State v. Rodriguez

545 P.3d 1

STATE of Idaho, Plaintiff-Respondent,

v.Gilberto Flores RODRIGUEZ, Defendant-Appellant.

Docket No. 49266

Supreme Court of Idaho, Boise, November 2023 Term.

Opinion Filed: January 31, 2024

Appeal from the District Court of the Fifth Judicial District of the State of Idaho, Cassia County. Michael P. Tribe, District Judge.

The order of the district court is affirmed.

Erik R. Lehtinen, State Appellate Public Defender, Boise, for Appellant. Elizabeth Allred argued.

Raúl R. Labrador, Idaho Attorney General, Boise, for Respondent. John McKinney argued.

MOELLER, Justice.

In 2021, a Cassia County jury found Gilberto Flores Rodriguez guilty of first-degree murder for the 1995 killing of a 14-year-old girl. Following the verdict, Rodriguez filed a motion for a new trial asserting multiple grounds for relief, which the district court denied. Rodriguez advances only one issue on appeal, maintaining that the district court abused its discretion in denying his motion for a new trial after information came to light that a juror may have slept through portions of the trial. Because Rodriguez has failed to establish by clear and convincing evidence that any juror misconduct occurred, we affirm the order of the district court.

1. Factual and Procedural Background

In February 1995, 14-year-old Regina Krieger was reported missing from her home in Burley, Idaho. She was last seen by her father the previous evening before she went to bed. When her father came to wake her for school, Regina was gone and her bedspread was missing from her bed. Regina’s father called 911 to report his daughter’s disappearance and stated that "there was blood on the bedroom floor, and it looked like something had been dragged up the stairs" from her basement bedroom. He also reported that there was "blood going up the stairs that led to the backyard of the residence." On investigating the Krieger property, deputies found the blood described by Regina’s father. They also found a "pile of feces" near the back gate, where the blood trail ended.

Local law enforcement initially treated this as a missing-persons case, with the Cassia County Sheriff’s deputies originally believing Regina may have run away. Several weeks later, Regina’s body washed up on the banks of the Snake River. An autopsy determined that she had been killed weeks before. The cause of Regina’s death was determined to be "a sharp laceration of the throat with severance of the right and left jugular veins and a stab wound to the chest with laceration of the left ventricle of the heart." There were signs of blunt force trauma received prior to death that may have rendered Regina unconscious, as well as a "defense wound" on her hand from potentially trying to ward off her assailant. Kerry Patterson, the pathologist who performed Regina’s autopsy, later testified that Regina suffered "[a] sharp laceration, deep" across her throat "from ear to ear," and was then stabbed in the heart. Patterson explained: "Had [Regina] survived the laceration to the throat, [the stab wound] would have finished it."

The investigation then turned from a missing-persons case to a murder investigation. While Regina’s death came close in time to other unsolved murders in the area, no arrests were made or charges filed for the next 25 years. After the Federal Bureau of Investigation ("the FBI") became involved in the case in 2016, three confidential witnesses provided information linking Rodriguez to Regina’s death. Their statements ultimately resulted in Rodriguez being charged and arrested in February 2019. The three confidential witnesses provided information relating to (1) details of the night Regina was killed, (2) how her body was thrown into the Snake River from a bridge, and (3) various statements Rodriguez had made about killing Regina over the years since her initial disappearance in 1995. Rodriguez pleaded not guilty to the charge, and he has continued to maintain his innocence. While the State initially filed a notice of intent to seek the death penalty, it later withdrew this filing.

Because the murder weapon was never recovered, the only physical evidence presented by the State at trial concerned Regina’s autopsy. There was DNA found on Regina’s body from two unidentified males, but they did not match Rodriguez. Lacking physical evidence tying Rodriguez to the murder, the State relied instead on witness testimony, mainly from four key witnesses interviewed by Cassia County and the FBI: Cody Thompson, Carlos Rocha, Heather Ray, and Carlos Tena. These witnesses are all currently incarcerated in various locations. None of them received plea bargains or reduced sentences in exchange for testifying against Rodriguez. Each stated that they came forward to testi- fy against Rodriguez because it was the truth and the right thing to do.

Cody Thompson was the State’s primary witness. Thompson and Rodriguez had been interrogated by law enforcement several times over the years and both had "told many versions of their involvement in [Regina’s] death." Both men had also been "in and out" of prison since Regina’s murder in 1995. Thompson was 16 years old when Regina was murdered and he attended the same high school. The record established that Thompson not only purchased drugs from Rodriguez at that time, but he also sold drugs and collected money for him.

At the trial, Thompson testified about the night Regina was killed and stated he was with Rodriguez throughout the evening. Thompson explained that he had gone to Rodriguez’s home because law enforcement officers were looking for him. He was under the influence of methamphetamine, marijuana, and heroin that night, which left him feeling sick through much of the evening. Thompson testified that earlier that night, he and Rodriguez drove to the Aguinagas’ residence, who were distant relatives of Rodriguez. Afterward, the two men drove to "an alley" behind a home. Rodriguez told Thompson to wait in the vehicle. Thompson said he waited in the ear but "got sick," "puked outside of the car," and recalled defecating somewhere. Laboratory tests later found that Thompson’s DNA matched the fecal evidence¹ found in the Krieger’s backyard the day she disappeared.

When Rodriguez returned to the vehicle, Thompson saw Rodriguez wipe blood off his hands. There was also blood on his clothes. Rodriguez moved the car to the front side of the house, and then told Thompson to help him. The two men walked to the side of the house where there was "[a] body wrapped up in a blanket." There were no sounds or movements coming from the wrapped body. Thompson and Rodriguez carried the body to Rodriguez’s car and placed it in the trunk. Thompson testified: "I was scared. I was terrified. I didn’t know necessarily what to do, if I should run, from that moment or not." Thompson said Rodriguez next drove them back to the Aguinagas’ home to wash up, change, and get rid of their bloody clothing. Afterward, he and Rodriguez took Regina’s body to the Snake River, where they "threw" her body into the river. Thompson testified that it was only later, when he saw fliers about a missing person at a gas station, that he realized the body was Regina.

On cross-examination, the defense drilled Thompson on how his story has changed repeatedly over the years—even between the preliminary hearing proceedings and trial. Cross-examination also established that Thompson had accused others of murdering Regina over the years. Thompson has even varied on alleging that there was a third person in Rodriguez’s vehicle the night of Regina’s murder. Thompson admitted he had lied in the past and "made stories up" because he was afraid of what would happen, but stated that his testimony at trial was "the truth."

The State called additional witnesses who testified regarding allusions Rodriguez had made over the years to killing Regina. For example, Heather Ray testified that Rodriguez admitted to killing Regina, saying "he sliced her," while Carlos Tena recalled conversations over the years where Rodriguez described "getting rid of" a girl he called "Freddy Krueger." This was a reference, Tena said, to the murder of Regina Krieger. Tena also described a time where Rodriguez grew nervous and confided that "the feds were poking around again" or "the feds were on his tail" over "La Gina" or "la guereja," meaning "the white girl," which were additional references to Regina.

Rodriguez presented witnesses to contradict the inference that he had made statements somehow hinting at or suggesting that he was involved in the murder. Rodriguez did not testify, choosing to exercise his right to remain silent under the Fifth Amendment. The trial lasted six days. At the conclusion of the trial, on May 25, 2021, the jury returned a guilty verdict and convicted Rodriguez of first-degree murder.

In the weeks following his conviction, Rodriguez employed a private investigator to contact jurors and inquire as to "how and why the jury had arrived at its verdict in the face of the State’s abject failure to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt." Some of the jurors agreed to speak with the investigator in these post-verdict interviews, and the investigator reported back to defense counsel that Juror 341 "had been sleeping during much of the testimony and had to be awakened by the bailiff." The investigator reported that he met with the bailiff and confirmed that Juror 341 fell asleep during the trial and had to be awakened by her. There is no indication in the record that the investigator spoke with Juror 341.

Rodriguez then filed a motion for a new trial under Idaho Criminal Rule 34 and Idaho Code section 19-2406(6), asserting three grounds for a new trial: (1) the verdict was the result of juror misconduct; (2) the verdict was decided "by means other than fair expression of opinion on the part of all the jurors"; and (3) the verdict was contrary to law and evidence. Rodriguez also submitted an affidavit from the investigator...