State v. Hannah

In State v. Hannah, 126 Ariz. 575, 576, 617 P.2d 527, 528 (1980), the defendant committed four forgeries in early November 1978. Id. He subsequently committed three class two felonies on August 10, 1979. Id. at 575, 617 P.2d at 527. The defendant was convicted of the November 1978 forgery charges in October 1979, several months after he committed the August felonies. Id. at 576, 617 P.2d at 528. Prior to the defendant's trial on the August felonies, the county attorney alleged that the November 1978 forgery charges on which he had been convicted in October 1979 were historical prior felonies to the August 1979 felonies. Id. The supreme court agreed and held that in circumstances in which the prior offense preceded the principal offense, the conviction on the prior offense need not occur before the principal offense was committed to enhance a sentence under 13-604. Id. at 577, 617 P.2d at 529. Although Hannah did not involve offenses committed on separate occasions that were consolidated for trial, the court did note that its conclusion was bolstered by subsection (H) of 13-604 that applied to such circumstances. As it then existed subsection (H) stated: convictions for two or more offenses not committed on the same occasion but consolidated for trial purposes may, at the discretion of the state, be counted as prior convictions for purposes of this section. Convictions for two or more offenses committed on the same occasion shall be counted as only one conviction for purposes of this section. The court observed that in the case of separate criminal offenses consolidated for trial, "subsection H of 13-604 makes it clear that conviction of the other offense need not occur prior to the commission of the principal offense." Id. at 576, 617 P.2d at 528.