State v. Wolfe

• Decision Date: 14 November 1991
• Docket Number: No. 90-591,90-591
• Citation: 821 P.2d 339,250 Mont. 400
• Parties: STATE of Montana, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Scott Anthony WOLFE, Defendant and Appellant.
• Court: Montana Supreme Court

Page 339

821 P.2d 339

250 Mont. 400

STATE of Montana, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Scott Anthony WOLFE, Defendant and Appellant.

No. 90-591.

Supreme Court of Montana.

Submitted on Briefs May 31, 1991.

Decided Nov. 14, 1991.

J. Dirk Beccari and Marcia M. Jacobson, Public Defender's Offices, Missoula, for defendant and appellant.

Marc Racicot, Atty. Gen., Elizabeth Griffing, Asst. Atty. Gen., Helena, Robert L. Deschamps III, County Atty., Fred Van Valkenberg, Deputy County Atty., Missoula, for plaintiff and respondent.

TURNAGE, Chief Justice.

Scott Anthony Wolfe (Wolfe) appeals his convictions of possession of explosives and criminal mischief following a jury trial in the Fourth Judicial District, Missoula County. We affirm.

Wolfe presents the following issues:

1. Did the District Court err when it denied Wolfe's motion for dismissal under the 180-day speedy trial provision of the Interstate Agreement on Detainers?

2. Did the District Court err by subjecting Wolfe to double jeopardy when it entered judgment against him on possession of explosives and criminal mischief?

3. Did the District Court err by prejudicing Wolfe when it admitted evidence of Wolfe's prior acts for the jury's consideration?

4. Did the District Court err by denying Wolfe's 1) motions for mistrial and related objections, and 2) motion for a directed verdict?

From 1981 to 1987, Wolfe worked for Montana Hearth Company, a small company located in Missoula, Montana. Montana Hearth Company quarried flagstone and manufactured stone hearth pads. Wolfe worked mainly in the company's manufacturing shop in Missoula, but occasionally worked at the quarry sites, where he helped co-workers use blasting equipment to quarry the hearth stone.

Montana Hearth Company purchased its blasting equipment from various businesses in Montana. This blasting equipment included Aisla "Thistle" brand fuses, a rare brand of safety fuse manufactured in Scotland; blasting caps; and two types of dynamite, Atlas Giant Gelatin Sticks and Ireco Iremite.

Generally, Montana Hearth Company used its blasting equipment within two or three days of purchase. In January or February 1987, however, Ireco Iremite dynamite, Aisla "Thistle" brand fuses, and blasting caps were taken from a quarry site to the Missoula shop for storage. Around this time, Richard Bossard, a Montana Hearth Company co-owner, realized that a large amount of blasting caps and fuse were missing.

In the early morning hours of Easter Sunday on April 19, 1987, an unmarked and unoccupied police car parked by the City Hall Building in Missoula was blown up by explosives. Following an expert examination of the scene of the explosion, examiners concluded that Aisla "Thistle" brand safety fuse and Ireco Iremite dynamite had been used to blow up the police car.

During the weekend of April 18-19, 1987, George Chaussee (Chaussee), a co-owner of Montana Hearth Company, stayed with Wolfe at an apartment rented by Darcy Estes Conover (Conover), Wolfe's then-girlfriend. On the evening of April 18, 1987, Wolfe asked Chaussee if he could borrow Chaussee's truck. Chaussee agreed. Wolfe then departed from the apartment in Chaussee's truck. Chaussee remained at the apartment that evening. Hours later, when Wolfe returned to the apartment, Wolfe woke Chaussee up and told Chaussee that he had blown up a police car. Because of their friendship, Chaussee did not inform authorities of Wolfe's admission until he was subpoenaed by a federal grand jury.

On the evening of April 18, 1987, Michael Watson (Watson) saw and conversed with Wolfe at a bar near City Hall in Missoula. Watson testified that Wolfe declined to attend an early morning party on April 19, 1987, because Wolfe had "other things that he had to attend to."

One week later, Wolfe stayed with Conover at Quinn Hot Springs located near one of Montana Hearth Company's quarry sites. Conover teased Wolfe about firearms in his possession after reading newspaper articles concerning the police car explosion, which made reference to possible neo-Nazi involvement. Conover asked Wolfe if he was a neo-Nazi. According to Conover, Wolfe replied that her question was funny because someone had asked him if he had gotten religion the weekend before. Conover then asked Wolfe if he was referring to the police car explosion incident; Wolfe sarcastically replied, "yeah."

Prior to Chaussee's testimony before a federal grand jury, authorities suspected Wolfe of involvement in this police car explosion incident. In December 1986, pursuant to a federal search warrant, Missoula County Sheriff's Department detectives searched a residence then shared by Wolfe and Chaussee. Among other things, the detectives found sticks of Atlas Giant Gelatin dynamite, Aisla "Thistle" brand safety fuses, blasting caps, and five destructive devices in Wolfe's bedroom closet.

On January 17, 1989, Wolfe was charged by information with one count of possession of explosives in violation of Sec. 45-8-335, MCA (1987), and one count of criminal mischief in violation of Sec. 45-6-101, MCA (1987). Wolfe was imprisoned at a federal prison in Oakdale, Louisiana, at this time. On October 25, 1989, Wolfe filed with the District Court a motion to dismiss the information on the ground that his right to a speedy trial had been violated under the Interstate Agreement on Detainers (IAD). On December 15, 1989, the District Court denied Wolfe's motion to dismiss, and later, denied Wolfe's motion to reconsider following a hearing on the matter. Wolfe then petitioned this Court for a writ of supervisory control seeking dismissal of the information on the same ground. This Court dismissed Wolfe's petition in an order dated March 20, 1990, holding that Wolfe had an adequate remedy on appeal.

Following a jury trial, which began on July 11, 1990, Wolfe was found guilty of both crimes as charged. The District Court, on September 17, 1990, sentenced Wolfe to twenty years imprisonment for the conviction of possession of explosives, ten years imprisonment for the conviction of criminal mischief, and ten years imprisonment with five years suspended for being a persistent felony offender, all sentences to run consecutively. From these convictions, Wolfe appeals.

1. Did the District Court err when it denied Wolfe's motion for dismissal under the 180-day speedy trial provision of the Interstate Agreement on Detainers?

On January 17, 1989, Wolfe was serving a federal prison sentence in Oakdale, Louisiana, when charges were filed against him in Montana regarding the police car explosion incident. On January 29, 1989, Wolfe wrote a letter to the Missoula County Attorney's Office informing the office of his location so a detainer could be issued. On February 6, 1989, the Missoula County Sheriff's Office sent certified copies of the warrant and information in this case to Jessie Smith, an inmate technician at the federal prison in Oakdale, Louisiana, requesting that a detainer be lodged against Wolfe. On February 7, 1989, a Missoula deputy county attorney wrote a letter to Wolfe informing him that Montana was in the process of placing a detainer against him. In this letter, the deputy county attorney also advised Wolfe to discuss this matter with an attorney.

On February 24, 1989, Wolfe wrote and informed his case manager at the federal prison of the Montana detainer. The case manager responded on February 26, 1989, and advised Wolfe to "Please come by and see me." On February 27, 1989, Wolfe requested the R. and D. Office (prison records department) of the federal prison "to get the paper work started on the Interstate Agreement on Detainers" because its completion would commence the 180-day time limit for Montana to bring Wolfe to trial on this matter.

According to Wolfe, his prison officials failed to "promptly forward" his request within a reasonable time. Besides Wolfe's assertion, the record is devoid of evidence that prison officials failed to respond to Wolfe's request within a reasonable time. Wolfe then researched the IAD in the prison law library and chose to proceed with the notification requirements under the IAD on his own and without the assistance of prison officials.

On March 2, 1989, three days after his request for assistance to the R. and D. Office, Wolfe sent by registered mail to the "County Court Clerk" in Missoula three copies each of the following: a Notice of Motion to Discover Exculpatory Evidence in Possession of Prosecutor; an Inmate's Notice of Place of Imprisonment and Request for Disposition of Indictments, Informations, or Complaints form; a letter addressed to Robert L. Deschamps, the Missoula County Attorney; and a computer printout dated February 27, 1989, reflecting Wolfe's status at the federal prison. Because the letter in the envelope sent by Wolfe was addressed to County Attorney Deschamps, the letter, enclosures and all copies therein were forwarded to the County Attorney's Office and were not filed with the clerk of court. Wolfe later testified that he also included a handwritten note in this communication which stated to "Please distribute [the copies] to the right people." There is no record that this handwritten note was received by the County Attorney's Office and Wolfe did not retain a copy of it for his file, although he retained copies of all the other documents included in his March 2 mailing. Wolfe later acknowledged at a January 29, 1990 hearing that these papers were not only incomplete, but were improperly completed.

On March 7, 1989, Wolfe prepared and forwarded three copies each of the following by registered mail to the United States District Court of Missoula: a revised Inmate's Notice of Place of Imprisonment and Request for Disposition of Indictments, Informations or Complaints form; another letter to the Missoula County Attorney; the same computer printout sent in the March 2 mailing, and a typewritten note, which stated in part, "I APOLOGIZE FOR MAKING A MISTAKE ON...