Justia North Dakota Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

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

David Buller appealed a district court order granting a petition for commitment of a sexually dangerous individual. On January 23, 2020, the State filed a petition for civil commitment of Buller as a sexually dangerous individual. On January 28, 2020, following a preliminary hearing, the district court entered an order of dismissal of the petition after finding the State failed to establish Buller had a condition that was manifested by a sexual disorder, personality disorder, or other mental disorder or dysfunction. On January 30, 2020, sua sponte and without notice to the parties, the court issued an order vacating the prior order dismissing the petition and finding probable cause was established to commit Buller. On February 19, 2020, Buller filed a petition for writ of mandamus to this Court. This Court exercised supervisory jurisdiction and vacated the district court’s January 30, 2020 order after considering the procedural irregularity of the second order issued sua sponte and without notice to the parties. On March 6, 2020, the State filed a new petition and started a new proceeding seeking commitment of Buller as a sexually dangerous individual. Buller requested dismissal of the new petition asserting res judicata precluded a second petition because the January 28, 2020 order dismissing the petition following the preliminary hearing was not vacated in the first proceeding. After completion of an evaluation in which two doctors reached an opinion Buller met the criteria of a sexually dangerous individual, the district court again issued an order granting the petition seeking commitment. Buller argued the proceedings in this case were bared by res judicata and the order for commitment was not supported by clear and convincing evidence. Finding no reversible error, the North Dakota Supreme Court affirmed. View "Interest of Buller" on Justia Law

North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum petitioned the State Supreme Court to exercise its original jurisdiction and issue declarations and a writ of mandamus concerning who appoints the replacement after the pre-election death of a candidate for an office in the Legislative Assembly. Four candidates appeared on the 2020 general election ballot for two available seats for the office of State Representative for District Eight. The prior officeholder died in October 2020, twenty-nine days before the election, and after ballots were printed and early voting had begun. The North Dakota Secretary of State requested an advisory opinion from the state Attorney General on what to do about votes cast for the deceased candidate. The Attorney General responded stating that the North Dakota legislative assembly would follow the procedure codified in N.D.C.C. 16.1-13-10: "Upon the application of state law and the ‘American’ rule, it is my opinion that this would be the appropriate method to fill a vacancy." Election day totals showed Dave Nehring received the most votes and David Andahl received the second most votes. In accordance with the Attorney General's Opinion, the election results were certified but no certificate of election was issued to Andahl because of his death. Officials for the District Eight Republican Committee announced their intention to appoint an individual to fill the office. Kathrin Volochenko received the third most votes. She intervened in this case and claimed no vacancy in office would exist because she was elected to the office. On December 1, 2020, Nehring was set to fill one of the seats because he received the most votes. Andahl received the second most votes, and he presumably would have filled the other seat but died and will not do so. Therefore, as a matter of law, a vacancy would exist on December 1, 2020. When a vacancy in office occurs, the Governor’s constitutional authority to fill it is contingent upon there being “no other method” provided by law. A governor does not have authority to fill a legislative branch vacancy unless the gap-filling authority of N.D. Const. art. V, section 8 permits it. The Supreme Court declared a vacancy in office would exist on December 1, 2020, and the Governor did not have statutory or constitutional authority to make an appointment to fill the vacancy in this case. "He has not established a clear legal right to performance of the acts he seeks. Therefore, a writ of mandamus is not warranted. We deny the requested relief." View "Burgum v. Jaeger, et al." on Justia Law

Timothy Hajicek appealed after he conditionally pled guilty to driving under the influence. Hajicek claimed the district court erred in denying his motion to suppress evidence because a University of North Dakota police officer acting outside his jurisdiction was without official capacity and without the official power to seize. The North Dakota Supreme Court affirmed, concluding the UND police officer was lawfully responding to a request for assistance under N.D.C.C. 44-08-20(3). View "North Dakota v. Hajicek" on Justia Law

Levi Conry was charged with leaving the scene of an accident involving damage to a motor vehicle. Conry entered into a plea agreement with the State and pleaded guilty. As part of the agreement Conry received a deferred imposition of sentence on the charge of leaving the scene of an accident involving damage to a motor vehicle. The district court accepted the plea agreement and imposed conditions on Conry according to the terms of the plea agreement. The order deferring imposition of sentence stated: “The Court reserves jurisdiction to determine restitution within 90 days.” The State subsequently submitted a statement seeking $11,352.93 in restitution. Conry requested a hearing after which the district court entered an order denying the restitution claim in its entirety. The court found the terms of the plea agreement allowed the court to order no restitution. The State appealed that order. Finding that the State had no statutory right to appeal a restitution order in a criminal case, the North Dakota Supreme Court determined it lacked jurisdiction over the State's appeal and dismissed it. View "North Dakota v. Conry" on Justia Law