Sparks v. State, S-18-0181
| Decision Date | 15 May 2019 |
| Docket Number | S-18-0181 |
| Parties | Ian R. SPARKS, Appellant (Defendant), v. The STATE of Wyoming, Appellee (Plaintiff). |
| Court | Wyoming Supreme Court |
Representing Appellant: Office of the State Public Defender: Diane Lozano, Wyoming State Public Defender; Kirk A. Morgan, Chief Appellate Counsel; Lauren McLane, Faculty Director, and Alex N. Cremer, Student Intern, of the Defender Aid Clinic, University of Wyoming College of Law. Argument by Mr. Cremer.
Representing Appellee: Peter K. Michael, Wyoming Attorney General; Christyne M. Martens, Deputy Attorney General; Russell Farr, Assistant Attorney General. Argument by Mr. Farr.
Before DAVIS, C.J., and FOX, KAUTZ, BOOMGAARDEN, and GRAY, JJ.
[¶1] Ian Sparks was convicted of furnishing two fifteen-year-old girls with alcohol and sexually abusing them. On appeal, he contends that the district court erred in ordering joinder of the sexual abuse charges relating to the two victims. He further contends that the district court erred and violated his confrontation rights and the right to a complete defense when it excluded evidence of a prior false sexual abuse allegation by one of the victims. We affirm.
[¶2] Mr. Sparks presents two issues on appeal, which we restate as follows:
[¶3] In the summer of 2016, DJJ and AK were both fifteen years old and living in Gillette, Wyoming. They had become friends during their participation in Civil Air Patrol that summer, and on July 23, 2016, they made plans for AK to spend the night at DJJ’s home. Their plans changed, however, and they instead decided to spend the night with DJJ’s former step-sister, Mikelah Williams, and her twenty-three-year old fiancé, Ian Sparks. Mr. Sparks and Ms. Williams had recently moved, so DJJ and AK first went to the apartment they had vacated to assist Mr. Sparks in cleaning it. Afterward, Mr. Sparks drove the girls to the new trailer home he shared with Ms. Williams, stopping along the way to buy vodka, energy drinks, and soda for himself and the girls.
[¶4] It was around 10:00 p.m. when Mr. Sparks and the girls arrived at the trailer he shared with Ms. Williams. He left the vodka in his vehicle and told the girls that because Ms. Williams would be upset about the alcohol, they would wait until she went to sleep to drink it. While the girls watched a movie, Mr. Sparks and Ms. Williams retired to their bedroom. Sometime later, Mr. Sparks came out of the bedroom and told the girls Ms. Williams had finally fallen asleep.
[¶5] Mr. Sparks and the girls then left the mobile home and took the vodka and other drinks to a nearby abandoned trailer. There they passed the vodka around and drank from the bottle. Although AK raised the bottle to her mouth and could taste the alcohol, she only pretended to drink it. DJJ, on the other hand, drank to the point of intoxication. As the three drank, they played a game of "Truth or Dare." AK described how the evening then progressed:
[¶6] A short time later, the three left the abandoned trailer and returned to Mr. Sparks’ trailer home. The next morning, AK and DJJ went to a pancake breakfast and then on to DJJ’s home. While she was there, Mr. Sparks contacted DJJ and asked her to help him finish cleaning his apartment. DJJ agreed and invited AK to join her, but AK declined. At the apartment, then, only DJJ and Mr. Sparks were present. DJJ described what happened after they started cleaning:
[¶7] About a week later, DJJ attended a Bible camp outside Lander, Wyoming. While there, she told friends what had happened with Mr. Sparks, and those friends encouraged her to tell her mother. She also told the camp director what had happened, and when her mother picked her up from camp, she reported the incidents to her. When they returned to Gillette, DJJ’s mother took her to the police department to report the incidents. In addition to the acts described above, DJJ reported two additional incidents of sexual intercourse with Mr. Sparks in the week following the July 23rd incident.
[¶8] Following an investigation, the State filed...
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