Fairbourn v. State

• Decision Date: 11 June 2020
• Docket Number: S-19-0217,S-18-0259
• Citation: 2020 WY 73
• Parties: BRADLEY ROSS FAIRBOURN, Appellant (Defendant), v. THE STATE OF WYOMING, Appellee (Plaintiff).
• Court: Wyoming Supreme Court

2020 WY 73

BRADLEY ROSS FAIRBOURN, Appellant (Defendant), v. THE STATE OF WYOMING, Appellee (Plaintiff).

S-18-0259

S-19-0217

SUPREME COURT, STATE OF WYOMING

APRIL TERM, A.D. 2020

June 11, 2020

Appeal from the District Court of Sweetwater County

The Honorable Richard L. Lavery, Judge

Representing Appellant:

Jason M. Tangeman, Nicholas & Tangeman, LLC, Laramie, Wyoming. Argument by Mr. Tangeman.

Representing Appellee:

Bridget Hill, Wyoming Attorney General; Jenny L. Craig, Deputy Attorney General; Joshua C. Eames, Senior Assistant Attorney General; Catherine Maeve Mercer, Assistant Attorney General. Argument by Ms. Mercer.

Before DAVIS, C.J., and FOX, KAUTZ, BOOMGAARDEN, and GRAY, JJ.

NOTICE: This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in Pacific Reporter Third. Readers are requested to notify the Clerk of the Supreme Court, Supreme Court Building, Cheyenne, Wyoming 82002, of any typographical or other formal errors so that correction may be made before final publication in the permanent volume.

GRAY, Justice.

[¶1] On February 15, 2018, a jury found Bradley Fairbourn guilty on one count of Murder in the First Degree and one count of Attempted Murder in the First Degree. He appeals his convictions claiming he was denied a fair trial due to ineffective assistance of counsel and prosecutorial misconduct. He also asserts a violation of his right to a speedy trial. We affirm.

ISSUES

[¶2] The issues are:

1. Was Mr. Fairbourn denied his statutory or constitutional right to a speedy trial?

2. Was Mr. Fairbourn denied his constitutional right to effective assistance of counsel?

3. Was Mr. Fairbourn denied his constitutional right to due process of law and a fair trial due to prosecutorial misconduct?

FACTS

A. The Crime

[¶3] The events leading to Mr. Fairbourn's arrest and convictions culminated in the early morning hours of June 23, 2016. Naisha Story was dead, and Natalia Arce was severely injured. A few days before June 23, Ms. Arce and her boyfriend, Christopher Crayton, drove with Ms. Story, her boyfriend Paul Lovato, and their seven-month-old daughter from Salt Lake City, Utah, to Rock Springs, Wyoming. They rented two hotel rooms, Room 119 at the Quality Inn and Room 315 at a nearby hotel. The group stayed in Room 315 while Room 119 provided a location for Ms. Story and Ms. Arce to conduct a body massage business. They advertised their business and set up appointments via the internet.

[¶4] On June 22, 2016, Mr. Fairbourn was returning home to Draper, Utah, from Denver, Colorado. En route, he stopped and rented a room in Rawlins, Wyoming. While there, he discovered an online advertisement promoting a "2 girls" special. At 9:54 p.m., he texted the number in the advertisement asking, "is the 'special' still available?" About ten minutes later, he received a response, "Yes honey 300 for one hour 2 girls." The next texts indicate Mr. Fairbourn was having trouble with his phone, but by 11 p.m. he texted,"If I was there in less than two hours with cash would you still be available?" After receiving a positive response, Mr. Fairbourn drove to Rock Springs. In texts exchanged while he was driving, he was told to go to the Quality Inn, and he would receive the room number for the services when he arrived. At 1:02 a.m., he sent, "I'm pulling in now." The response at 1:04 a.m. stated, "119." At 1:16 a.m. he replied, "On my way to your room."

[¶5] When Mr. Fairbourn showed up at the room, he appeared nervous, said he had never done this before, and he wanted to know if the women had any security in the room. When he was told, "It's just [us]," Mr. Fairbourn said he needed to get money from the car and left for five to ten minutes. When he returned, Ms. Arce opened the door and Ms. Story was standing near the bathroom. Mr. Fairbourn entered and immediately stabbed Ms. Arce in the chest. He attempted to stab her eye, but she grabbed for the knife and sliced her fingers. Ms. Story began screaming and, as Mr. Fairbourn turned to attack to her, Ms. Arce ran out of the room to the street. She used her cell phone to call Mr. Crayton, who was with Mr. Lovato at the other hotel. She told Mr. Crayton she had been stabbed.

[¶6] Mr. Crayton immediately drove to the Quality Inn where he found Ms. Arce running towards the street. She got into the car and told him what had happened. Mr. Crayton drove to the lobby and told her to go in and call 911. He was on his way to Room 119 to check on Ms. Story when he saw a man (Mr. Fairbourn) running down the street. He cut him off, got out of the car, and started to beat him to prevent him from leaving. Another car drove up and both Mr. Fairbourn and Mr. Crayton told the driver to call 911. Mr. Crayton was with Mr. Fairbourn until the police arrived. Mr. Crayton then tried to make his way to Room 119. Officers stopped him a few doors away and told him to stay back. He talked with officers on the scene and, after Ms. Arce was transferred to the hospital, went to the police station for questioning.

[¶7] Geoffrey Fudurich, a guest in Room 120, recalled a woman's screams woke him around 1:15 a.m. He heard a woman repeatedly screaming "please, no" and "I have a daughter." He tried to call the hotel lobby but received no answer. His girlfriend then dialed 911. He next heard a woman outside his room asking for help. At the direction of the 911 dispatcher, he stayed in his room and, through the door, told the woman that police were on their way.

[¶8] George and Barbara Moss were staying in Room 121. Mr. Moss was awakened between 1:15 and 1:30 a.m. by a woman (Ms. Story) pounding on their room window and yelling, "help me, help me." He looked out and saw she was covered in blood. He called 911. After making the call, Mrs. Moss stepped out of the room to help Ms. Story while Mr. Moss ran to the lobby to get assistance. When he arrived, he saw another injured woman (Ms. Arce) in the hotel office. When the police arrived, he led them to Ms. Story.

[¶9] Mrs. Moss recounted her efforts to help Ms. Story and the conversation they shared. Ms. Story told Mrs. Moss that her seven-month-old baby and her boyfriend were in Room 315. When Mrs. Moss asked her if her boyfriend did this, she said no.

[¶10] Ms. Arce, Ms. Story, and Mr. Fairbourn were taken to the Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County. Ms. Story arrived unconscious, with multiple stab wounds and internal bleeding. Ms. Arce arrived conscious but "clearly in a lot of shock." She had a serious chest wound. She was unable to open or close her damaged hand. Medical personnel wanted to transfer the women to a trauma hospital as soon as possible. Mr. Fairbourn presented with swelling and bruising to his face, but he was released to law enforcement officials as he had no life-threatening injury.

B. The Investigation

[¶11] Detective Amanda Salazar arrived at the hospital at approximately 3:15 a.m. She immediately took photographs of Ms. Arce and Ms. Story while they were being stabilized for a life-flight to Salt Lake City, Utah. Ms. Story died before she could be transferred. Detective Salazar also talked to Mr. Fairbourn. He kept repeating he was hit by a car and assaulted. He told her he was not staying in Rock Springs but had stopped on his way to Utah, because he "needed something to wet [his] throat." He said he had parked his car by the Quality Inn because he wanted to stretch his legs. While he was out of his car, without warning, another car came directly toward him, hit him, and then a man got out of the car and started beating him. Officers collected evidence from Mr. Fairbourn, including his jeans and t-shirt. The pockets of his jeans contained a wallet, two cell phones, and other miscellaneous items.

[¶12] Detective Salazar had taken a picture of Mr. Fairbourn which she showed to Ms. Arce, saying "this may or may not be the [guy]." Ms. Arce asked if he was wearing a red shirt. After Detective Salazar said "yes," Ms. Arce looked at the photograph and said, "that's the guy."

[¶13] Mr. Fairbourn was taken to the police department at 9:45 a.m. After reading him his rights, Detective Salazar continued to question him. Mr. Fairbourn repeated his previous account of the night's events but added he had rented a room in Rawlins for the night. He explained that when he could not sleep, he decided to continue to Utah and left Rawlins. He stopped in Rock Springs and walked into McDonald's. He realized he did not have any money, tried to use his card, and left when it was declined. He was headed back to his car when a white Chrysler turned on its lights and came at him. As he tried to get away, the car hit him, knocking him into a wall. A man (Mr. Crayton) exited the car and started hitting and kicking him. Mr. Fairbourn asked, "what did I do?" and the man responded, "you know what you did." Mr. Fairbourn told Detective Salazar he had "no idea what's going on."

[¶14] Detective Salazar challenged this story. She told him, "the lobby at McDonald's closes at 11 o'clock, so you didn't go to the McDonald's to try to get a drink." Mr. Fairbourn responded,

Like I said, I walked over there, tried to open the door. I don't remember it being closed. I really don't. I'm so out of it still, so I thought I went in. I really did think I went in. And then I tried to find an ATM or a gas station.

Detective Salazar then said, "Brad, tell me about meeting [the] girls." At first, Mr. Fairbourn insisted he did not know what she meant. Mr. Fairbourn maintained, "I didn't meet anyone. I was trying to get to McDonald's. I swear to you. I'm still really confused. . . . [I] [d]idn't even go towards the Quality Inn. I was walking the other direction." At that point, Detective Salazar told him, "[t]wo girls got stabbed last night at the Quality Inn." Mr. Fairbourn continued to insist he had told her everything. Detective Salazar then told Mr. Fairbourn she had accessed the victims' cell phone accounts and had seen the conversations. (She had not done so at that point.) Mr. Fairbourn's story shifted:

I went

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