State v. Townsend
| Decision Date | 28 December 1993 |
| Docket Number | No. 18866,18866 |
| Citation | 124 Idaho 881,865 P.2d 972 |
| Parties | STATE of Idaho, Plaintiff-Respondent v. Lonnie L. TOWNSEND, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | Idaho Supreme Court |
Lonnie L. Townsend appeals from the district court's sentencing order entered after a jury found him guilty of felony aggravated battery and misdemeanor assault. On appeal, Townsend asserts that his aggravated battery conviction was invalid because the jury's verdict was inconsistent and not supported by substantial evidence. Townsend also contends that the district court improperly allowed the jury to consider his hands deadly weapons for the purpose of enhancing the battery charge to aggravated battery. Finally, Townsend challenges the trial court's failure to instruct the jury on all lesser included offenses. For the reasons stated below, we vacate and remand for a new trial.
BACKGROUND AND PRIOR PROCEEDINGS.
On November 15, 1989, Lonnie L. Townsend physically attacked his wife. The attack began as Townsend followed his wife in his pickup truck while she was driving on a public street in her own car. Townsend's wife testified, and several bystanders confirmed, that she was driving at a speed of thirty to thirty-five miles per hour when Townsend pulled along side her car, looked at her, and then intentionally drove his truck into her car, forcing her off the road.
After both vehicles came to a complete stop, Townsend jumped out of the truck and yelled that he was going to kill her. When he approached her car he struck the driver's side window with an object alleged to be a tire iron or crow bar. Before Townsend's wife could escape, Townsend entered the vehicle, held her down on the car seat, again threatened to kill her, and began striking her in the face with his fists. He then choked her until she was unconscious. A subsequent blow to the eye revived her.
A bystander pulled Townsend away from his wife and out of the car. However, the bystander let Townsend loose again and he renewed his attack on his wife. He forced her down on the ground, sat on her abdomen, and pinned her arms and hands with his legs and knees. He then began to violently strike her face and head with his closed fists. A bystander again pulled Townsend off his wife and she escaped into a neighboring home.
Townsend was charged with aggravated battery and aggravated assault. I.C. §§ 18-907 & 18-905. Count I of the information alleged that Townsend's attack on his wife constituted aggravated battery, as opposed to simple battery, because in committing the battery he used a deadly weapon in the form of "a Ford Pick-up, and/or [the] defendant's hands." Count II alleged that Townsend committed aggravated assault, as opposed to simple or misdemeanor assault, in that a deadly weapon, in the form of a pick-up, tire iron, or the defendant's hands, was used in the assault. 1
The case proceeded to trial. At the close of the State's case, counsel for Townsend moved to dismiss the information or for a directed verdict. In support of his motion, Townsend's attorney argued that one vehicle striking another, without direct contact with the victim, does not constitute battery or assault. It was further argued that Townsend's hands did not constitute "deadly weapons" under the statute. The trial court rejected these arguments and permitted the case to go to the jury.
The trial court instructed the jury that it could find Townsend guilty of lesser included offenses if they did not find Townsend guilty of the charged crimes. The jury was instructed that the lesser offenses included in aggravated battery are simple assault, simple battery and aggravated assault. The jury was also instructed that the lesser offense included in aggravated assault is simple assault. The trial court instructed the jury as to the elements of each charged crime as well as each lesser included offense. With respect to Count I, the jury found Townsend guilty of aggravated battery. With respect to Count II, the jury found Townsend guilty of simple assault.
Townsend moved for a new trial or for an acquittal. The motion for new trial was denied. The trial court also denied the motion for acquittal as to the aggravated battery conviction but, in effect, granted the acquittal motion as to the simple assault conviction. The court then entered its sentencing order, which granted the defendant a withheld judgment on the aggravated battery conviction, and dismissed the assault count. This appeal followed.
Townsend first argues that the jury rendered inconsistent verdicts in finding him guilty of aggravated battery as to Count I, but finding him guilty of only simple assault as to Count II. The predicate for Townsend's argument is that aggravated assault, simple assault, and simple battery are all lesser included offenses of aggravated battery. Under the Court's instructions, the jury was required to find the defendant not guilty of aggravated assault as to Count II before considering the lesser included offense of simple assault. Townsend argues that the finding of not guilty of aggravated assault as to Count II, is inconsistent with the verdict of guilty on the aggravated battery charge set forth in Count I. Such a logical inconsistency, it is argued, requires a reversal of the conviction entered pursuant to the jury's verdict.
Townsend concedes that the U.S. Supreme Court has held that inconsistent verdicts, in and of themselves, do not warrant reversal of a conviction. Dunn v. United States, 284 U.S. 390, 52 S.Ct. 189, 76 L.Ed. 356 (1932); United States v. Powell, 469 U.S. 57, 105 S.Ct. 471, 83 L.Ed.2d 461 (1984). While the rule stated in the Dunn decision has been subject to criticism, this Court has found it unnecessary to consider its vitality under Idaho law, because it has not been presented with a case in which the jury returned truly inconsistent verdicts. See State v. Garcia, 102 Idaho 378, 630 P.2d 665 (1981). Today, we again conclude that the verdict rendered in this case is capable of reconciliation, and decline Townsend's invitation to consider whether the Dunn decision has application in the Idaho courts.
The two counts contained in the information alleged separate offenses perpetrated with different instrumentalities. Count I charged Townsend with aggravated battery committed through the use of a deadly weapon in the form of "a Ford Pick-up, and/or [the] defendant's hands." Count II alleged that Townsend committed aggravated assault through the use of a deadly weapon in the form of a pick-up, a tire iron, or the defendant's hands. Were the instrumentalities in the different counts the same, there would be some basis for Townsend's argument that the verdicts were inconsistent. However, it seems apparent that the jury focused on the tire iron as the instrumentality of assault and on Townsend's vehicle or his hands as the instrumentality of battery. This much is clear from a review of the evidence at trial and its interplay with the court's instructions.
Three separate instrumentalities were used by Townsend in attacking his wife. The evidence at trial supports the conclusion that Townsend intentionally drove his pickup into his wife's vehicle, jostling her around inside the car, and forcing her off the road. Townsend then approached his wife's car, verbally threatening her, and striking the car with a tire iron or crow bar. Thereafter, Townsend attacked her with his hands, choking her to a point of unconsciousness and striking her face and head while her arms were pinned behind her.
The jury could reasonably conclude that Townsend's use of his truck and his hands constituted a use of force or violence upon his wife's person or an intentional striking of his wife against her will. Either conclusion would justify a finding of battery under the trial court's instructions. 2 As will be discussed hereinafter, the jury could also have concluded that the manner in which Townsend used his truck to attack his wife constituted the use of a deadly weapon which would support a finding of aggravated battery.
The trial court also instructed the jury that assault includes a threat by word or act to do violence to the person of another, coupled with an apparent ability to do so, and doing some act which creates a well-founded fear in such other person that such violence is imminent. Under this instruction, the jury could reasonably conclude that Townsend's verbal threats, accompanied by his use of a tire iron or crow bar to strike his wife's vehicle, constituted an assault. Likewise, the jury could reasonably conclude that Townsend's use of the tire iron or crow bar was such that it could not be considered a deadly weapon.
Thus, given that the distinct counts involved different instrumentalities, and that the evidence suggests a basis for a conclusion that the defendant committed aggravated battery with his hands or his motor vehicle, while committing only simple assault through verbal threats accompanied by his menacing use of a tire iron, the jury's verdicts are reconcilable. We therefore affirm the district court's denial of Townsend's motion for a new trial or acquittal based upon a claim of inconsistent verdicts.
Townsend contends that the evidence at trial was insufficient to support a verdict that he used his pickup truck to perpetrate a battery upon his wife. The basis for his argument, is that his vehicle did not strike his wife directly, but only struck the vehicle which she was driving. Without direct contact with the victim, it is argued, there can be no...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
State v. LeBlanc
...See People v. Padilla, 638 P.2d 15, 17-18 (Colo.1981); State v. Sawyer, 227 Conn. 566, 630 A.2d 1064, 1075 (1993); State v. Townsend, 124 Idaho 881, 865 P.2d 972, 979 (1993); Walker v. State, 671 So.2d 581, 607-08 (Miss.1995); State v. Van Dyken, 242 Mont. 415, 791 P.2d 1350, 1361, cert. de......
-
State v. Poe
...or may have been convicted on a constitutional provision in the statute. There is no way to tell which. In State v. Townsend, 124 Idaho 881, 887, 865 P.2d 972, 978 (1993), the Court addressed the result when a jury verdict could have been based upon alternate grounds but did not specify the......
-
U.S.A v. Rocha, 08-50175.
... ... any enactment of Congress, would be ... punishable if committed or omitted within the jurisdiction of the State ... in ... which such place is situated, by the laws ... thereof in force at the time of such act ... or omission, shall be guilty of a like ... People v. Aguilar, 16 Cal.4th 1023, 68 Cal ... Rptr.2d 655, 945 P.2d 1204 (1997) (bare ... hands or feet); State v. Townsend, 124 ... Idaho 881, 865 P.2d 972 (1993) (hands); ... State v. Frey, 178 Wis.2d 729, 505 N.W.2d ... 786 (App.1993) (hands); Dixon v. State, ... ...
-
In re Rhoades v. State, Docket No. 35187 (Idaho 3/17/2010)
...Idaho at 901, 935 P.2d at 164. Because Butler's case was finally decided on direct review before this Court decided State v. Townsend, 124 Idaho 881, 865 P.2d 972 (1993), the Court declined grant Butler post-conviction relief based upon retroactive application of the holding in Townsend. Bu......