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Criminal Law Keyed to Kennedy
The State of New Hampshire v. Paul Formella
Citation:
960 A.2d 722 (2008)Facts
On June 13, 2007, the defendant, then a high school junior, and two of his friends encountered another group of students who said they intended to steal mathematics exams from the third floor. The defendant and his companions were asked to serve as lookouts during the theft, which they agreed to do. They were instructed to yell something like “did you get your math book?” up to the third floor as a code to alert the thieves if someone was coming.
The defendant and his friends then proceeded to their second-floor lockers. The defendant testified that on their way to their lockers they looked around to “confirm or dispel” whether anyone was there. Once the defendant and his friends had retrieved their books, they “were all feeling like this was the wrong thing to do,” and decided to head back down to the first floor to wait for the other group. On their way down the stairs, they encountered some janitors who told them that they ought to leave the school. The defendant and his friends left the school building, but waited in the parking lot for approximately five to ten minutes for the other group. Eventually, the other students exited the school with the stolen examinations and all of the students shared the exam questions.
The next week, someone informed the dean of students that some students had stolen the exams. The police were called, and in connection with their investigation they interviewed the defendant, who admitted his involvement in the theft. He was convicted for criminal liability for the conduct of another under RSA 626:8.
He appealed, arguing that the trial court erred in failing to make findings of fact relative to the timing of defendant’s withdrawal from the theft and the completion of the theft because without such findings, the trial court could not properly apply RSA 626:8.
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