Opinion
Court of Appeals No. A-10725 Trial Court No. 3AN-09-1162 CR No. 5797
02-01-2012
MICHAEL CHANDLER, Appellant, v. STATE OF ALASKA, Appellee.
Appearances: Jane B. Martinez, Contract Public Defender, and Quinlan Steiner, Public Defender, Anchorage, for the Appellant. Gary L. Poorman, Assistant Attorney General, Office of Special Prosecutions and Appeals, Anchorage, and John J. Burns, Attorney General, Juneau, for the Appellee.
NOTICE
Memorandum decisions of this court do not create legal precedent. See Alaska Appellate Rule 214(d) and Paragraph 7 of the Guidelines for Publication of Court of Appeals Decisions (Court of Appeals Order No. 3). Accordingly, this memorandum decision may not be cited as binding precedent for any proposition of law.
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND JUDGMENT
Appeal from the Superior Court, Third Judicial District, Anchorage, Jack Smith, Judge.
Appearances: Jane B. Martinez, Contract Public Defender, and Quinlan Steiner, Public Defender, Anchorage, for the Appellant. Gary L. Poorman, Assistant Attorney General, Office of Special Prosecutions and Appeals, Anchorage, and John J. Burns, Attorney General, Juneau, for the Appellee.
Before: Coats, Chief Judge, and Mannheimer and Bolger, Judges.
BOLGER, Judge.
Michael Chandler dated Norma James for several months beginning in April 1994. James became pregnant and gave birth to a daughter in January 1995. Chandler resided with James following their daughter's birth until she obtained a restraining order against him approximately two weeks later.
James filed an application for support with the Child Support Services Division (CSSD) in June 1995, naming Chandler as the parent of her daughter. CSSD filed a complaint to establish paternity in superior court, and the complaint and summons were personally served on Chandler in August 1995. When Chandler did not respond to the summons, the court entered a default judgment determining that he was the father of James's daughter.
In June 1996, CSSD sent a Notice and Finding of Financial Responsibility to Chandler, again by personal delivery. The notice stated that Chandler owed $5,621 in back child support and that he had an ongoing obligation of $511 per month. The notice stated that Chandler could request a hearing to contest his obligation by making a written request within thirty days. The notice also warned that Chandler's financial responsibility would become "legal and binding" upon him unless he made a written objection.
CSSD made various efforts to collect child support from Chandler, but he did not respond to their notices. After CSSD garnished Chandler's permanent fund dividend in 1997, he stopped applying for the dividend. He also stopped applying for unemployment benefits (despite his eligibility) after CSSD garnished a portion of an unemployment check in 1999. By May 2009, Chandler's child support obligation was $115,457.39.
In December 2009, Chandler was convicted of criminal non-support based on the evidence set forth above. He now appeals, contending that the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction.
A person commits the crime of criminal nonsupport if the person knowingly fails to provide support for a child after being legally charged with the child's support. The State must prove five elements to establish this crime:
AS 11.51.120(a).
(1) That the accused was legally charged with the support of a child under eighteen years of age;Since Chandler was charged with a felony, the State was also required to prove that he had monetary support arrearages of $20,000 or more or that no child support payment had been made for a period of twenty-four months.
(2) That the accused failed to provide for the support of the child;
(3) That the accused's failure to provide support was knowing;
(4) That the accused's failure to provide support was without lawful excuse — in other words, that the accused either actually had the financial ability to provide support or that he could have had such actual ability through the exercise of reasonable efforts; and
(5) That the accused was actually aware of his financial ability to provide support or that he acted recklessly in his disregard of it.
Taylor v. State, 710 P.2d 1019, 1022 (Alaska App. 1985).
AS 11.51.120(d)(1)-(2).
Chandler now argues that there was insufficient proof that his failure to provide support was knowing. He contends that the evidence established that he did not understand that he had a legal obligation to provide support. To decide this claim, we must determine whether a fair-minded juror could find that Chandler was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
See Silvera v. State, 244 P.3d 1138, 1142 (Alaska App. 2010).
Chandler's argument depends on our viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to him. But when we review the sufficiency of the evidence, we must consider the evidence in the light most favorable to the jury's verdict. Viewed in this light, there was sufficient evidence establishing that Chandler was aware of his legal obligation to support his daughter.
Id.
In particular, the language of the Notice and Finding of Financial Responsibility clearly stated that Chandler owed $5,621 in back child support and that he had an ongoing obligation of $511 per month. The notice also stated that Chandler's financial responsibility would become "legal and binding" upon him, unless he made a written objection. Based on the language of this notice, a reasonable juror could conclude that Chandler knew he had a legal obligation to provide support for his child.
The parties dispute whether the State had the burden to prove that Chandler understood that he had a legal obligation to provide child support. Chandler argues that this knowledge is a required element of the offense. The State argues that Chandler is asserting a "mistake of law" defense that is excluded by statute.
See AS 11.81.620(a).
We agree with the State's position. The prosecution was not required to show that Chandler agreed that the paternity judgment was correct. But the prosecution did present considerable evidence suggesting that Chandler knew that he had a legal obligation to provide support. This evidence was sufficient to support the verdict.
See State v. Strane, 61 P.3d 1284, 1292 (Alaska 2003) (holding that the statute forbidding violation of a restraining order requires proof that the defendant knew of the order's existence but not that the defendant knew his actions were illegal).
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We AFFIRM the superior court's judgment.