State v. Medina
State v. Medina
Opinion of the Court
¶ 1 Porfirio Medina appeals from his conviction and sentence for possession of a deadly weapon by a prohibited possessor, claiming the trial court erred in precluding his *1136asserted necessity defense. For the following reasons, we affirm.
Factual and Procedural Background
¶ 2 In April 2016, a detective with the South Tucson Police Department saw Medina standing by a bus bench and recognized him as a parole absconder. He approached Medina and detained him. During that process, Medina told the detective that he had a handgun in his waistband. At that time, Medina had been convicted of a felony and "his right to possess or carry a gun or firearm had not been restored." Medina was convicted as described above and sentenced to an enhanced, presumptive prison term of ten years. This appeal followed. We have jurisdiction pursuant to A.R.S. §§ 13-4031 and 13-4033(A)(1).
Discussion
¶ 3 Medina claims the trial court erred in precluding his necessity defense as a sanction for a disclosure violation. The court disallowed the defense under Rule 15, Ariz. R. Crim. P., finding it had not been timely disclosed. "Absent a showing of abuse by the trial court, we will not disturb the trial court's choice of sanction or its decision not to impose a sanction." State v. Towery ,
¶ 4 Under Rule 15.2(b) and (d),
¶ 5 As this court has emphasized, "[t]he right to offer the testimony of witnesses, compel their attendance, and present a defense is guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution and is a fundamental element of due process of law." State v. Delgado ,
*1137¶ 6 For these reasons, our supreme court has cautioned that witnesses for either the state or the defense should be precluded only "as a last resort." State v. Tucker ,
¶ 7 Here, nothing in the record demonstrates that the trial court considered the factors listed in Smith . Nor does the record reflect that the court considered any lesser sanction, such as a continuance. See Ariz. R. Crim. P. 15.7(c).
¶ 8 However, the state also argued in the same motion that the defense should be precluded because the evidence did not support a defense of necessity. See State v. Boteo-Flores ,
¶ 9 Here, Medina's fiancée, V.D., would have testified that about a month prior to Medina's arrest, "a man sitting on her car in a parking lot ... said: Tell Taz Guerro says what's up." The record before us suggests that Medina would have testified he was fleeing from the Mexican mafia and that he believed the statement to his fiancée was a threat to his life. And, the state conceded at oral argument that police reports indicated Medina informed the arresting officer, albeit vaguely, that he felt threatened. But none of this evidence suggests that any such threats posed a risk of immediate injury. To the contrary, Medina was arrested carrying the firearm "less than a month" after his girlfriend's encounter with "Guerro's" messenger. Although Medina maintained during oral argument that the imminence of any potential injury should be a jury question, his argument necessarily implies that a defendant need only offer evidence suggesting a threat of eventual harm rather than immediate injury to secure an instruction. Because all threats imply a risk of eventual harm, such a conclusion would functionally erase the imminence element from our statute's definition of the necessity defense.
¶ 10 In the alternative, Medina contends that a defendant does not have to show evidence of "every element" of a justification defense to be entitled to an instruction. Even assuming arguendo this dubious proposition is correct, imminence is at the heart of the defense of necessity-without it, a necessity does not exist. See A.R.S. § 13-417(A). Because Medina offered evidence sufficient only to support an inference that he might at some point be harmed and failed to present even the slightest evidence that the threat was immediate, the trial court did not err in precluding him from presenting the defense.
¶ 11 Lastly, Medina contends that because the trial court precluded his proposed defense on the ground that he did not timely disclose it, he had no opportunity to comprehensively present the evidence that would *1138have shown an imminent threat. As Medina has correctly noted, he was not required to make a formal offer of proof because the court had "ruled broadly that no evidence [was] admissible in support of the theory or fact which [he sought] to establish." State v. Kaiser ,
¶ 12 While we acknowledge that a defendant's testimony is sufficient to raise the issue of self-defense, State v. Plew ,
¶ 13 To be sure, a trial court has the discretion to admit evidence of a proposed defense, and later deny a jury instruction, if it concludes the admitted evidence is insufficient to sustain the defense. But we disagree with Medina that a court should be required to do so. A court properly precludes a defense if the defendant fails to show that there is any evidence to be introduced at trial in support of it. Cf. Pedroza-Perez ,
Disposition
¶ 14 For the foregoing reasons, we affirm Medina's conviction and sentence.
We apply the current version of the rule, as doing so will neither "be infeasible [n]or work an injustice." Ariz. Sup. Ct. Order R-17-0002 (Aug. 31, 2017).
Medina also asserts the trial court committed structural error in considering the state's motion to preclude his necessity defense because the state did not "certify good faith efforts to resolve the disclosure dispute." See Ariz. R. Crim. P. 15.7(a). He argues this failure left the court without subject matter jurisdiction and was therefore structural error. Even assuming, without deciding, that the lack of such certification left the court without authority to consider precluding the defense as a disclosure sanction, that did not affect the court's subject matter jurisdiction over the case as a whole, and it did not affect the court's authority to preclude the defense on the wholly separate ground that it was not supported by the evidence.
Although Smith concerned preclusion of a witness, rather than a theory of defense, its rationale applies with at least equal force in this context.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- The STATE of Arizona v. Porfirio MEDINA
- Cited By
- 1 case
- Status
- Published