State of Utah v. HAMBLIN

• Decision Date: 26 August 2010
• Docket Number: No. 20090061-CA.,20090061-CA.
• Citation: 239 P.3d 300,2010 UT App 239
• Parties: STATE of Utah, Plaintiff and Appellee, v. Jason Tyler HAMBLIN, Defendant and Appellant.
• Court: Utah Court of Appeals

239 P.3d 300

2010 UT App 239

STATE of Utah, Plaintiff and Appellee v Jason Tyler HAMBLIN, Defendant and Appellant.

No. 20090061-CA.

Court of Appeals of Utah.

Aug. 26, 2010.

Sara Pfrommer, Park City, for Appellant.

Mark L. Shurtleff and Christine F. Soltis, Salt Lake City, for Appellee.

Before Judges ORME, THORNE, and ROTH.

OPINION

ORME, Judge:

¶ 1 Defendant Jason Tyler Hamblin appeals his convictions for rape of a child, a first degree felony, see Utah Code Ann. § 76-5-402.1 (2008); ¹ sodomy on a child, a first degree felony, see id. § 76-5-403.1; and two counts of sexual abuse of a child, second degree felonies, see id. § 76-5-404.1. Hamblin claims that the trial court erred when it refused to grant his motion for a new trial based on an alleged Brady violation. Further, Hamblin argues that the trial court erred by refusing to more fully grant his motion in limine under rule 412 of the Utah Rules of Evidence and by permitting the State to amend the dates of the alleged abuse on the day before trial. We affirm.

BACKGROUND ²

¶ 2 Around 1994, Hamblin's father and stepmother (Stepmother) divorced and Hamblin moved to New York to live with his biological mother. In 1997, the victim and her two biological brothers were adopted by Stepmother after the victim's biological mother lost her parental rights. At the time of adoption, Stepmother already had two biological children of her own. Around that time, Stepmother's biological son (Brother) began molesting the then-seven-year-old victim, who, in turn, reported the abuse to Stepmother. Upon being confronted by Stepmother, Brother admitted to sexually abusing the victim and promised to stop, but then continued to sexually assault her periodically. He eventually stopped because he felt guilty for what he had done. Despite the sexual assaults, the victim had an affinity for Brother and considered him a “gentle” and “compassion[ate]” abuser.

¶ 3 In late 2000 or early 2001, when Hamblin was twenty or twenty-one years old, he returned to Utah from New York to live with Stepmother and her children at their home on Elm Street in Salt Lake City. Soon after, Hamblin began sexually assaulting the victim, who was ten or eleven years old at the time. ³ Over a period of months, Hamblin sexually assaulted the victim repeatedly, and the assaults did not cease until Hamblin moved out of the home in late 2001.

¶ 4 A few months after Hamblin moved out, Stepmother and some of her children, including the victim, moved to Montana. The victim's life quickly spiraled out of control and, by her own admission, she got into drugs and became “very promiscuous.” When the victim was fifteen years old, Stepmother died and the victim was placed in a Montana group home for teenagers. There, the victim first divulged to a therapist the details of Hamblin's repeated sexual assaults. Subsequently, the victim was transferred to a different teenage group home in Idaho. There, the victim disclosed to a therapist the sexual assaults by both Hamblin and Brother.

¶ 5 Prompted by these disclosures, a forensic specialist in Idaho interviewed the then-fifteen-year-old victim on April 25, 2006. In the interview, the victim recounted the abuse she experienced at the hands of Hamblin and Brother. She discussed instances of vaginal rape and sodomy, as well as episodes in which Hamblin inserted various objects into her anus, including a decorative light bulb; a “little, mini M & M tube”; and a dildo. The matter was then referred to the Salt Lake City Police Department.

¶ 6 On October 31, 2006, Hamblin was charged by information with one count each of rape of a child, object rape of a child, andsodomy on a child. Later, while completing some forms that were designed to elicit the details of the abuse, the victim realized that Brother, not Hamblin, had used the light bulb. At some point, the prosecutor learned of the victim's mistake and, accordingly, on May 25, 2007, amended the information to delete the light bulb object-rape charge and all references related thereto. At the preliminary hearing held on the same day, and later at trial, the victim testified that Hamblin used only two objects in sodomizing her: the M & M tube and the dildo. The prosecutor once again amended the information on February 25, 2008, two days before the trial commenced, to alter the alleged dates of the sexual abuse because Hamblin had been living in New York at the time of the initially alleged dates.

¶ 7 Before trial, Hamblin filed a motion in limine, seeking leave to introduce evidence pursuant to an exception in the rape shield rule, see Utah R. Evid. 412(b)(3), related to Brother's sexual assaults on the victim. Without “going in to all the details of [Brother's] sexual abuse,” Hamblin sought to explore possible bias and motive behind the victim's disclosures about Brother's abuse because, according to Hamblin, they “were made in a manner that raise[s] questions about the propriety of her accusations against [Hamblin] and her motive for doing so.” The trial court granted the motion in part, stating that Hamblin could question the victim about her disclosures to show any bias the victim harbored against Hamblin or Brother, and about any matter to which the prosecutor opened the door during direct examination. The court announced that more specific rulings would have to wait until trial so that the court could judge each question's relevance in context. Hamblin's trial counsel stated that he felt “comfortable waiting [until] trial” for more specific rulings. The court's oral ruling on the rule 412 motion in limine was then reduced to a short, written order immediately before trial.

¶ 8 At trial, Hamblin denied sexually assaulting the victim. ⁴ Although he offered no explanation for the victim's accusations, his trial counsel suggested that the sexual assaults had indeed occurred, but that Brother, not Hamblin, was the perpetrator of the assaults. Counsel speculated that the victim's allegations were directed at Hamblin in an effort to protect Brother.

¶ 9 At the close of trial, the jury convicted Hamblin of one count of rape of a child, one count of sodomy on a child, and two counts of sexual abuse of a child. However, the jury acquitted Hamblin of two counts of sodomy on a child and two counts of object rape of a child.

¶ 10 Thereafter, Hamblin filed a motion for a new trial, alleging that the prosecutor violated the rule announced in Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963), by failing to disclose that the victim had recanted her light bulb accusation against Hamblin. The court found that Hamblin knew the necessary facts related to the victim's recantation at the preliminary hearing and successfully used those facts as impeachment evidence at trial. Thus, finding no Brady violation, the court denied Hamblin's motion for a new trial. Hamblin now appeals.

ISSUES AND STANDARDS OF REVIEW

¶ 11 Hamblin argues that the trial court erred by denying his motion for a new trial based on an alleged Brady violation. A trial court's denial of a motion for new trial is upheld on appeal “absent a clear abuse of discretion.” State v. Bisner, 2001 UT 99, ¶ 31, 37 P.3d 1073 (citation and internal quotation marks omitted). “[H]owever, we review the legal standards applied by the trial court in denying such a motion for correctness.” Id.

¶ 12 Next, Hamblin asserts that the trial court's partial deferral of his rule 412 motion in limine denied him the right of confrontation. An evidentiary ruling will notbe reversed on appeal “unless it is manifest that the trial court so abused its discretion that there is a likelihood that injustice resulted.” State v. Tarrats, 2005 UT 50, ¶ 16, 122 P.3d 581 (citation and internal quotation marks omitted). Whether an evidentiary ruling violated a defendant's right of confrontation is a question of law that we review for correctness. See State v. Clark, 2009 UT App 252, ¶ 10, 219 P.3d 631, cert. denied, 225 P.3d 880 (Utah 2010).

¶ 13 Third, Hamblin insists that the trial court improperly permitted the alleged dates of abuse, as set out in the information, to be amended. A trial court's decision to permit amendment of an information is reviewed for abuse of discretion. See State v. Jamison, 767 P.2d 134, 136-37 (Utah Ct.App.1989). See also Utah R.Crim. P. 4(d) (recognizing trial court's discretion to amend information).

ANALYSIS

I. Denial of Hamblin's Motion for a New Trial

¶ 14 Hamblin claims that the State violated rule 16(a)(4) of the Utah Rules of Criminal Procedure by “[w]illful[ly] and [d]eliberate[ly]” refusing to disclose evidence that was exculpatory of Hamblin. Under rule 16, the State must indeed disclose to the defense all known evidence “that tends to negate the guilt of the accused.” Utah R.Crim. P. 16(a)(4). And the United States Supreme Court, in the landmark decision of Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963), held that “the suppression by the prosecution of evidence favorable to an accused upon request violates due process where the evidence is material either to guilt or to punishment, irrespective of the good faith or bad faith of the prosecution.” Id. at 87, 83 S.Ct. 1194. See United States v. Bagley, 473 U.S. 667, 676, 105 S.Ct. 3375, 87 L.Ed.2d 481 (1985) (stating that due process requires disclosure of material impeachment evidence). See also State v. Carter, 707 P.2d 656, 662 (Utah 1985) (“[D]ue process requires a prosecutor to disclose even unrequested information which is or may be exculpatory.”). Yet,

prosecutorial nondisclosure of information favorable to the accused does not by itself constitute prejudicial error requiring reversal of a conviction. Rather, nondisclosure violates due process under Brady only if the evidence at issue is material and exculpatory, and if the defense did not become aware of the evidence until after trial.

State v. Bisner, 2001 UT 99, ¶ 36, 37 P.3d 1073 (emphasis added)....