00-1959 Chambers v. McCaughtry

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“We note … that, after the decision of the state court of appeals in this case, the Supreme Court of Wisconsin explicitly declared in State v. Oimen, 516 N.W.2d 399 (Wis. 1994), that the felony murder statute ‘encompasses the immediate flight from a felony.’ Id. at 409. Indeed, the court noted that its decision was compatible with the majority of states. See id. at n.18.

“Our reading of Oimen confirms our view that the application of the felony murder statute to Mr. Chambers was a matter of logical interpretation of the statute’s purpose and not the sort of unpredictable shift in application that gives rise to the fundamental fairness concerns articulated in [Bouie v. City of Columbia, 378 U.S. 347 (1964)]. Indeed, the Supreme Court of the United States has explained in the years since Bouie that the ‘touchstone is whether the statute, either standing alone or as construed, made it reasonably clear at the relevant time that the defendant’s conduct was criminal.’ United States v. Lanier, 520 U.S. 259, 267 (1997). In our view, Mr. Chambers was on reasonable notice that the Wisconsin felony murder and party-to-a-crime statutes had been construed to encompass his situation. Although an ‘unforeseeable application’ of existing law deprives criminal defendants of due process, Douglas v. Buder, 412 U.S. 430, 432 (1973) (per curiam), no such unforeseeability existed here. Mr. Chambers was on notice that he could be charged with and convicted of armed burglary as well as any other crime that occurred as a ‘natural and probable consequence of the intended crime’ – including measures taken to effectuate an escape from the scene of the crime. He was not subjected retroactively to an expanded scope of liability. As we have noted, Bouie applies only to ‘unpredictable shifts in the law, not to the resolution of uncertainty that marks any evolving legal system.’ United States v. Burnom, 27 F.3d 283, 284-85 (7th Cir. 1994).”

Affirmed.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, Curran, J., Ripple, J.