State v. Tellegen

• Decision Date: 17 December 2013
• Docket Number: No. DA 12–0632.,DA 12–0632.
• Citation: 372 Mont. 454,314 P.3d 902
• Parties: STATE of Montana, Plaintiff and Appellee, v. Kandice TELLEGEN, Defendant and Appellant.
• Court: Montana Supreme Court

372 Mont. 454

314 P.3d 902

STATE of Montana, Plaintiff and Appellee,

v.Kandice TELLEGEN, Defendant and Appellant.

No. DA 12–0632.

Supreme Court of Montana.

Submitted on Briefs Sept. 26, 2013.

Decided Nov. 12, 2013.

Rehearing Denied Dec. 17, 2013.

For Appellant: Wade Zolynski, Chief Appellate Defender, Koan Mercer, Assistant Appellate Defender; Helena, Montana.

For Appellee: Timothy C. Fox, Montana Attorney General, Mardell Ployhar, Assistant Attorney General; Helena, Montana, Ed Corrigan, Flathead County Attorney, Alison Howard, Travis Ahner, Deputy County Attorneys; Kalispell, Montana.

Justice MICHAEL E. WHEAT delivered the Opinion of the Court.

¶ 1 Judge Katherine Curtis of the Eleventh Judicial District Court, Flathead County, presided over the trial of Kandice Tellegen (Tellegen) for theft and accountability to burglary. The jury returned a verdict of guilty on both counts. Tellegen appeals from numerous alleged errors at trial.

¶ 2 We address the following issues on appeal:

Issue One: Did the District Court err by instructing the jury on the theory of accountability when the State had not directly charged an accountability based offense?

Issue Two: Did Tellegen's counsel render ineffective assistance by offering a “conduct-based” definition of “purposely? ”

Issue Three: Did Tellegen's counsel render ineffective assistance by failing to object to her theft conviction on the grounds that it violated Montana's statutory restriction on multiple charges?

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

¶ 3 On January 13, 2012, Tellegen and her friends Ashley Ekern (Ashley), Aaron Zelenik (Aaron), and Jeff Weldele (Jeff) spent the afternoon together. The group eventually decided that Jeff and Aaron would go and “scout a house” while Ashley and Tellegen waited at a fishing access near Kila, Montana. Ashley and Tellegen soon went looking for Jeff and Aaron, and spotted their car parked near an unknown house. Tellegen parked the car around back and approached the house. Jeff and Aaron then opened the garage door and told Tellegen to pull her car into the garage. Once inside, accounts differ as to whether Tellegen participated in loading the cars with items from the home.

¶ 4 The State filed an information charging Tellegen with accountability for burglary. The State later withdrew that charge and amended the information to charge Tellegen with burglary, conspiracy to commit burglary, and theft. After the presentation of evidence, the District Court and attorneys settled instructions. The State sought an accountability instruction for the burglary charge, which the District Court granted over Tellegen's objection. The District Court settled on an instruction defining the word “purposely” as a conduct-based mental state instead of a result-based mental state. Tellegen's attorney did not object to this instruction. Finally, the court's instructions defined theft as a predicate offense to burglary. The jury convicted Tellegen of both burglary and theft.

STANDARDS OF REVIEW

¶ 5 We review jury instructions for abuse of discretion. State v. Lacey, 2012 MT 52, ¶ 15, 364 Mont. 291, 272 P.3d 1288. In considering whether a district court has correctly instructed the jury in a criminal case, we determine whether the instructions taken as a whole fully and fairly instructed the jury on the law applicable to the case. State v. Hocter, 2011 MT 251, ¶ 14, 362 Mont. 215, 262 P.3d 1089. Claims of ineffective assistance of counsel present mixed issues of law and fact which we review de novo. State v. Clary, 2012 MT 26, ¶ 12, 364 Mont. 53, 270 P.3d 88.

DISCUSSION

¶ 6 Did the District Court err by instructing the jury on the theory of accountability when the State had not directly charged an accountability based offense?

¶ 7 The State's first information filed against Tellegen charged her with accountability for burglary. The State then amended the charges to burglary, conspiracy to commit burglary, and theft, but eliminated the accountability for burglary charge. When the District Court began discussing jury instructions at the close of evidence, the State sought an instruction on the theory of accountability for burglary. The District Court admitted this instruction, citing to Tower, 267 Mont. at 68, 881 P.2d at 1320. Tellegen now asks us to revisit our holding in Tower, arguing that she was deprived of due process because she was not informed of the nature of the State's accusations against her.

I. Tower's Holding is Correct as a Matter of Law.

¶ 8 We decline to revisit Tower's holding that accountability is not a separate charge requiring express notice from the prosecution. The Sixth Amendment requires that the State inform a criminal defendant of the nature and cause of the accusation against her. U.S. Const. amend. VI. To this end, Montana law requires that charging documents give “a plain, concise, and definite statement of the offense charged, including the name of the offense, whether the offense is a misdemeanor or felony, the name of the person charged, and the time and place of the offense as definitely as can be determined.” Section 46–11–401(1), MCA.

¶ 9 We have consistently reaffirmed our holding in Tower that accountability is not a separate or different offense from the one charged, but rather, is “merely a conduit by which to find a person criminally liable for the acts of another.” State v. Maetche, 2008 MT 184, ¶ 16, 343 Mont. 464, 185 P.3d 980;State v. Abe, 1998 MT 206, ¶ 31, 290 Mont. 393, 965 P.2d 882;State v. Tower, 267 Mont. 63, 68, 881 P.2d 1317, 1320 (1994); In re B.D.C., 211 Mont. 216, 220–21, 687 P.2d 655, 657 (1984). In Tower, we held that this established legal principle allows defendants to predict that the State may pursue an accountability theory for a crime charged. Tower, 267 Mont. at 68, 881 P.2d at 1320. This desire for stability and predictability is the same interest fulfilled in adhering to stare decisis. State v. Kirkbride, 2008 MT 178, ¶ 13, 343 Mont. 409, 185 P.3d 340;State v. Gatts, 279 Mont. 42, 51, 928 P.2d 114, 119 (1996). In reaffirming Tower's holding, we provide further stability and predictability to an already well-established principle of Montana law.

II. Tower's Holding Applies to This Case.

¶ 10 Tellegen's case is indistinguishable from Tower. The amended information charged Tellegen with burglary and later the State pursued an accountability instruction for burglary. As the District Court noted, this is exactly the situation contemplated in Tower. (“I think the cases clearly apply to this case, and I think it's the law in the state, and I think I need to give [the accountability instruction].”) Since accountability is not a separate offense from the charge of burglary, Tellegen was effectively put on notice of the accountability theory when she was first charged with burglary.

¶ 11 Tellegen's case is also similar to Tower in that she had notice of the nature of the State's allegations based on the State's case against her before and during trial. State v. Murphy, 174 Mont. 307, 311–12, 570 P.2d 1103, 1105 (1977); Tower, 267 Mont. at 68, 881 P.2d at 1320. The State originally charged Tellegen with accountability for burglary, and only withdrew that charge to replace it with burglary and conspiracy to commit burglary. The first charge should have given Tellegen notice that the State suspected her involvement in aiding or abetting the burglary.

¶ 12 Moreover, the facts of Tellegen's case should have put her on notice that the State could pursue an accountability theory. In State v. Medrano, 285 Mont. 69, 74–75, 945 P.2d 937, 940 (1997), two defendants hit and kicked a victim, but co-defendants disputed which of the impacts resulted in serious bodily injury to the victim's spleen. We held that Medrano had notice of the State's accountability theory because the defendants had been accused of acting in concert and were charged individually and jointly for the victim's injuries. Medrano, 285 Mont. at 74–75, 945 P.2d at 940. Tellegen was charged for her participation in a burglary committed by her and other defendants, and other defendants testified that she had participated in the crime by driving the car into the garage and assisting them in loading it with items. Nothing in the facts of the case or in the State's charges can be interpreted to accuse Tellegen of acting alone, yet she now claims surprise at the State's accusation that she assisted others in committing the crime. The circumstances surrounding the trial put Tellegen on notice that the State would pursue an accountability theory.

¶ 13 Finally, Tellegen mistakenly relies on State v. Spotted Eagle, 2010 MT 222, 358 Mont. 22, 243 P.3d 402. In that case, the State initially charged Spotted Eagle with causing bodily injury to his partner, but later sought to instruct the jury under a different subsection of the same statute, requiring a finding of “reasonable apprehension of bodily injury.” Spotted Eagle, ¶¶ 7–11. Spotted Eagle's entire trial concerned his causing bodily injury, and he was only aware of the “apprehension” element once all evidence had been presented. Spotted Eagle, ¶ 14. This shift constituted a substantive change in the essential elements of the charge against him and we subsequently held that the instruction was a separate and distinct charge. Spotted Eagle, ¶¶ 11–13.

¶ 14 Spotted Eagle is distinguishable from Montana case law on accountability. Accountability is not a separate or different offense from the one charged, it is merely a theory to establish criminal liability for the charged offense. Maetche, ¶ 16;Tower, 267 Mont. at 68, 881 P.2d at 1320. Because accountability is not different or separate from the offense charged, its addition does not constitute a substantive shift in the charge. Spotted Eagle is therefore inapposite to the present case.

Ineffective Assistance of Counsel Claims

¶ 15 To determine whether an individual has received ineffective assistance of counsel, we use the two-part test...