Humphrey v. State

• Citation: 185 P.3d 1236,2008 WY 67
• Decision Date: 16 June 2008
• Docket Number: No. 06-249.,06-249.
• Parties: Rita Ann HUMPHREY, Appellant (Defendant), v. The STATE of Wyoming, Appellee (Plaintiff).
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Wyoming

185 P.3d 1236

2008 WY 67

Rita Ann HUMPHREY, Appellant (Defendant), v. The STATE of Wyoming, Appellee (Plaintiff).

No. 06-249.

Supreme Court of Wyoming.

June 16, 2008.

Representing Appellant: Tina N. Kerin, Appellate Counsel; Donna D. Domonkos, Senior Assistant Appellate Counsel; David Westling, Senior Assistant Appellate Counsel. Argument by Ms. Domonkos and Mr. Westling.

Representing Appellee: Patrick J. Crank, Wyoming Attorney General; Terry L. Armitage, Deputy Attorney General; D. Michael Pauling, Senior Assistant Attorney General; Leda M. Pojman, Assistant Attorney General. Argument by Ms. Pojman.

Before VOIGT, C.J., and GOLDEN, HILL, KITE, BURKE, JJ.

GOLDEN, Justice.

[¶ 1] In March 2006, a jury convicted Appellant Rita Ann Humphrey of second degree murder in the 1977 death of her husband, Jack Humphrey. On appeal, Appellant challenges her conviction on grounds of speedy trial and due process violations and evidentiary errors. We find no reversible error in the issues presented and affirm.

ISSUES

[¶ 2] Appellant presents the following issues for our consideration:

I. Whether Appellant was denied her right to a speedy trial under W.R.Cr.P. 48, with a delay of 270 days, and under the United States Constitution, with a delay of 561 days.

II. Whether Appellant was denied her Fourteenth Amendment right to due process when the State delayed charging her for over 26 years. Appellant was substantially prejudiced by the delay.

III. Whether the district court committed reversible error when it admitted Jack Humphrey's hearsay statements under the state of mind exception to the hearsay rule. Jack Humphrey's state of mind was not an issue at trial and the statements did not help the trier of fact determine Appellant's state of mind.

IV. Whether the district court committed an abuse of discretion by improperly admitting hearsay evidence contrary to W.R.E. 803(6) and contrary to the completeness requirements of W.R.E. 106.

FACTS

Trial Evidence

[¶ 3] Appellant and Jack were married in 1967. For many years, it was a happy marriage. However, in 1977, the marital relationship deteriorated. Appellant became increasingly and openly hostile toward Jack. They were no longer intimate, and Appellant developed a relationship with another man, Ron Akers. Financial problems also arose in the relationship. Household bills were not being paid, including the mortgage on the family home, checks were bouncing, and a large sum of money, approximately $3,700.00, was missing out of their joint bank account at Hilltop National Bank (Hilltop Bank). Jack eventually spoke with personnel at Hilltop Bank on November 22, 1977, about the missing money and discovered Appellant had not deposited several of his paychecks, which explained the account shortage and the resulting bounced checks. That discovery caused further tension between Jack and Appellant. That night, Jack was noticeably upset and angry at Appellant as he discussed the financial mess with his sister, Bonnie Humphrey.

[¶ 4] Around 4:30 a.m. the next morning, November 23, Appellant telephoned her sister, Donna Baldwin. Appellant informed Baldwin something was wrong with Jack, and she needed Baldwin's assistance immediately. Baldwin and her boyfriend at the time, Frank Finch, arrived at Appellant's home within minutes, entering through the back door into the kitchen where Appellant was situated. After speaking with Appellant, Baldwin and Finch went to the couple's bedroom. Upon entering the room, they immediately smelled the odor of gun powder and noticed Jack had been shot.

[¶ 5] Baldwin and Finch then returned to the kitchen, and Baldwin contacted the police and Jack's brother, Larry Humphrey, who lived nearby. Finch noticed a rifle laying on the kitchen counter, wrapped in what appeared to be an infant's blanket. Finch grabbed the rifle and carried it out the back door, where he put the rifle down and pushed the barrel into the snow. Upon returning to the kitchen, Appellant handed him an empty bullet casing, which he tossed out the back door.

[¶ 6] Around 5:00 a.m., Officer Jeff Lord of the Evansville Police Department arrived at the Humphrey residence. Finch escorted Officer Lord to the master bedroom, where the officer observed Jack lying face down on a bed, covered by a blanket, with a gunshot wound to the back of his head. Forensic analysis of the crime scene indicated the blanket was placed over Jack after he was shot. Officer Lord did not find a firearm in the vicinity of the body.

[¶ 7] Officer Lord asked Appellant what she knew about her husband's death. Appellant stated she had fallen asleep in the basement while watching TV and she was awakened by a sound which she believed to be a gunshot. She then went upstairs and attempted to rouse her husband. When Jack did not respond, she telephoned her sister.

[¶ 8] After speaking with Appellant, Officer Lord conducted a protective sweep of the home. He found no evidence of forced entry or other signs of an intruder, even though the doors to the Humphrey residence were kept locked at night. Upon the arrival of other officers at the scene, Officer Lord conducted a perimeter search of the premises and found a .243 caliber Ruger M77 rifle and an empty shell casing lying in the snow by the back door of the residence. The rifle was later identified as Appellant's custom made rifle, which she proficiently used for hunting. Appellant's rifle, as well as the couple's other firearms, was always kept unloaded in the closet of the master bedroom. The ammunition for the firearms was stored separately in a cupboard by the kitchen. The rifle was subsequently identified as the murder weapon.

[¶ 9] Appellant was interviewed that morning at the Natrona County Sheriff's Office. While there, she also spoke with Bonnie Humphrey, who pressed her for information about Jack's death. During that conversation, Appellant put her hands over her face and stated: "God, what have I done?" A gunshot residue kit was also collected from Appellant that morning. Analysis of the residue taken from the back of Appellant's left hand disclosed three fragments of partially burned gunpowder.

[¶ 10] Within a week of the murder, Appellant and Akers were seen together at the Sage Club in Casper. By January, Akers was living at Appellant's house, driving Jack's truck and wearing his clothes. Approximately one week after Jack's death, Appellant began pursuing the proceeds of his life insurance policies, which she ultimately received in the amount of $30,285.46. Seven months later, Appellant received the proceeds from the sale of the couple's home and other real property.

Procedural Facts

[¶ 11] Appellant's legal woes began on April 11, 1980, when a grand jury indicted her for the first degree murder of her husband. The district court later granted Appellant's April 14, 1980, request for a preliminary hearing and, on May 7, it remanded the case to county court.¹ Also on May 7, Appellant waived her right to a speedy preliminary hearing, and stipulated to a June 23, 1980, preliminary hearing date. The preliminary hearing failed to produce sufficient probable cause to support the murder charge, and the county court issued an order dismissing the case on July 2, 1980. The district court formally dismissed the indictment on August 22, 1980.

[¶ 12] In 1999, the Evansville Police Department reopened the investigation into Jack Humphrey's death. That investigation led to the refiling of the first degree murder charge against Appellant on March 5, 2004. Following a preliminary hearing on May 26, 2004, Appellant was bound over to district court. The district court initially set Appellant's trial for September 27, 2004, stacked behind a number of other trials which were also set for that day. On July 8, Appellant filed a "Motion for Date Certain for Trial" wherein she requested that her trial be continued to a later date on a more reasonable schedule. On July 19, 2004, the district court moved the trial to the October 18 trial stack because of the court's crowded docket. At Appellant's arraignment on August 10, and in response to defense counsel's concerns about the trial setting, the district court vacated the October 18 trial date. During a scheduling conference held on August 25, the parties agreed to a January 3, 2005, trial date.

[¶ 13] Two days later, on August 27, 2004, Appellant moved to dismiss the murder charge, arguing that her constitutional right to a speedy trial under both the United States and Wyoming Constitutions had been violated by the excessive delay in bringing her to trial. Appellant based her speedy trial claim on the lapse in time between the filing of the initial indictment in 1980 and the filing of the instant information in 2004. On September 10, Appellant filed another motion to dismiss the murder charge, this time alleging that the 24-year delay in recharging her for the 1977 murder of her husband transgressed her constitutional right to due process. Appellant contended that her right to a fair trial was prejudiced by the delay due to the death of several witnesses and the loss of potential evidence. In addition to these motions, Appellant filed numerous motions pertaining to evidentiary matters, including multiple suppression motions.

[¶ 14] The district court heard testimony and argument on Appellant's motions to dismiss on October 28, 2004, and took the matters under advisement. The district court ultimately determined that Appellant's constitutional speedy trial right had been violated and, on December 20, 2004, the court entered an order dismissing the case. In finding a speedy trial violation, the district court considered the entire time period between the initial April 11, 1980, indictment and the January 3, 2005, trial setting. The district court did not rule on Appellant's due process claim.

[¶ 15] This Court subsequently granted the State's petition for review and reversed the district court's order of dismissal....