Idaho Supreme Court - Criminal Decisions 2019
Date: December 20, 2019
Docket Number: 46145
Justia Opinion Summary: In November 2016, Officer Kuebler and Officer Johnson from the Idaho Department of Correction performed a routine residence check on parolee Terry Wilson. Upon their arrival, the officers knocked on the apartment door…
Date: December 4, 2019
Docket Number: 45950
Justia Opinion Summary: Andrew Maxim was charged with felony possession of a controlled substance. He appealed the district court’s denial of his motion to suppress drug evidence found on his person after police searched the home he was living…
Date: December 3, 2019
Docket Number: 46252
Justia Opinion Summary: Katherine Lea Stanfield appealed a district court summarily dismissing her petition for post-conviction relief. Stanfield was a daycare provider with decades of experience caring for young children. In 2009, she was…
Date: October 25, 2019
Docket Number: 46013
Justia Opinion Summary: Jacob Davis appealed a district court’s denial of his motion for a new trial. Following his convictions in two separate cases, and subsequent appeals, Davis moved for a new trial in both cases based on two grounds: (1)…
Date: October 7, 2019
Docket Number: 46229
Justia Opinion Summary: Upon belief Coleton Sessions was selling tainted marijuana that had caused adverse medical symptoms to its users, police officers arrived at and entered Sessions’ house, and seized illegal substances and paraphernalia.…
Date: October 7, 2019
Docket Number: 46693
Justia Opinion Summary: Jesse Keeton appealed a district court’s order denying him credit for time served. In 2018, Keeton was in custody for thirty-two days following his arrest for driving under the influence of alcohol. The district court…
Date: October 7, 2019
Docket Number: 46973
Justia Opinion Summary: Gilbert Gonzales, Jr., appealed the district court’s order denying his motion to suppress evidence obtained following a warrantless seizure. Gonzales was arrested and charged with possession of methamphetamine and…
Date: September 11, 2019
Docket Number: 44182
Justia Opinion Summary: Eldon Samuel III appealed after a jury found him guilty of second degree murder for killing his father and first degree murder for killing his brother. Samuel’s younger brother was severely autistic and required…
Date: September 11, 2019
Docket Number: 46389
Justia Opinion Summary: This case involved a question regarding the proper amount of credit for time served to which Christopher Osborn was entitled under Idaho Code section 19-2603, the statute governing rearrest for a probation violation.…
Date: September 3, 2019
Docket Number: 45599
Justia Opinion Summary: Adam Bodenbach was convicted by jury for first-degree murder and possession of cocaine. On appeal, Bodenbach argued: (1) the district court’s “initial aggressor” jury instruction created reversible error because the…
Date: September 3, 2019
Docket Number: 45635
Justia Opinion Summary: Gary Partee was convicted by jury of delivery of methamphetamine, possession of methamphetamine with the intent to deliver, and possession of methamphetamine. Before trial, Partee moved to exclude statements he made to…
Date: August 27, 2019
Docket Numbers: 45117, 45118
Justia Opinion Summary: Jersson Neftaly Roque Medina (Medina) was convicted by jury of trafficking heroin and conspiracy to violate the Uniform Controlled Substances Act. The charges were brought through two separate cases that arose out of the…
Date: August 27, 2019
Docket Number: 46577
Justia Opinion Summary: Eric Livingston Weigle was found guilty by jury of robbing a credit union following a two-day trial. During the trial, the State’s forensic scientist used a PowerPoint presentation to explain how she matched one of…
Date: August 26, 2019
Docket Number: 45642
Justia Opinion Summary: Chad Schiermeier was convicted by jury of grand theft. DARE/PAL was a non-profit organized “to foster, promote, encourage and increase the knowledge, and understanding of alcohol and drug addictions or related problems.”…
Date: August 23, 2019
Docket Number: 46171
Justia Opinion Summary: Aaron Lantis was charged with the misdemeanor offense of disturbing the peace in violation of Idaho Code section 18-6409. The State alleged he committed the crime by sending sexually suggestive photographs of H.H.…
Date: August 22, 2019
Docket Number: 45290
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2009, a jury convicted Vance Thumm of aggravated battery or aiding and abetting aggravated battery and of being a persistent violator of the law. Thumm pursued a direct appeal, but was unsuccessful. In 2013, through…
Date: July 11, 2019
Docket Number: 45716
Justia Opinion Summary: Christopher Shanahan appealed a district court decision denying his motion to correct an allegedly illegal sentence imposed in 1997. In the Fall of 1995, Shanahan and two friends devised a scheme to rob a convenience…
Date: July 11, 2019
Docket Number: 46194
Justia Opinion Summary: The State appealed a district court order granting Monica Wolfe’s motion to suppress evidence obtained from a cell phone in her possession.In early 2017, a dog owned by Robert Wolfe and his new wife became unusually…
Date: July 10, 2019
Docket Number: 46432
Justia Opinion Summary: Samantha Cook was pulled over by a police officer after the officer noticed her vehicle lacked both front and rear license plates. As the vehicles slowed to pull over, the officer noticed a piece of paper in the rear…
Date: July 10, 2019
Docket Number: 46488
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Shawn Coats was charged with eight different offenses after he took an elderly man’s debit card and deposited fraudulent checks into the man’s credit union account to create funds for a multi-day shopping spree…
Date: June 13, 2019
Docket Number: 45627
Justia Opinion Summary: Byron Sanchez appealed a district court’s judgment of conviction for one count of threats against a public servant. In September 2016, Sanchez was in prison for a felony injury to a child offense arising out of Gem…
Date: June 13, 2019
Docket Number: 46605
Justia Opinion Summary: Justin Hoskins appealed a district court’s denial of his motion to suppress. In September 2016, Idaho State Trooper Spencer Knudsen observed a Pontiac Grand Am driving with a cracked windshield and pulled it over. He…
Date: June 10, 2019
Docket Number: 45282
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant-appellant Mark Garnett was an overnight guest in the residence of an absconded felony probationer. Probation officers searched the residence, including an attached storage room, and found Garnett’s locked…
Date: June 5, 2019
Docket Number: 46098
Justia Opinion Summary: The State appealed a district court order granting Isaac Saldivar’s motion to suppress evidence that he unlawfully possessed a firearm. During a pat-search, police discovered a Smith & Wesson semi-automatic pistol in the…
Date: April 2, 2019
Docket Number: 45476
Justia Opinion Summary: Relying on Idaho Criminal Rule 47, Jane Doe filed a motion to modify disposition requesting that the juvenile court place her back on probation after sentence had been imposed, and modify its previous computation of…
Date: March 28, 2019
Docket Number: 45193
Justia Opinion Summary: Richard Wilson was convicted of two counts of aiding and abetting trafficking in methamphetamine. He appealed on grounds that the State failed to present sufficient evidence to support either conviction. Finding the…
Date: March 28, 2019
Docket Number: 45607
Justia Opinion Summary: Darryl Joe Albertson appealed his conviction for possession of a controlled substance. In August 2016, a police officer approached Albertson’s front door and observed through a window that he was smoking methamphetamine.…
Date: March 14, 2019
Docket Number: 44858
Justia Opinion Summary: Jason Godwin, Sr. appealed after he was convicted for the second degree murder of Kyle Anderson in 2014. In his appeal, Godwin argued district court erred: (1) by denying his motion to suppress evidence of statements he…
Date: March 8, 2019
Docket Number: 45989
Justia Opinion Summary: Jeffrey Jeske appealed his conviction of felony driving under the influence (DUI), contending the district court erred: (1) when it allowed the deputy prosecutor to comment on his refusal to consent to a blood draw to…
Date: March 5, 2019
Docket Number: 45296
Justia Opinion Summary: Matthew Abramowski was charged with, and ultimately pled guilty to, first degree arson when he was 15 years old. He was charged as an adult, but received a blended sentence which gave the Department of Juvenile…
Date: March 4, 2019
Docket Number: 46517
Justia Opinion Summary: Gregg Miller appealed after he was convicted for injury to a child and felony eluding. As to the injury to a child conviction, Miller argued the jury instruction, combined with the prosecutor’s closing argument, created…
Date: February 26, 2019
Docket Number: 46382
Justia Opinion Summary: Phillip Smalley was convicted by jury on two counts of sexual abuse of a vulnerable adult and one count of sexual penetration by a foreign object. On appeal, Smalley argued: (1) there was insufficient evidence to sustain…
Date: February 22, 2019
Docket Number: 45290
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2009, a jury convicted Vance Thumm of aggravated battery or aiding and abetting aggravated battery and of being a persistent violator of the law. In 2013, through counsel, Thumm petitioned for post-conviction relief…
Date: February 21, 2019
Docket Number: 45253
Justia Opinion Summary: This case centered on whether the State presented substantial evidence to the district court to support an award of restitution for costs actually incurred by the State in prosecuting Jeremy Cunningham for drug charges.…
Date: February 20, 2019
Docket Number: 44534
Justia Opinion Summary: Zuatney Gonzalez pleaded guilty to two criminal counts of possession of a financial transaction card in Bannock County, Idaho, and thereafter requested credit for time served while she was jailed in Canyon County on…
Date: February 20, 2019
Docket Number: 45282
Justia Opinion Summary: Mark Garnett was an overnight guest in the residence of an absconded felony probationer, Tamara Brunko. Probation officers searched the residence, including an attached storage room, and found Garnett’s locked backpack…
Date: February 8, 2019
Docket Number: 45351
Justia Opinion Summary: Augustine Garnica Perez Jr. appealed after he was convicted for felony DUI. He challenged the district court’s decision to deny his motion to suppress evidence gathered as a result of an investigatory stop. Specifically,…
Date: February 1, 2019
Docket Number: 46268
Justia Opinion Summary: Richard Meyers appealed his conviction for grand theft on the grounds that he was denied his Sixth Amendment right to self-representation. Meyers was assigned a public defender, but was dissatisfied with his assigned…
Date: January 30, 2019
Docket Number: 45295
Justia Opinion Summary: After defendant Ryan Matthews was arrested for absconding from parole, methamphetamine was found on his person during the booking process at jail, for which he was charged with possession of a controlled substance. After…
