State v. Silva, 1 CA-CR 16-0183

Background

Silva and passenger Hill fled California police in a high-speed chase across state lines after a traffic stop revealed a rifle; Hill fired at civilian vehicles during the pursuit. Hill was shot and killed by an Arizona officer after the vehicle crashed and both occupants fled on foot; Silva surrendered shortly before or around the time of the shooting.
Silva admitted involvement in a California burglary (approximately $10,000 stolen) and described a plan with Hill to shoot at civilian vehicles (aiming for tires) to impede pursuit.
State charged Silva with first-degree felony murder (underlying felony: unlawful flight), unlawful flight, multiple conspiracy and theft counts; some counts later dismissed and drug counts severed; cases joined for trial.
Jury convicted Silva of felony murder, unlawful flight, two conspiracy counts (merged at sentencing), and theft alleged at $25,000 or more; court sentenced Silva to life for murder plus consecutive and concurrent prison terms on other counts.
On appeal Silva challenged jurisdiction over out-of-state conduct, prosecutorial vindictiveness for filing additional charges, denial of mistrial after a witness referenced precluded evidence, jury instructions on causation/timing, sufficiency of evidence (felony murder and theft valuation), and alleged juror coercion; the court affirmed most rulings but reduced theft to a class three felony and remanded for resentencing.

Issues

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument (State)	Defendant's Argument (Silva)	Held
Jurisdiction over theft and conspiracy charges	Arizona may prosecute because elements or results (transportation of stolen property; overt acts in furtherance of conspiracy) occurred in Arizona	Conduct primarily occurred in California so Arizona lacked jurisdiction	Court: Arizona had jurisdiction under A.R.S. §13-108; conspiracy and theft charges properly prosecuted in Arizona
Prosecutorial vindictiveness for filing additional charges	Filing was based on discovery and prosecutorial review after reassignment, not retaliation	Additional indictment was retaliation for Silva seeking firm trial date and rejecting plea, warranting dismissal	Court: No presumption of vindictiveness; prosecutor rebutted any prima facie showing—no abuse of discretion denying dismissal
Motion for mistrial after witness referenced precluded homicide evidence	Precluded homicide reference warranted mistrial as it prejudiced jury	Reference was isolated; court struck statement and instructed jury to disregard	Court: Denial of mistrial not an abuse of discretion; instruction to disregard rendered the error harmless
Jury causation/timing instructions for felony murder	Given instruction (including proximate cause and later modified to allow causation by another person) correctly tracked statute	Requested timing instruction would have required acquittal if unlawful flight had ended before homicide	Court: Instructions, read as whole and modified to include causation by another, were legally correct; refusal to give Silva’s timing instruction not error
Sufficiency of evidence for felony murder and theft valuation	Evidence showed unlawful flight continued into Arizona and Hill’s death occurred during immediate flight; theft evidence supported conviction but value insufficient for $25,000+	Silva argued immediate flight ended before shooting and that value evidence was insufficient	Court: Denied acquittal on felony murder—sufficient evidence; theft value insufficient for class two felony, conviction reduced to class three and remanded for resentencing
Alleged juror coercion from court’s response to jury question and deliberation schedule	Court’s answer and schedule coerced holdout juror into guilty votes, meriting new trial or vacatur	Court’s response merely told jurors to continue deliberating and offered assistance; schedule was set by jurors originally	Court: No coercion found; new trial and motion to vacate properly denied (juror affidavit insufficient to impeach verdict affirmed in open court)

Key Cases Cited

United States v. Goodwin, 457 U.S. 368 (pretrial filing of additional charges not presumptively vindictive; prosecutor may file charges following case review)
State v. Brun, 190 Ariz. 505 (prosecutorial vindictiveness standard and presumption framework)
State v. Cruz, 218 Ariz. 149 (guidance on jury impasse questions and when asking jurors to continue deliberations is non-coercive)
State v. Miller, 234 Ariz. 31 (trial court remedies for witness volunteering inadmissible statements and when mistrial is required)
State v. Prasertphong, 206 Ariz. 70 (endorsing close statutory tracking for felony-murder instructions)
State v. Bennett, 213 Ariz. 562 (felony-murder causation satisfied where death would not have occurred but for predicate felony)