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State v. Horvath

SUPREME COURT STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA
Jul 1, 2015
2015 N.D. 166 (N.D. 2015)

Opinion

No. 20140468 No. 20140469 No. 20140470

07-01-2015

State of North Dakota, Plaintiff and Appellee v. Jonathan Horvath, Defendant and Appellant

Nathan K. Madden , Assistant State's Attorney, P.O. Box 2047, Williston, ND 58802-2047, for plaintiff and appellee. Scott O. Diamond , 210 Broadway, Ste. 401B, Fargo, ND 58102, for defendant and appellant.


Appeal from the District Court of Williams County, Northwest Judicial District, the Honorable David W. Nelson, Judge.

AFFIRMED.

Per Curiam.

Nathan K. Madden, Assistant State's Attorney, P.O. Box 2047, Williston, ND 58802-2047, for plaintiff and appellee.

Scott O. Diamond, 210 Broadway, Ste. 401B, Fargo, ND 58102, for defendant and appellant.

Per Curiam.

[¶1] Jonathan Horvath appeals from criminal judgments entered after a jury found him guilty of terrorizing, reckless endangerment and murder. Horvath appeals from all of the verdicts but on appeal only argues insufficient evidence supports the jury's murder verdict. In a supplemental statement of an indigent defendant submitted underN.D.R.App.P. 24, Horvath essentially argues insufficient evidence supports the jury's terrorizing verdict because a witness offered perjured testimony. We summarily affirm under N.D.R.App.P. 35.1(a)(3), concluding the verdicts are supported by substantial evidence.

[¶2] Horvath's supplemental statement also claims the prosecuting attorney denied him a fair trial by offering perjured testimony and making an improper closing argument about who was in a vehicle after the shooting. "If the State knowingly uses perjured testimony the defendant's due process right to a fair trial is violated, and the conviction must be set aside if there is any reasonable likelihood the false testimony could have affected the verdict." Mertz v. State, 535 N.W.2d 834, 838 (N.D. 1995). Horvath has not shown how the disputed testimony, which he claims was perjured, would have affected the jury's verdict. We summarily affirm under N.D.R.App.P. 35.1(a)(7).

[¶3]

Gerald W. VandeWalle, C.J.
Daniel J. Crothers
Lisa Fair McEvers
Carol Ronning Kapsner
Dale V. Sandstrom


Summaries of

State v. Horvath

SUPREME COURT STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA
Jul 1, 2015
2015 N.D. 166 (N.D. 2015)
Case details for

State v. Horvath

Case Details

Full title:State of North Dakota, Plaintiff and Appellee v. Jonathan Horvath…

Court:SUPREME COURT STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA

Date published: Jul 1, 2015

Citations

2015 N.D. 166 (N.D. 2015)