State v. Hickman, 146 Idaho 178

Summary

The Idaho Supreme Court affirmed Dean Keith Hickman’s conviction for grand theft and his ten-year sentence, with one year fixed. The court held that an erroneous jury instruction omitting the financial-transaction-card element constituted fundamental error but was harmless, found no impermissible variance between the amended information and jury instructions, and held the evidence sufficient to support the conviction. Justice J. Jones concurred in part and dissented in part, concluding the evidence was insufficient to establish that valid financial transaction cards were taken.

Holdings

1. The references in the Judgment on Verdict and Judgment/Order of Commitment to Idaho Code section 18-2407(1)(b)(1), rather than section 18-2407(1)(b)(3), were clerical mistakes that could be corrected by the district court.
2. The failure to instruct the jury that the property taken had to be a financial transaction card was fundamental error, but the error was harmless because the record contained no evidence that could rationally lead to a contrary finding on that element.
3. There was no impermissible variance requiring reversal.
4. The evidence was sufficient for a reasonable mind to conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that Hickman took Cain's wallet and that the wallet contained valid financial transaction cards.
5. The ten-year sentence, with one year fixed, was affirmed.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the incorrect statutory subsection identifying the grand-theft conviction in the judgments was a clerical error.
2. Whether the omission of the financial-transaction-card element from the jury instructions constituted fundamental error and, if so, whether the error was harmless.
3. Whether there was an impermissible variance between the amended information and the jury instructions.
4. Whether sufficient evidence supported a grand-theft conviction based on theft of a financial transaction card.
5. Whether Hickman's ten-year sentence constituted an abuse of discretion.

Disposition

affirmed