 593 (1995), cert. denied, 518 U.S. 1022, 116 S.Ct. 2558, 135 L.Ed.2d 1076 (1996).

a. Relevance

Notwithstanding an offer to stipulate to the cause of death, photographs of a murder victim are relevant if they help to illustrate what occurred. Gulbrandson, 184 Ariz. at 60, 906 P.2d at 593. Here, the state sought to corroborate the testimony of its key witness, Christina George. George testified that she encountered Rienhardt on a dirt road close to the murder scene, that Rienhardt retrieved a shotgun, and that Rienhardt told her they had dropped a rock on the victim's head because the victim had not died from shotgun wounds. At a minimum, the photographs serve to corroborate this testimony, and are therefore highly relevant.

b. Unfair Prejudice

While gruesome, these two photographs certainly do not qualify as cumulative. Each photograph conveys different, highly relevant information about the crime. They are fair representations of what happened here, and thus cannot be said to be unfairly prejudicial. There is nothing sanitary about murder, and there is nothing in Rule 403, Ariz. R. Evid., that requires a trial judge to make it so. The trial court did not abuse its discretion.

2. Due Process Violation: Late Disclosure and Non-Disclosure of the Rienhardt/George Letters

During her direct examination of Christina George, the prosecutor asked George about a group of letters that George and Rienhardt had written to one another in jail after their arrests. The prosecutor elicited testimony as to one letter in particular, written by Rienhardt in November, 1995, in which he urged George to change her story on his behalf. George had apparently never turned this particular letter over to the prosecution, but instead had given it to her own lawyer. During redirect examination, the prosecutor informed the court that George's lawyer was in the hallway outside of the courtroom. The court instructed the prosecutor to obtain the letter from the lawyer, but the lawyer did not have it with him. He gave the letter to the prosecutor a few days later.

Rienhardt's counsel moved to exclude the letter under Rule 15, Ariz. R.Crim. P., and for a deposition of George's lawyer along with disclosure of all undisclosed letters in the prosecution's possession. The court precluded the state from using the letter in its case in chief, but also ruled that the letter would be admitted if the defense presented any alibi evidence or any other evidence that contradicted the letter's contents. The record contains no ruling on the defense's motion for a deposition or disclosure of any other letters. It is not clear whether Rienhardt withdrew this part of the motion, or whether the court simply did not rule on it. Rienhardt's original motion was phrased in the alternative: he requested either exclusion...