Justia North Dakota Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

Steven Aune was convicted by jury of manslaughter. On May 1, 2019, Aune’s adult twin daughters were both living at his home. One of the daughters had been living with Aune for some time, but the other daughter, S.A., had only been staying with Aune for about one week prior to her death. Aune and S.A. had an argument, and Aune picked up a rifle during the argument, which fired and struck S.A. Aune did not call 911 or attempt to render any aid to S.A., but he allowed the other daughter to use his pickup to take S.A. to the nearest hospital. S.A. died as a result of the gunshot wound. On appeal, Aune argued the jury’s verdict was inconsistent and the district court relied on an impermissible sentencing factor, rendering his sentence illegal. Aune argued his conviction should have been reversed or, in the alternative, that his sentence should have been reversed. Finding no reversible error, the North Dakota Supreme Court affirmed. View "North Dakota v. Aune" on Justia Law

Laron Young appealed summary judgment entered in favor of Burleigh Morton Detention Center (“BMDC”). Young was an inmate at BMDC. Reliance Telephone of Grand Forks, Inc. (“Reliance”) contracted with BMDC to operate its inmate telephone system. Every call that was not listed as “private” within the Reliance system was automatically recorded. It was undisputed that the telephone number for Young’s attorney was not on the list of private numbers and various calls between himself and his attorney were recorded. Young sued BMDC and Reliance arguing his Sixth Amendment right to counsel was violated and that BMDC had not complied with N.D.C.C. 12- 44.1-14(1), which required correctional facilities to ensure inmates have confidential access to their attorneys. The district court dismissed the claims against Reliance for lack of jurisdiction, and granted summary judgment in favor of BMDC, concluding Young had not alleged facts to support a finding that he was prejudiced by the recordings and therefore his right to counsel was not violated. The court also concluded Young had not alleged facts to support a finding that BMDC violated N.D.C.C. 12-44.1-14(1). The North Dakota Supreme Court affirmed, that to the extent relief might be available for Young’s claim, he did not allege facts to support a finding that BMDC knowingly intruded into the communications he had with his attorney or that prejudice or a substantial threat of prejudice existed. Therefore, the district court did not err when it granted BMDC summary judgment on Young’s Sixth Amendment claim. With respect to Young's statutory claim, the Court found the plain language of the statute did not require correctional facilities to affirmatively identify an inmate's attorney's telephone number as Young argued. Rather, by its own language, N.D.C.C. 12-44.1-14 was “subject to reasonable . . . correctional facility administration requirements.” The Court thus concluded BMDC’s policy allowing inmates or their attorneys to register attorney telephone numbers as confidential numbers not to be monitored did not constitute a violation of N.D.C.C. 12- 44.1-14(1). View "Young v. Burleigh Morton Detention Center, et al." on Justia Law

Garett Casatelli appealed a corrected criminal judgment after he entered a conditional guilty plea to actual physical control of a motor vehicle with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08 percent or greater. After review of the trial court record, the North Dakota Supreme Court concluded Casatelli was not seized in violation of the Fourth Amendment or N.D. Const. art. I, sec. 8, and the district court did not err in denying his motion to suppress evidence. View "North Dakota v. Casatelli" on Justia Law

Trevor Bolme appealed after entering a conditional guilty plea to possession of methamphetamine and unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia. Bolme argued the district court erred in denying his motion to suppress because law enforcement lacked reasonable suspicion to initiate a traffic stop based on a cracked windshield, and lacked probable cause to search his vehicle based on the odor of marijuana. After review, the North Dakota Supreme Court concluded law enforcement had reasonable and articulable suspicion to stop and probable cause to conduct the search. Therefore, the Court affirmed the criminal judgment of the district court. View "North Dakota v. Bolme" on Justia Law

Rolando Rodriguez was convicted by jury of gross sexual imposition, burglary, terrorizing, and domestic violence assault. On appeal, Rodriguez argued: (1) he did not knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily waive his right to counsel; (2) insufficient evidence existed to support his guilty verdicts; and (3) the district court erred when it failed to use a special verdict for the jury to determine whether Rodriguez used a dangerous weapon in commission of the terrorizing offense. After review, the North Dakota Supreme Court concluded Rodriguez knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily waived his right to counsel and he failed to preserve his arguments on sufficiency of the evidence and the necessity of a special verdict form. The Court, therefore, affirmed the judgment. View "North Dakota v. Rodriguez" on Justia Law

Simon Hofer appealed after he conditionally pled guilty to driving under the influence. He argued the district court was required to suppress the results of the urine test because the implied consent advisory was not substantively complete and the search warrant did not cure the defect in the advisory. The North Dakota Supreme Court reversed and remanded, concluding the implied consent advisory given in this case did not convey all substantive information required by statute, and as a result the test result was not admissible in a criminal proceeding. View "City of Fargo v. Hofer" on Justia Law

John Hirschkorn was convicted by jury of aggravated assault and driving under the influence of alcohol. The charges arose from an altercation in a McLean County, North Dakota bar that was captured on video. Hirschkorn was involved in a bar fight with another individual, resulting in Hirschkorn striking that individual in the face with a beer bottle and causing a serious cut to the individual’s face. Hirschkorn also sustained several injuries, including a blow to his head. After the fight concluded, Hirschkorn left the bar and drove away from the scene. Law enforcement officers arrived at the bar, and the individual was taken to the hospital. Officers subsequently located Hirschkorn driving his vehicle. He was stopped and ultimately arrested for driving under the influence. Because Hirschkorn was taken to the hospital to be medically cleared before testing, it was more than two hours after he had last driven that an Intoxilyzer test established his blood alcohol concentration to be 0.139 percent, over the legal limit. Before jury selection, Hirschkorn made a motion in limine requesting the court to exclude a video from the bar showing at least a portion of the fight. The court subsequently received the video into evidence at trial over his objection. The court also allowed limited testimony at trial from a neuropsychologist called as an expert witness by Hirschkorn to discuss symptoms of traumatic brain injury, to show Hirschkorn had sustained a brain injury caused by the other individual in the altercation, and to support the reasonableness of his claim of self-defense. Hirschkorn argued on appeal the district court should have excluded the exhibit including bar videos and the court should not have limited the neuropsychologist’s expert testimony. Finding no abuse of discretion or other reversible error, the North Dakota Supreme Court affirmed the district court. View "North Dakota v. Hirschkorn" on Justia Law

In 2007 a jury found Timler Everett guilty of gross sexual imposition. Everett appealed a district court order denying his petition for postconviction relief based on allegedly newly discovered evidence. Everett argued the trial court erred in denying his petition and dismissing his related motions. The North Dakota Supreme Court treated the district court’s current order as denying Everett leave to file additional motions. Orders denying leave to file were not appealable. Therefore, the Court dismissed Everett’s appeal. View "Everett v. North Dakota" on Justia Law

Cody Atkins appealed a district court order denying his motion to vacate a criminal judgment and withdraw his plea of guilty. In June 2015, Atkins pled guilty to violating an order prohibiting contact, a class A misdemeanor. Atkins did not appeal the criminal judgment entered following his guilty plea. On appeal, Atkins’ counsel sought permission to file an “Anders” brief or, in the alternative, permission to withdraw as Atkins’ counsel. The North Dakota Supreme Court denied the request to file an Anders brief, granted the motion to withdraw as Atkins’ counsel, and ordered a schedule for additional filings. The Court has held previously that the procedures set forth in "Anders" did not apply to North Dakota law because, under the state constitution and statutes, an appeal was a matter of right which eliminated the need for an Anders proceeding. In light of the representation of Atkins’ defense counsel that the appeal lacked merit and Atkins’ own request for new counsel, the Court granted the request to withdraw as counsel. Atkins was given time to submit a request for the appointment of appellate counsel. View "Atkins v. North Dakota" on Justia Law

Dustin Sackenreuter appealed after his conditional guilty plea to refusing to take a chemical breath test. He argued that the implied consent advisory he received was insufficient under N.D.C.C. 39-08-01(1)(f), that subsection (1)(f) was unconstitutionally void for vagueness, that subsection (1)(f) was ambiguous and should be interpreted in his favor, and that his special jury instructions should not have been rejected. Finding no reversible error, the North Dakota Supreme Court affirmed. View "North Dakota v. Sackenreuter" on Justia Law