Idaho Supreme Court - Criminal Decisions 2020
Date: December 23, 2020
Docket Number: 47280
Justia Opinion Summary: The State charged Keith Sarbacher with grand theft by receiving or possessing stolen property: a 2001 Dodge pickup truck. After Sarbacher’s arrest, the State inventoried and photographed the truck and then returned it to…
Date: December 22, 2020
Docket Number: 47612
Justia Opinion Summary: This case arose from a DUI suspect’s request to make a phone call from jail following his arrest. The State appealed a district court order granting Jeffery Stegall’s motion to suppress blood alcohol concentration (BAC)…
Date: December 16, 2020
Docket Number: 46451
Justia Opinion Summary: Jesse Rebo shared a home with his wife in Coeur d’Alene for ten years. Due to a domestic assault conviction, Rebo had been ordered by a judge to not go within 300 feet of his wife or the family residence. Even so, about…
Date: December 3, 2020
Docket Number: 46107
Justia Opinion Summary: Robert Farrell-Quigle appealed his judgment of conviction for two counts of lewd conduct. He contends that the use of a shielding screen at trial during the testimonies of the alleged victims deprived him of his…
Date: December 3, 2020
Docket Number: 48109
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant John Huckabay appealed his criminal conviction of felony unlawful possession of a moose. A couple heard a gunshot as they were packing up to leave their cabin by Mica Bay on Lake Coeur d'Alene in October 2014.…
Date: November 10, 2020
Docket Number: 47163
Justia Opinion Summary: The State appealed the district court’s order granting James Kent’s motion to suppress statements he made during a non-custodial interrogation. During this interrogation, the officer began reading Kent his Miranda…
Date: November 2, 2020
Docket Number: 47158
Justia Opinion Summary: John Doe was a minor at the time the State alleged he committed two counts of lewd and lascivious conduct against a minor under the age of sixteen. Doe maintained his innocence, but argued that even if he did commit the…
Date: October 5, 2020
Docket Number: 46849
Justia Opinion Summary: Justin Loera was convicted for battery on a correctional officer. Loera claimed the district court erred in three respects: (1) by partially quashing his subpoena duces tecum based on its relevance rather than the…
Date: October 2, 2020
Docket Number: 47102
Justia Opinion Summary: Brandon Lynn Winkler appealed a district court order denying his motion to dismiss a January 2019 felony charge for driving under the influence of alcohol. Despite Winkler having been pardoned for a 2006 felony DUI, the…
Date: October 2, 2020
Docket Number: 47800
Justia Opinion Summary: Law enforcement used confidential informants to make several purchases of controlled substances from Darius Haws and his brother between April and May of 2015. While out on bond, Haws went to the residence of a female…
Date: October 1, 2020
Docket Number: 46608
Justia Opinion Summary: Cari Oxford was convicted by jury of second degree kidnapping after she kidnapped her neighbor’s infant son. On appeal, Oxford contended the district court abused its discretion in: (1) denying her the funds necessary to…
Date: September 9, 2020
Docket Number: 47800
Justia Opinion Summary: Darius Haws appealed after he pled guilty to delivery of a controlled substance and battery on a police officer pursuant to plea agreements in which he waived his right to appeal his convictions or sentences. The…
Date: September 2, 2020
Docket Number: 46724
Justia Opinion Summary: In December 2017, Klaus Nico Gomez-Alas was charged with two felony counts: rape and infamous crime against nature. At trial, he was acquitted of rape, but convicted of simple battery as an included offense. On the…
Date: July 27, 2020
Docket Number: 47308
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant-respondent Jennie Pylican moved to suppress evidence she unlawfully possessed methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia on the evening of October 12, 2017. At that time, an officer observed Pylican enter a storage…
Date: July 22, 2020
Docket Number: 46805
Justia Opinion Summary: In September 2018, Idaho State Police Sergeant Curt Sproat pulled over a vehicle driven by defendant-respondent Cody Hansen on Interstate 90 after observing a traffic infraction. As Sergeant Sproat approached the vehicle…
Date: July 15, 2020
Docket Number: 46781
Justia Opinion Summary: Nicole Lyn Gneiting appealed her conviction for possession of major contraband within a correctional facility under Idaho Code section 18-2510(3). Police responded to a call to a potential burglary at an Idaho Falls…
Date: July 14, 2020
Docket Number: 46097
Justia Opinion Summary: A district court granted Michael Bonner's motion to suppress evidence following a traffic stop that lead to his arrest for driving without privileges and for DUI. Bonner argued that the arresting officer lacked a…
Date: July 6, 2020
Docket Number: 46665
Justia Opinion Summary: James Hairston was sentenced to death after a jury convicted him of two counts of first-degree murder in connection with the deaths of William and Dalma Fuhriman. Hairston was about nineteen and a half when he killed the…
Date: June 11, 2020
Docket Number: 47439
Justia Opinion Summary: Quentin Nava appealed after he was convicted on one count of lewd and lascivious conduct and one count of sex abuse. The charges arose from an approximately two-day period in July 2016 when Nava was staying in the home…
Date: June 10, 2020
Docket Number: 46333
Justia Opinion Summary: John Rodriguez sold a firearm to an individual who had visible gang tattoos and had previously identified himself as a member of the Norteno gang, but who was actually an informant paid by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,…
Date: June 10, 2020
Docket Number: 47112
Justia Opinion Summary: Over a period of several months, William Dix bought several thousand dollars’ worth of goods from Grainger Supply on credit. On the same days he bought the goods, he pawned them. Dix was charged with grand theft and…
Date: June 10, 2020
Docket Number: 47577
Justia Opinion Summary: Clinton Haggard appealed a district court’s decision to affirm a magistrate court’s judgment of conviction. After a trial, the magistrate court found Haggard guilty of misdemeanor domestic battery in violation of Idaho…
Date: June 5, 2020
Docket Number: 47309
Justia Opinion Summary: Steven Chambers appealed his conviction entered upon his "Alford" plea to battery with intent to commit a serious felony. Chambers was initially charged with forcible rape against a young woman. Pursuant to I.R.E. 412,…
Date: May 14, 2020
Docket Number: 46094
Justia Opinion Summary: Britain Lee Barr pleaded guilty to five counts of sexual exploitation of a child and to being a repeat sex offender. The district court sentenced Barr to five, fifteen-year fixed sentences, to run consecutively to each…
Date: May 6, 2020
Docket Number: 47131
Justia Opinion Summary: David Glodowski appealed after he was convicted for failing to update his sex-offender registration in violation of Idaho Code section 18-8309. He argued the district court erred by ruling that his prior conviction under…
Date: May 4, 2020
Docket Number: 45905
Justia Opinion Summary: Timothy Jones was convicted by jury of trafficking heroin and possession of drug paraphernalia. On appeal, he argued the trial court erred in admitting certain evidence regarding his probation status, a knife found in…
Date: May 4, 2020
Docket Number: 46992
Justia Opinion Summary: Nicholas Blythe appealed after he was convicted of possessing a controlled substance. He conditionally pled guilty, reserving the right to challenge his sentence. On appeal, he argued the district court erred in denying…
Date: April 30, 2020
Docket Number: 47437
Justia Opinion Summary: Richard Hess appealed an order of restitution entered against him following his guilty plea to trafficking heroin. Hess relied on the Idaho Supreme Court’s decision in Idaho v. Nelson, 390 P.3d 418 (2017), to argue that…
Date: April 28, 2020
Docket Number: 46253
Justia Opinion Summary: Jesus Manuel Garcia was found guilty by jury of second-degree murder, aggravated battery, use of a deadly weapon during the commission of the former crimes, and possession of a controlled substance. The district court…
Date: April 22, 2020
Docket Number: 46841
Justia Opinion Summary: Prior to sentencing, defendant James Burke was committed to the state mental hospital for 56 days to restore him to competency. After being evaluated and deemed competent to proceed to trial, Burke was returned to the…
Date: April 14, 2020
Docket Number: 46378
Justia Opinion Summary: Riley Lodge appealed a no contact order entered against him as a result of his being convicted of two counts of sexual battery of a minor child sixteen or seventeen years of age. After Lodge pleaded guilty to these two…
Date: April 13, 2020
Docket Number: 45345
Justia Opinion Summary: Martin Edmo Ish appealed his conviction and sentence for one count of voluntary manslaughter. The State charged Ish with second-degree murder in November 2015 for the June 2009 killing of Eugene Lorne Red Elk in…
Date: March 20, 2020
Docket Number: 47324
Justia Opinion Summary: Michael Hayes was convicted by jury of felony battery on a correctional officer. Hayes appealed his judgment of conviction on three grounds: (1) the district court erred by failing to issue subpoenas for two medical…
Date: March 9, 2020
Docket Number: 47436
Justia Opinion Summary: Thomas Hooley appealed a district court’s decision to dismiss his pro se filing entitled “Motion For New Trial Based on Evidence withheld in violation of Brady with attached exhibits in support of motion.” In July 2014,…
Date: February 24, 2020
Docket Number: 46371
Justia Opinion Summary: Dave Christensen was indicted by a grand jury on five counts of lewd conduct with two minors under sixteen. The State notified Christensen of its intent to introduce interviews of the two alleged victims at trial under…
Date: February 18, 2020
Docket Number: 47438
Justia Opinion Summary: Jeffrey Marsalis appealed a district court’s decision summarily dismissing his petition for post-conviction relief from his 2009 rape conviction. Marsalis alleged that his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to:…
Date: February 13, 2020
Docket Number: 46377
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2011, a district court granted Aaron Roth a temporary furlough while he was in jail for a probation violation. Under the furlough order, Roth was released from custody. Roth failed to return. In 2017, six years after…
Date: February 7, 2020
Docket Number: 45569
Justia Opinion Summary: The State appealed a district court decision to grant defendant David Pool’s motion to suppress the results of a warrantless blood draw on the grounds that it was an unreasonable search under the Fourth Amendment to the…
Date: February 4, 2020
Docket Number: 46335
Justia Opinion Summary: Shane Lee Dobbs appealed his conviction and the resulting sentence imposed after he pled guilty of lewd conduct with a minor under sixteen. On appeal, Dobbs contended the district court abused its discretion in…
Date: January 31, 2020
Docket Number: 46266
Justia Opinion Summary: This appeal stems from a criminal defense attorney’s failure to adequately advise his client about the client’s constitutional rights against self-incrimination during a related civil deposition. Melvin Savage was…
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