Idaho Supreme Court - Criminal Decisions 2021

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant-appellant Corey McGrath was charged with two counts of lewd conduct with a minor: one regarding his five-year-old stepdaughter, B.B.; and one regarding his twelve-year-old stepdaughter, L.N. The two counts were…

Justia Opinion Summary: A grand jury indicted defendant-appellant Jordan Spencer for three counts of felony trafficking in heroin, one count of felony possession of methamphetamine, one count of felony possession of bath salts with intent to…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant-appellant Danielle Guerra appealed a district court’s decision affirming a judgment of conviction for driving under the influence of drugs (“DUI”). Guerra contended the magistrate court erred when it denied her…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant-appellant was convicted by jury of domestic battery, attempted strangulation, and aggravated assault. He appealed to the Idaho Court of Appeals, which affirmed his convictions. Reyes petitioned for review by…

Justia Opinion Summary: In March 2019, police officers stopped defendant-appellant Aaron Howard for a traffic violation and took him into custody after discovering an outstanding warrant for his arrest. Officers then brought in a drug-sniffing…

Justia Opinion Summary: A drug dog leapt into defendant-appellant Jacob Randall’s rental car during what was supposed to have been an exterior sniff. After the dog alerted to the presence of narcotics, officers searched the car and discovered…

Justia Opinion Summary: In December 2018, a Jack-in-the-Box employee suspected a “drunk driver” was in the restaurant’s drive-through line and reported this suspicion to law enforcement. An officer arrived on the scene and reported an odor of…

Justia Opinion Summary: The State appealed a district court’s order granting Jennifer Warren’s (“Jennifer”) motion to suppress evidence. Boise Police Department Officer Matthew Lane stopped a GMC Yukon for a canceled and expired registration.…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant-appellant Kelvin Alvarenga-Lopez appealed a district court’s denial of his motion to suppress. The State charged Alvarenga-Lopez with possession of methamphetamine and possession of drug paraphernalia. An…

Justia Opinion Summary: While the issue on appeal in this case centered on a conviction for violating a protection order, the principal focus was on the statutes and guidelines governing domestic violence courts in Idaho. Moawia Ahmed was…

Justia Opinion Summary: Patricia Amstutz appealed her conviction for driving under the influence of alcohol (“DUI”). Amstutz argued the district court erred in denying her motion to suppress because she was arrested, without a warrant, for a…

Justia Opinion Summary: Timothy Dacey was convicted by jury of Driving Under the Influence (“DUI”). He received a second offense sentencing enhancement. During his trial, the magistrate judge allowed Officer Jessica Raddatz, a trained drug…

Justia Opinion Summary: In 2018, Marissa Dempsey was convicted by a jury of several counts of burglary, grand theft, and petit theft, after which the district court entered an order requiring Dempsey to pay restitution to the victims of the…

Justia Opinion Summary: Kevin Cox was charged by information with attempted strangulation and intentional destruction of a telecommunication instrument stemming from the domestic abuse of his wife. The crime of attempted strangulation was a…

Justia Opinion Summary: The issue this appeal presented for the Idaho Supreme Court's review centered on whether Shelaina Neimeyer’s argument concerning judicial notice of a municipal ordinance was properly preserved for appeal. An employee at…

Justia Opinion Summary: Daisha Maloney appealed her conviction for possession of methamphetamine. An officer with the Twin Falls Police Department stopped the car Maloney was driving after determining that the vehicle’s registration had…

Justia Opinion Summary: Tomas Daniel Garcia-Ongay appealed his conviction for lewd conduct with a minor under the age of sixteen. After Garcia-Ongay’s conviction, the Jury Commissioner informed the district court of his concerns that a juror in…

Justia Opinion Summary: Edward Lee Gardner appealed after a jury found him guilty of the sexual exploitation of children over the internet. Over the span of a year, the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (“ICAC”) received downloads of…

Justia Opinion Summary: Melissa Kay Foeller appealed a district court’s order of restitution following her guilty pleas to two counts of grand theft and one count of tax evasion. She signed a plea agreement that stipulated she would pay…

Justia Opinion Summary: William Hale, II, appealed after he was convicted on two counts of felony possession of a controlled substance and one count of possession of drug paraphernalia. After a drug-detecting dog alerted on the car Hale had…

Justia Opinion Summary: Thomas Cartwright his conviction for felony enticing a child through the use of the internet. Police arrested Cartwright outside a 7-11 convenience store, where he was attempting to meet a 14-year-old girl with whom he…

Justia Opinion Summary: Justin Lee Anderson appealed his convictions for lewd and lascivious conduct with a minor under the age of sixteen, sexual abuse of a child under the age of sixteen, and multiple counts of sexual exploitation of a child.…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant-respondent Dale Sutterfield stole a cell phone owned by a restaurant in Garden City, Idaho. A restaurant employee and his co-worker confronted Sutterfield, recovered the cell phone, and subsequently contacted…

Justia Opinion Summary: During a traffic stop, police confiscated a pipe, a bong, and some marijuana possessed by defendant-appellant Richard Heath. Heath was charged with misdemeanor possession of marijuana and misdemeanor possession of drug…

Justia Opinion Summary: While responding to a call regarding an ongoing robbery at a mobile home park in Grangeville, Idaho, officers with the Grangeville Police Department interacted with defendant-appellant William Clark. Upon learning that…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Melonie Smith appealed her conviction for first degree murder and destruction, alteration, or concealment of evidence. On appeal, Smith claimed the district court: (1) erred when it denied her motion to…

Justia Opinion Summary: Fifteen-year-old Lucas Orozco was charged with robbery and burglary, both felonies, for allegedly robbing a convenience store. After a magistrate court determined there was probable cause to charge Orozco with the…

Justia Opinion Summary: In this appeal, the Idaho Supreme Court was asked to clarify the meaning and extent of a defendant’s Sixth Amendment right to conflict-free counsel. Appellant Alfredo Alvarado argued his rights were violated because his…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Max Gorringe appeaeled a district court’s order amending of a no contact order. A no contact order was originally entered against Gorringe after he was initially charged with attempted strangulation in 2011.…

Justia Opinion Summary: The State charged Carli Campbell as an accessory to a felony under Idaho Code section 18-205(1) for withholding or concealing information from police officers about an aggravated battery and burglary that occurred in her…