State v. Marquina
State v. Marquina
Opinion
¶1 Appellant Raymond Jesus Marquina was convicted for aggravated robbery, a first degree felony, after he attempted to rob Victim and shot him five times. Marquina now appeals that conviction, contending that he is entitled to a new trial because at least one juror may have slept through a portion of his trial. Marquina also contends that his conviction should be vacated because there was insufficient evidence to place him at the scene of the crime. We affirm.
BACKGROUND 1
The Crime
¶2 A few minutes after returning home from an evening out, Victim and his wife (Wife) heard a ring of the doorbell and a knock on the door. Victim opened the door and saw a man on his porch with a blue and white-streaked mask covering his face. 2 The *632 man was about 5'5? tall and of average build. He said something that Victim could not understand and then "immediately started pulling" the trigger of his gun. Victim was shot five times in the neck and face.
¶3 Wife, who was upstairs during the attack, heard three gun shots and rushed to the top of the stairs where she had a view of the front door. She saw "an arm with a dark-colored covering" and a gloved hand holding a gun. Still from her vantage point, Wife saw Victim fall to the floor and gurgle "lots of blood" as he tried to yell for her. Wife called the police and, after they arrived, Victim was taken to the hospital.
¶4 Neighbors also heard the gunshots. One neighbor looked through his window and saw two persons wearing black hoodies running away. Another neighbor ran out of her house in an attempt to see the shooter. She did not see anyone but, upon approaching Victim's house, stumbled on a black mask in Victim's driveway. Police later recovered the mask and sent it to the crime lab for DNA testing. That testing led the police to a local drug dealer (Dealer).
The Three Accomplices
¶5 Shortly before the shooting, Dealer decided to rob someone because he needed money to pay his rent. He had heard from several of his customers that Victim kept a lot of cash in his van and would be a good target. With help from his girlfriend (Girlfriend), Dealer made a plan to rob Victim.
¶6 Dealer then told his occasional chauffer (Driver) that he "had something [he] needed him to do." Driver was a drug addict who received free drugs from Dealer. He went along with Dealer and Girlfriend on the night of the robbery because Dealer, who "can't see well at night," needed someone to drive.
¶7 After a police investigation, Dealer, Girlfriend, and Driver admitted their involvement in the aggravated robbery of Victim. And all three placed Marquina at the scene of the crime.
¶8 Marquina, who was a member of the same gang as Dealer, had joined Dealer and Girlfriend at Dealer's apartment on the day of the robbery. While at the apartment, Dealer asked Marquina "if he wanted to go do some dirt with [him] real quick," and Marquina said he did. 3
¶9 Dealer, Girlfriend, Driver, and Marquina then got into Dealer's car. 4 Dealer drove and placed a gun between the driver's seat and the emergency brake. Because they did not know where Victim lived, Girlfriend tried searching the internet to find his address. Her search initially led them to the wrong neighborhood, but they eventually found Victim's house with Victim's van parked outside. They drove around the neighborhood "for what seemed like forever" until Girlfriend asked Dealer, "Are you going to do this or not?"
¶10 Dealer and Marquina eventually got out of the car, while Driver took the driver's seat and circled the car around the block. Both Dealer and Marquina wore black hoodies, and Dealer brought two masks-one black and one blue with white streaks. Marquina put on the blue and white-streaked mask, but Dealer was unable to get his black mask on and threw it back toward his car. On the way to Victim's front door, Dealer got nervous and sent Marquina to the door alone. Marquina rang the doorbell and knocked. When Victim answered, Marquina shot him.
¶11 Marquina and Dealer then ran up Victim's street until they spotted Dealer's car. They yelled for Driver to stop and got in the backseat. Driver then drove straight back to Dealer's apartment. Once there, Marquina went his own way. Girlfriend phoned Marquina repeatedly that night to "see if he was okay," but Marquina never answered. 5
*633 ¶12 A few weeks later, after the police had questioned Dealer, Girlfriend, and Driver, each of whom implicated Marquina in the shooting, Marquina was arrested. Marquina's driver license listed him as 5'6? and 120 pounds. Shortly after Marquina's arrest, the police conducted a photo array identification with Victim, who survived the shooting. Marquina's photograph was in the array, but Victim identified someone else as the shooter.
The Trial
¶13 The State charged Marquina with one count of aggravated robbery, which included a group enhancement. 6 Dealer, Girlfriend, and Driver each testified at Marquina's trial. Dealer had pled guilty to the aggravated robbery and agreed to testify even though it was "going to make [his life in prison] worse." He did not expect to receive "any benefit whatsoever" for testifying. Girlfriend pled guilty to obstruction of justice, but in exchange for her testimony against Marquina, she was placed on probation in lieu of incarceration. Driver also struck a deal that, in exchange for his testimony, he would be placed on probation for robbery and would enter a rehabilitation program. Although all three of their accounts varied in some particulars, each witness placed Marquina at the scene of the crime. See supra ¶¶ 7-12.
¶14 The trial lasted three days. On the second and third days, the prosecutors mentioned a sleepy juror. The first time, defense counsel was in the middle of cross-examining one of the detectives on the case when one prosecutor noticed a juror "nodding off." The prosecutor asked for a break so the jurors could stretch, and the court agreed to take a fifteen-minute recess.
¶15 The second time, after reading the jury instructions, the court discussed with counsel its intention to make the last-selected juror the alternate unless the parties agreed on someone else. In response, a second prosecutor noted that "we do have someone who has been sleeping through part or-not all but part of the testimony" and reasoned that, because closing arguments were likely to be lengthy, it would "probably [be] safer to use the alternate ... as an actual juror." The prosecutor further explained that the juror "has been dozing off here now, but there have been moments when he has been seemingly out." Defense counsel stated he "ha[d] not noticed any of the jurors sleeping," but that he "ha[d not] really been focusing on them." Defense counsel went on to refer to a judge who "is often mistaken by many counsel to be sound asleep ... when the truth of the matter is he is just resting his eyes," and that counsel will realize that "not only has he been listening but he has been processing everything in a very high way." The court then observed that "everyone tried to stay awake" and, with no objection from counsel, left the jury as it was. The court also invited counsel to alert the court if they "change[d] [their] mind[s] after closing" and stated, "We will be looking at [the jury] this time."
¶16 Neither side raised further concerns after closing argument. The alternate juror was excused and the jury retired to deliberate. The jury unanimously found Marquina guilty of aggravated robbery, and Marquina appeals.
ISSUES AND STANDARDS OF REVIEW
¶17 Marquina raises two issues on appeal. First, he contends that his Sixth Amendment right to an impartial jury was violated because at least one juror reportedly slept during his trial. Normally, "[c]onstitutional issues are questions of law that we review for correctness,"
State v. Norcutt
,
¶18 Second, Marquina contends that there was insufficient evidence to support his conviction for aggravated robbery. "When a defendant challenges a jury verdict
*634
for insufficiency of the evidence, we review the evidence and all inferences which may be reasonably drawn from it in the light most favorable to the verdict."
State v. Noor
,
ANALYSIS
I. Sixth Amendment Jury Right
¶19 The Sixth Amendment guarantees criminal defendants "the right to ... an impartial jury." U.S. Const. amend. VI. Marquina contends that he was denied this right when a juror reportedly fell asleep during the trial. In support, he argues that the trial court had a duty to conduct voir dire 7 of the allegedly sleepy juror to ensure the juror had not missed important testimony. He also argues that his defense counsel was constitutionally ineffective when he failed to insist that the court conduct voir dire or, if necessary, replace the sleepy juror with the alternate juror.
¶20 As noted above, Marquina concedes that this constitutional issue has not been preserved for appeal.
See
State v. Johnson
,
A. Invited Error
¶21 The State asserts that Marquina's defense counsel invited any error regarding the sleepy juror by resisting the prosecutor's suggestion that the sleepy juror be replaced with the alternate. By rejecting the prosecutor's suggestion, and even disputing "the prosecutor's observation that the juror had slept through 'part of the testimony,' " the State maintains that defense counsel "led the court to believe there would be no reason to question the juror." We disagree.
¶22 The "invited error doctrine arises from the principle that a party cannot take advantage of an error committed at trial when that party led the trial court into committing the error."
State v. Winfield
,
¶23 The Utah Supreme Court has previously rejected attempts to broaden the scope of the invited error doctrine beyond this affirmative-representation model. In
McNeil
, the State argued that trial counsel for the defendant had invited error not through "affirmative representation" but through "affirmative acquiescence" by failing to make a proper objection to the admission of hearsay
*635
evidence.
Id.
¶¶ 18, 21 (quotation simplified). The supreme court was unpersuaded by this argument "because an error of this sort ... is not invited but merely unpreserved."
Id.
¶ 21. It accordingly "reject[ed] [the State's] broad definition of invited error" and reviewed the defendant's claim for plain error.
Id.
¶¶ 21, 24 ;
see also
State v. Harris
,
¶24 Here, Marquina's defense counsel, while perhaps affirmatively acquiescing in the court's decision to keep the current composition of the jury without making further inquiry, did not make any affirmative representation to the court that the panel was acceptable.
See
Winfield
,
¶25 To be sure, the State characterizes defense counsel's response here as an affirmative representation and not merely acquiescence. For example, it asserts that counsel "openly resisted the prosecutor's request" to substitute the alternate juror for the sleepy juror and that he "clearly indicated that he did not want the allegedly sleepy juror relegated to alternate status." We disagree with these characterizations. Although it is true that defense counsel did not ask for the juror to be questioned, and instead suggested an alternative to the prosecutor's theory that the juror was asleep, he did not affirmatively state that the court should not conduct voir dire of the sleepy juror or replace him. Thus, his statements do not "reveal[ ] that [he] independently made a clear affirmative representation of the erroneous principle." See id. ¶ 18. In short, on these facts, we do not think Marquina's defense counsel invited the error. We therefore proceed to analyze the sleeping juror issue for plain error.
B. Plain Error
¶26 Marquina contends that the trial court committed plain error, arguing that "the trial court failed to properly voir dire the sleeping juror after receiving two reliable reports that a juror was sleeping during a portion of the trial." He also asserts that this error was obvious because Utah case law establishes "the need for a trial judge to assess the jurors' ability to deliberate and decide a case" and "[c]ase law across the nation" establishes that "a trial judge [must] do a proper voir dire of a juror after receiving a reliable report that a juror has been sleeping." Finally, he asserts that the error was prejudicial because "a fully awake juror would ... have recognized the problems" in the State's case and may have helped acquit him.
¶27 We invoke the plain error exception to the preservation requirement "sparingly."
State v. Harris
,
*636
¶28 "To establish that the error should have been obvious to the trial court, [Marquina] must show that the law governing the error was clear at the time the alleged error was made."
See
Dean
,
¶29 In the handful of Utah appellate cases discussing a sleeping juror's effect on a trial, one principle predominates: discretion. Indeed, handling a sleeping juror is "so peculiarly within the observation, province, and discretion of the trial court that we should not interfere with the ruling, except upon a clear abuse of discretion."
State v. Mellor
,
¶30 Marquina reads
Mellor
,
Lesley
, and
Pace
as saying that a trial court is under a duty "to inquire about the scope and importance of the testimony that a sleepy juror misse[d]." Only after this inquiry, according to Marquina, is a trial court entitled to deference as in
Mellor
,
Lesley
, and
Pace
. For example, Marquina asserts that in
Mellor
, our supreme court observed that the trial court made a "finding" that the juror "at several different times had gone to sleep, but only for two or three minutes, just a short time."
See
¶31 The "settled appellate law" in Utah, however, does not resemble the picture Marquina paints on appeal. Our supreme court in
Mellor
indicated that the trial court found that the juror slept for only a short time, but the supreme court did not announce a rule or template trial courts must follow whenever they are confronted with reports of a sleepy juror.
See
¶32 Here, on the second day of trial, the prosecutor alerted the court that a juror was "nodding off" and requested a break to allow the jury to stretch. The prosecutor's report did not suggest to the court that the juror had actually fallen asleep or had been sleeping for an extended period, and the prosecutor's request for a break suggested that no more was needed to remedy the issue. Based on the wide discretion given to trial courts in these circumstances, it would not have been obvious to the trial court that it was required to do more than grant the State's request for a short recess.
¶33 And on the third day of trial, the prosecutor suggested it may be "safer" to use the alternate juror based on her observation that a juror had been "sleeping through part ... of the testimony" and at times had been "seemingly out." Defense counsel, however, responded that he had not seen anyone sleeping and expressed no concern, even suggesting that what may look like sleep instead *637 may be deep thought. Thus, it would not have been obvious to the trial court that it was required to do more than what it did. The trial court stated it would keep a close eye on the jurors and also gave counsel on both sides an opportunity to "change [their] mind[s]" and ask for the juror to be replaced with the alternate, but neither raised the issue again. 8 On this record, we cannot conclude that the trial court plainly erred in how it chose to handle the sleepy juror.
¶34 Marquina also looks outside Utah for authority that a trial court is obliged to conduct voir dire whenever it receives a "reliable report" of a sleeping juror. He points to cases from Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, and South Carolina to support his position.
9
But none of these cases are binding. And even assuming that nonbinding precedent from other jurisdictions could constitute "settled appellate law" for purposes of our obviousness inquiry,
see
Robinson
,
C. Ineffective Assistance of Counsel
¶35 Alternatively, Marquina contends that his defense counsel rendered constitutionally ineffective assistance of counsel. He argues that his counsel's performance "was deficient in failing to object to the sleeping juror" and in failing "to agree to the prosecutor's request to replace the sleeping juror with the alternate." Further, he asserts that there "would be no strategic choice by defense counsel to insist on keeping a sleeping juror in this matter."
¶36 The Sixth Amendment guarantees criminal defendants the right to effective assistance of counsel.
Strickland v. Washington
,
¶37 "With regard to the first prong, we 'must indulge a strong presumption that counsel's conduct falls within the wide range of reasonable professional assistance.' "
State v. Calvert
,
There are a multitude of inherently subjective factors typically constituting the sum and substance of an attorney's judgments about ... jurors. A ... juror's demeanor, interaction with others in the courtroom, and personality in general may all play an important role in providing clues as to that juror's likely predilections toward the case at hand.
Id. ¶ 21. 10
¶38 Counsel's choices about the jury "may even appear counterintuitive, particularly when viewed from the perspective of a bare transcript on appeal." Id. ¶ 22. For example, counsel may reasonably think that a potentially biased juror may "overcompensate" and "assign[ ] more weight or credibility to testimony that tends to oppose the juror's own potential bias." Id. At bottom, an attorney's decisions regarding the jury "legitimately may be based on little more than personal preference." Id. ¶ 23.
¶39 Here, we must presume Marquina's defense counsel's conduct fell "within the wide range of reasonable professional assistance."
Calvert
,
II. Sufficiency of the Evidence
¶40 Marquina next contends that there is insufficient evidence to convict him of aggravated robbery. He asserts that there is no physical or DNA evidence placing him at the crime scene and that "the only evidence that placed [him] at the crime scene was the unreliable, inconsistent and biased testimonies of" Dealer, Girlfriend, and Driver. Therefore, because there is insufficient evidence to place Marquina at the crime scene, Marquina argues that his conviction should be reversed.
¶41 We first address whether this argument was preserved below. After concluding that it was not, we review the claim for plain error.
*639 A. Preservation
¶42 As with other claims, "a defendant must raise the sufficiency of the evidence by proper motion or objection to preserve the issue for appeal."
State v. Holgate
,
¶43 Here, Marquina contends that his insufficiency argument was preserved through a motion for a directed verdict at trial. But the basis for that motion was that there was insufficient evidence of a robbery-not that Marquina was absent from the scene of the crime. At trial, Marquina's defense counsel argued that there was "no evidence of a robbery" because "there [was] no evidence that there was an attempt or an effort to steal anything." His counsel conceded, however, that the evidence "d[id] show, perhaps, an aggravated assault or perhaps an attempted murder." Now on appeal, Marquina argues not that there was insufficient evidence of a robbery but that there was insufficient evidence to support the assertion that he was there. This argument was not "specifically raised such that the issue was sufficiently raised to a level of consciousness before the trial court."
See
Mohamed
,
B. Plain Error
¶44 Marquina contends that the insufficiency of the evidence placing him at the scene of the crime is "so obvious and fundamental" that it can be reviewed for plain error. (Quotation simplified.) Marquina's arguments in support of this contention generally relate either to a lack of physical evidence placing him at the crime scene or to the "unreliable, inconsistent, and biased testimonies" of Dealer, Girlfriend, and Driver.
¶45 To establish plain error in this context, "a defendant must demonstrate first that the evidence was insufficient to support a conviction of the crime charged and second that the insufficiency was so obvious and fundamental that the trial court erred in submitting the case to the jury."
State v. Holgate
,
¶46 Importantly for this case, "[a] conviction may be had on the uncorroborated testimony of an accomplice."
¶47 Marquina's challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence is effectively resolved by
Smith
. In that case, a defendant was convicted of aggravated robbery.
Smith
,
¶48 Similarly, the evidence here is "not so lacking and insubstantial that a reasonable person could not have determined" that Marquina committed the crime.
See
¶49 As in
Smith
, some of the accomplices here reached a deal with prosecutors for their truthful testimony, though Dealer testified that he did not expect to receive "any benefit whatsoever" for testifying at Marquina's trial and that it was "going to make [his life in prison] worse." The defense was free to present evidence to show the witnesses' unreliability or biases, which it did. The defense was also able to point out inconsistencies in the witnesses' testimonies. But "the jury [was] not obligated to believe that evidence."
Smith
,
CONCLUSION
¶50 We conclude that Marquina has not demonstrated that the trial court plainly erred in not sua sponte conducting voir dire or removing an allegedly sleepy juror. We likewise conclude that Marquina has not demonstrated that his defense counsel rendered constitutionally ineffective assistance by not requesting that the juror be removed. Finally, we conclude that the evidence was not so lacking that the trial court plainly erred in submitting the case to the jury. Accordingly, we affirm.
On an appeal from a jury trial, "we review the record facts in a light most favorable to the jury's verdict and recite the facts accordingly."
State v. Holgate
,
Victim acknowledged that he could not be sure of the color because he was red-green color deficient.
"Dirt," as explained by Dealer, means a robbery.
The witnesses disagreed at trial about exactly when Marquina got in Dealer's car. Girlfriend testified that Marquina joined them as soon as they left Dealer's apartment, but Dealer and Driver testified that Marquina followed them in his own truck to a parking lot a few blocks away from Victim's house, parked his truck, and then got in Dealer's car.
Marquina's cell phone records show a number of calls and text messages from Girlfriend both before and after the shooting. But during the time of the robbery-from about 9:18 p.m. to 11:10 p.m.-there was no phone activity between Girlfriend and Marquina.
Under Utah Code section 76-3-203.1, a criminal defendant is subject to "an enhanced penalty" if the defendant acted "in concert with two or more persons."
Voir dire is an "examination of a prospective juror by a judge or lawyer to decide whether the prospect is qualified and suitable to serve on a jury." Voir Dire , Black's Law Dictionary (10th ed. 2014). Typically, voir dire refers to jury selection at the outset of trial but, in this case, it encompasses examinations after the jury has been selected.
As discussed below,
infra
¶ 39, we presume defense counsel's actions might be considered sound trial strategy, and we observe that a trial court "is not required to constantly survey or second-guess a nonobjecting party's best interests or trial strategy."
State v. Bedell
,
See
Commonwealth v. McGhee
,
Litherland
discussed jury selection at the outset of trial. Although here we address the potential substitution of a juror near the end of trial, we agree with the State that
Litherland
's rationale applies. Indeed, by the end of trial, counsel will have had even more time to observe jurors and determine their "likely predilections toward the case."
See
State v. Litherland
,
Reference
- Full Case Name
- STATE of Utah, Appellee, v. Raymond Jesus MARQUINA, Appellant.
- Cited By
- 17 cases
- Status
- Published