Gallegos v. State
Gallegos v. State
Opinion of the Court
OPINION
Appellant Albert David Gallegos was convicted, pursuant to a jury verdict, of one count of unlawful possession of a firearm in violation of NRS 202.360(1)(b). Gallegos appeals, contending that NRS 202.360(1)(b) is unconstitutionally vague because it fails to define the term “fugitive from justice.”
FACTS
In 2004, the State charged Gallegos with one count of unlawful possession of a firearm after police arrested him at his home in Clark County and found a firearm inside that home. The State based that charge on a 1998 felony warrant issued by a California superior court. The California court issued the warrant when Gallegos failed to appear for sentencing after pleading nolo contendere to seven felony charges, which California had agreed to reduce to gross misdemeanor charges in exchange for Gallegos’ plea and good behavior. At his Nevada trial, Gallegos testified that he did not appear for his sentencing hearing because the California supe
Prior to his Nevada trial, Gallegos filed a motion to dismiss the unlawful possession charge. In that motion, he argued that NRS 202.360(1)(b) is unconstitutionally vague and fails to provide sufficient notice that he cannot possess a firearm because it does not define the term ‘ ‘fugitive from justice.’ ’ The district court denied the motion. The district court later conducted a two-day trial during which the district court instructed the jury that “[a] fugitive from justice is any person who has fled from any state to avoid prosecution for a crime.” The district court, at the urging of the prosecutor, derived that instruction from the federal definition of “fugitive from justice” found in 18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(15).
DISCUSSION
Gallegos argues that NRS 202.360(1)(b) is unconstitutionally vague because it fails to provide adequate notice of what conduct it prohibits. He further argues that the statute’s vagueness encourages, or at least fails to prevent, its arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement. We agree.
A statute’s constitutionality is a question of law, which this court reviews de novo.
“[T]he Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment prohibits the states from holding an individual ‘criminally responsible for conduct which he could not reasonably understand to be proscribed.’ ”
NRS 202.360(1)(b) gives insufficient notice
The focus of the first prong of the vagueness test is to protect “those who may be subject to potentially vague statutes”
We conclude that NRS 202.360(1)(b) does not survive the first prong of the vagueness test because the Legislature did not define the term “fugitive from justice.” NRS 202.360(1)(b) simply states, in pertinent part, that “[a] person shall not own or have in his possession or under his custody or control any firearm if he . . . [i]s a fugitive from justice.’ ’ Legislative history indicates that the Legislature enacted NRS 202.360(1)(b) intending to mirror federal law.
Unlike Congress, the Nevada Legislature has not defined “fugitive from justice.” By failing to adopt the federal definition of “fugitive from justice” or include any definition of that phrase in NRS 202.360(1)(b), the Legislature failed to provide the public with statutory notice of what that term means.
We also find the procedural requirements that bring a person within the scope of NRS 202.360(1)(b) to be cloudy. We cannot determine from the statute’s provisions whether the person has to have been formally charged with a crime, be wanted as a suspect but not yet indicted, be guilty of a crime but not yet discovered, be wanted for general questioning relating to a crime, or whether the person even has to know he has committed a crime. Because it fails to answer these questions, NRS 202.360(1)(b) causes ordinary cit
If the term “fugitive from justice” had an ordinary and well-established meaning, that would mitigate the Legislature’s failure to define that term. We have examined several sources, including federal law, our jurisprudence, and nonlegal sources. We conclude, based on our research, that “fugitive from justice” has no well-established and ordinary meaning. For example, in reviewing the extradition clause of Article 4, Section 2 of the United States Constitution, the United States Supreme Court held in Roberts v. Reilly that a person does not have to be formally charged to be a “fugitive from justice.”
Our cases also fail to give a single, well-defined definition for the term “fugitive from justice.” For example, in Ex parte Lorraine
Therefore, we conclude that NRS 202.360(1)(b) fails the first prong of the vagueness test because it gives inadequate notice of who the Legislature intends to prohibit from possessing a firearm.
NRS 202.360(1)(b) lacks specific standards and thereby allows for its arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement
Under the second prong of the vagueness test, a statute is unconstitutional if it “lacks specific standards, thereby encouraging, authorizing, or even failing to prevent arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement.”
In Silvar v. District Court, this court analyzed and struck down a Clark County ordinance under this second prong because, among other things, law enforcement officers had too much discretion in determining whether the ordinance had been violated.
Like the ordinance in Silvar, NRS 202.360(1)(b) is susceptible to arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement because it does not specify the circumstances under which a person can be arrested and prosecuted as a fugitive from justice in possession of a firearm. It therefore establishes no clear standards to guide law enforcement officers, prosecutors, district courts, and, ultimately, jurors as to whether a violation has occurred. That was demonstrated in this case by the fact that the prosecutor, defense counsel,
Additionally, we can imagine a wide variety of other situations in which NRS 202.360(1)(b) would be susceptible to arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement. As discussed previously, we are unable to determine from NRS 202.360(1)(b) whether a person who enters Nevada after driving at an excessive rate of speed on an out-of-state highway without receiving a citation is prohibited from carrying a firearm in Nevada. Likewise, we can only guess as to whether a business traveler in Nevada with an out-of-state parking ticket that remains unpaid has violated NRS 202.360(1)(b) if he has a firearm in his possession. If faced with those situations, or a broad spectrum of other situations like them, law enforcement officers and prosecutors would have to use their discretion to determine whether NRS 202.360(1)(b) has been violated. NRS 202.360(1)(b) fails to provide the clear statutory language necessary to bridle that discretion. Without a clear definition of the term “fugitive from justice,” NRS 202.360(1)(b) impermissibly encourages, authorizes, or at least fails to prevent its own arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement. Therefore, we conclude that NRS 202.360(1)(b) fails the second prong of the vagueness test.
CONCLUSION
For the reasons stated above, we conclude that NRS 202.360(1)(b) is unconstitutionally vague and violates the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Accordingly, we reverse the district court’s judgment of conviction.
NRS 202.360 provides, in part:
1. A person shall not own or have in his possession or under his custody or control any firearm if he:
(b) Is a fugitive from justice . . .
3. As used in this section:
(b) “Firearm” includes any firearm that is loaded or unloaded and operable or inoperable.
18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(15) provides that “[t]he term ‘fugitive from justice’ means any person who has fled from any State to avoid prosecution for a crime or to avoid giving testimony in any criminal proceeding.”
Silvar v. Dist. Ct., 122 Nev. 289, 292, 129 P.3d 682, 684 (2006).
Sheriff v. Martin, 99 Nev. 336, 339, 662 P.2d 634, 636 (1983) (quoting United States v. Harriss, 347 U.S. 612, 617 (1954)).
Silvar, 122 Nev. at 293, 129 P.3d at 685.
City of Las Vegas v. Dist. Ct., 118 Nev. 859, 864, 59 P.3d 477, 481 (2002).
Silvar v. Dist. Ct., 122 Nev. 289, 293, 129 P.3d 682, 685 (2006).
City of Las Vegas, 118 Nev. at 863, 59 P.3d at 480.
Woofter v. O’Donnell, 91 Nev. 756, 762, 542 P.2d 1396, 1400 (1975).
Lane v. Allstate Ins. Co., 114 Nev. 1176, 1180, 969 P.2d 938, 940 (1998).
See, e.g., Hearing on S.B. 199 Before the Senate Judiciary Comm., 72d Leg. (Nev., March 10, 2003).
Congress enacted its definition of “fugitive from justice” in 1968. 18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(15) (1970). In 2003, the Nevada Legislature amended NRS 202.360 to prohibit a “fugitive from justice” from owning or possessing a firearm. 2003 Nev. Stat., ch. 256, § 7, at 1353.
116 U.S. 80, 97 (1885).
Id.
235 U.S. 432, 439 (1914).
For example, the Legislature adopted the federal definition of “controlled substance” in NRS 202.360(3)(a) where it stated that “‘[c]ontrolled substance’ has the meaning ascribed to it in 21 U.S.C. § 802(6).”
16 Nev. 63, 63 (1881).
111 Nev. 67, 69 n.2, 888 P.2d 927, 929 n.2 (1995).
Id.; Ex parte Lorraine, 16 Nev. at 63.
74 Nev. 58, 61-62, 322 P.2d 304, 306 (1958) (holding that the “mode or manner of a person’s departure from the demanding state generally does not affect his status as a fugitive from justice”).
Webster’s Third New International Dictionary 918 (2002).
Silvar v. Dist. Ct., 122 Nev. 289, 293, 129 P.3d 682, 685 (2006).
Id. (quoting Kolender v. Lawson, 461 U.S. 352, 358 (1983)).
Id. at 295-96, 129 P.3d at 686-87.
Id. at 296, 129 P.3d at 687.
Dissenting Opinion
dissenting:
The majority concludes that NRS 202.360(1)(b) is unconstitutionally vague because it fails to define the term “fugitive from justice.” I disagree.
Normally, we presume that a statute is constitutionally valid and we require a party contending otherwise to “make a clear showing of invalidity” before striking a statute down.
Here, the majority concludes that appellant Albert Gallegos has met his burden of demonstrating that NRS 202.360(1)(b) provides insufficient notice of prohibited conduct and lacks specific standards. By contrast, I conclude that Gallegos has not met this burden.
The term “fugitive from justice” has a well-settled and ordinarily understood meaning.
Because the term “fugitive from justice” has a well-settled meaning in Nevada and does not appear to promote arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement, I dissent from the majority’s conclusion that NRS 202.360(1)(b) is unconstitutionally vague.
Silvar v. Dist. Ct., 122 Nev. 289, 292, 129 P.3d 682, 684 (2006).
Id. at 293, 129 P.3d at 685.
See Woofter v. O’Donnell, 91 Nev. 756, 762, 542 P.2d 1396, 1400 (1975) (noting that “[t]he test of granting sufficient warning as to proscribed conduct will be met if there are well settled and ordinarily understood meanings for the words employed when viewed in the context of the entire statutory provision”).
Ex parte Lorraine, 16 Nev. 63, 63 (1881); Castriotta v. State, 111 Nev. 67, 69 n.2, 888 P.2d 927, 929 n.2 (1995). The fact that one obscure Nevada case concluded, in a different context, “that the mode or manner of a person’s departure from the . . . state generally does not affect his status as a fugitive from justice,” does not, in my view, so muddy the definition of the term “fugitive from justice” as to render it unconstitutionally vague. Robinson v. Leypoldt, 74 Nev. 58, 61-62, 322 P.2d 304, 306 (1958).
Webster’s New International Dictionary 1016 (2d ed. 1961); cf. Black’s Law Dictionary 694-95 (8th ed. 2004) (defining a “fugitive” as “[a] criminal suspect or a witness in a criminal case who flees, evades, or escapes arrest, prosecution, imprisonment, service of process, or the giving of testimony, esp. by fleeing the jurisdiction or by hiding;” and noting that in this sense the word “fugitive” may also be termed “fugitive from justice”).
Reference
- Full Case Name
- ALBERT DAVID GALLEGOS, Appellant, v. THE STATE OF NEVADA, Respondent
- Cited By
- 9 cases
- Status
- Published