State v. Rodriguez

• Decision Date: 27 June 2003
• Docket Number: No. 2 CA-CR 2001-0537.,2 CA-CR 2001-0537.
• Citation: 205 Ariz. 392,71 P.3d 919
• Parties: The STATE of Arizona, Appellee, v. Victor David RODRIGUEZ, Appellant.
• Court: Arizona Court of Appeals

71 P.3d 919

205 Ariz. 392

The STATE of Arizona, Appellee, v. Victor David RODRIGUEZ, Appellant.

No. -0537.

Court of Appeals of Arizona, Division 2, Department B.

June 27, 2003.

Terry Goddard, Arizona Attorney General, By Diane M. Acosta, Tucson, for Appellee.

Susan A. Kettlewell, Pima County Public Defender, By Nancy F. Jones, Tucson, for Appellant.

OPINION

PELANDER, Presiding Judge.

¶ 1 A jury found appellant Victor Rodriguez, a juvenile who was prosecuted as an adult, guilty of possession of a prohibited weapon, and, after Rodriguez waived his right to a jury trial, the trial court held a bench trial and found him guilty of possession of a deadly weapon by a prohibited possessor. The court placed Rodriguez on intensive probation for four years, conditioned on a four-month jail term.

¶ 2 On appeal, Rodriguez contends the trial court lacked personal jurisdiction to try him as an adult, arguing the state had failed to file a notice of his "chronic felony offender" status under A.R.S. § 13-501(D) and to prove he was such an offender, as § 13-501(E) requires. Relying primarily on Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 120 S.Ct. 2348, 147 L.Ed.2d 435 (2000), Rodriguez also argues that §§ 13-501(A)(6) and 13-501(E) are unconstitutional because they violate a juvenile offender's rights to a jury trial and due process. Finally, Rodriguez asserts that the trial court erred in denying his pretrial motion to suppress. None of the issues raised warrants reversal.

BACKGROUND

¶ 3 The pertinent facts underlying Rodriguez's convictions, though later detailed in ¶¶ 35-36, infra, are essentially undisputed. While searching Rodriguez's residence with his mother's consent, officers observed him in close proximity to a firearm found under a mattress in one of the bedrooms. The officers seized the weapon and some ammunition and arrested Rodriguez, who later was indicted as an adult on charges of possession of a prohibited weapon and possession of a deadly weapon by a prohibited possessor. The latter charge was based on Rodriguez's having had several prior juvenile delinquency adjudications.

¶ 4 Before trial, Rodriguez, then sixteen years old, moved to dismiss the charges for lack of jurisdiction, arguing that the state's failure to comply with § 13-501(D)'s notice requirement precluded personal jurisdiction over him as an adult offender. Rodriguez asked the trial court to dismiss the charges and allow the case to proceed in juvenile court. He also filed a motion to suppress, arguing that the officers had lacked probable cause to seize the firearm and ammunition.

¶ 5 After a joint hearing on both motions, the trial court denied the motion to dismiss without prejudice but set a hearing, pursuant to § 13-501(E), to determine whether Rodriguez qualified as a "chronic felony offender" under § 13-501(A)(6) and (G)(2). The trial court also denied the motion to suppress, finding that the officers had had legitimate safety concerns and had acted reasonably under the circumstances in seizing the gun and ammunition.

¶ 6 Rodriguez filed a second motion to dismiss, challenging the constitutionality of § 13-501(A)(6), which requires that certain juvenile "chronic felony offenders" be tried as adults. He argued that the statute allows for "enhanced punishment based on constitutionally infirm prior adjudications of guilt" and that prior juvenile adjudications have insufficient procedural safeguards to subject a juvenile offender to prosecution and punishment as an adult, as authorized by § 13-501. After another hearing, the trial court denied Rodriguez's second motion to dismiss, finding § 13-501(A)(6) constitutional, and further determined that Rodriguez was a chronic felony offender subject to prosecution as an adult. The court also rejected Rodriguez's renewed argument that the court lacked personal jurisdiction over him, finding that, although the state should have filed a chronic felony offender notice with the indictment, Rodriguez had suffered no prejudice and was properly subject to prosecution as an adult.

DISCUSSION

I. Jurisdiction

¶ 7 Rodriguez reiterates on appeal that the trial court should have dismissed the charges on the ground that it lacked personal jurisdiction over him because of the state's failure to file a notice pursuant to § 13-501(D).¹ See State v. Marks, 186 Ariz. 139, 142, 920 P.2d 19, 22 (App.1996) (any flaw in proceedings transferring juvenile offender to adult criminal division of superior court deprives that division of personal jurisdiction, not subject matter jurisdiction). "The decision whether to grant a motion to dismiss is within the sound discretion of the trial court, which will not be disturbed absent an abuse of discretion." State v. Pecard, 196 Ariz. 371, ¶ 24, 998 P.2d 453, ¶ 24 (App.1999). But we review de novo any legal issues involving statutory interpretation and jurisdiction. See Thomas v. Thomas, 203 Ariz. 34, ¶ 7, 49 P.3d 306, ¶ 7 (App.2002).

¶ 8 "In those instances specified in section 13-501(A), the county attorney is required to file the charges in adult court." In re Timothy M., 197 Ariz. 394, ¶ 23, 4 P.3d 449, ¶ 23 (App.2000). Under § 13-501(A)(6), the "county attorney shall bring a criminal prosecution against a juvenile in the same manner as an adult if the juvenile is fifteen, sixteen or seventeen years of age and is accused of ... [a]ny felony offense committed by a chronic felony offender." Section 13-501(G)(2) defines a "chronic felony offender" as "a juvenile who has had two prior and separate adjudications and dispositions for conduct that would constitute a historical prior felony conviction if the juvenile had been tried as an adult." Subsections (D) and (E) of § 13-501 provide:

D. At the time the county attorney files a complaint or indictment the county attorney shall file a notice stating that the juvenile is a chronic felony offender. Subject to subsection E of this section, the notice shall establish and confer jurisdiction over the juvenile as a chronic felony offender.

E. Upon motion of the juvenile the court shall hold a hearing after arraignment and before trial to determine if a juvenile is a chronic felony offender. At the hearing the state shall prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the juvenile is a chronic felony offender. If the court does not find that the juvenile is a chronic felony offender, the court shall transfer the juvenile to the juvenile court pursuant to § 8-302. If the court finds that the juvenile is a chronic felony offender or if the juvenile does not file a motion to determine if the juvenile is a chronic felony offender, the criminal prosecution shall continue.

¶ 9 Rodriguez claims that the state's failure to file the mandatory notice specified in § 13-501(D) deprived the superior court of personal jurisdiction to try him as an adult.² Conceding that it did not "explicitly comply with subsection (D)" because it did not file a chronic-felony-offender notice with the indictment against Rodriguez, the state nonetheless argues that it "substantially complied" with the statute by filing an interim complaint in juvenile court that referred to § 13-501(A)(6) on its face. The state also contends Rodriguez suffered no prejudice from the lack of notice because the trial court held a chronic-felony-offender status hearing, pursuant to § 13-501(E), before proceeding with the prosecution of Rodriguez as an adult.

¶ 10 Although the language of § 13-501(D) is relatively clear, its meaning and effect are not. For example, that subsection expressly states that "the notice shall establish and confer jurisdiction over the juvenile as a chronic felony offender," but that provision is "[s]ubject to subsection (E)." § 13-501(D). And subsection (D) does not state that if no such notice is filed, the superior court lacks personal jurisdiction to try the juvenile offender as an adult once a hearing is held and a chronic-felony-offender finding is made under subsection (E). Accordingly, we must look beyond the language of subsection (D) and consider other factors in determining its meaning and effect.

¶ 11 If statutory language is unclear, we "turn to other factors, including `the statute's context, subject matter, historical background, effects, consequences, spirit, and purpose."' Norgord v. State ex rel. Berning, 201 Ariz. 228, ¶ 7, 33 P.3d 1166, ¶ 7 (App.2001), quoting Hobson v. Mid-Century Ins. Co., 199 Ariz. 525, ¶ 8, 19 P.3d 1241, ¶ 8 (App.2001). And, even when statutory language, read in isolation, might be susceptible to a particular construction, we employ a common sense approach, interpreting the statute "by reference to its stated purpose and ... the system of related statutes of which it forms a part." Goddard v. Superior Court, 191 Ariz. 402, ¶ 8, 956 P.2d 529, ¶ 8 (App.1998). Ultimately, "[o]ur objective in interpreting a statute is to give effect to the legislative intent behind the statute and, when possible, to harmonize all its sections." State v. Razo, 195 Ariz. 393, ¶ 3, 988 P.2d 1119, ¶ 3 (App.1999); see also State v. Wagstaff, 164 Ariz. 485, 491, 794 P.2d 118, 124 (1990) ("We strive to construe a statute and its subsections as a consistent and harmonious whole.").

¶ 12 The legislature enacted § 13-501 in order to implement Proposition 102 (the "Juvenile Justice Initiative"), which Arizona voters passed in 1996. See generally Andrews v. Willrich, 200 Ariz. 533, ¶¶ 1, 10-11, 29 P.3d 880, ¶¶ 1, 10-11 (App.2001); In re Victoria K., 198 Ariz. 527, ¶ 23, 11 P.3d 1066, ¶ 23 (App.2000). The Initiative amended the Arizona Constitution and essentially mandated the statutory scheme set forth in § 13-501. See Ariz. Const. art. IV, pt. 2, § 22(1) (eff.Dec. 6, 1996) (mandating in part that "[j]uveniles 15 years of age or older who are chronic felony offenders as defined by statute shall be prosecuted as adults" and, with certain exceptions, "[u]pon conviction ... shall be subject to the same laws as adults"); Ariz. Const. art. VI, §...