State v. Allen

• Decision Date: 04 September 1992
• Docket Number: No. 900156,900156
• Citation: State v. Allen, 839 P.2d 291 (Utah 1992)
• Parties: STATE of Utah, Plaintiff and Appellee, v. Steven Ray ALLEN, Defendant and Appellant.
• Court: Utah Supreme Court

Page 291

839 P.2d 291

STATE of Utah, Plaintiff and Appellee, v. Steven Ray ALLEN, Defendant and Appellant.

No. 900156.

Supreme Court of Utah.

Sept. 4, 1992.

R. Paul Van Dam, Christine Soltis, Salt Lake City, for plaintiff and appellee.

Michael H. Wray, Salt Lake City, Eric P. Swenson, Monticello, for defendant and appellant.

HALL, Chief Justice:

Defendant Steven Ray Allen appeals his conviction of second degree murder. ¹

Defendant, a well-educated college graduate, left his employment with the Idaho Nuclear Energy Air Laboratory in 1982 and opted to live the reclusive lifestyle of a mountain man. He took up residence in the high country near the Idaho-Montana border and lived there as a mountain man until 1986.

Defendant moved to Moab, Utah, in September 1986. There he met Deborah Barrie, the mother of two children, three-year-old Michael and five-year-old Matthew. Within two weeks of defendant's involvement with Barrie, Michael began sustaining injuries. In early October 1986, Barrie left her children alone with defendant for two hours. When she returned, Michael's nose, forehead, and hands were scraped and he had a bump on his forehead. Defendant said that Michael had failed to put his hands out to catch himself as he fell.

Defendant moved in with Barrie. Throughout their relationship, they argued about the children. Defendant viewed them as undisciplined and felt that Barrie failed to sufficiently control them. Barrie confronted defendant about his harsh attitude toward the children. He responded that the boys were "damn bawl babies" and that he "had put up with enough bull---t in his life" and wasn't "about to put [up] with any more from a little kid."

Michael's personality and appearance changed. He expressed reluctance to stay alone with defendant. He cringed if picked up under his armpits. He developed a bald spot the size of a silver dollar on the back of his head. He had numerous bruises over his body. His balance and eyesight seemed poor. He complained of stomachaches and headaches, became "clingy," and cried a lot.

Barrie observed bruising on Michael's bottom and confronted defendant. Defendant said that when Michael had failed to help him carry some wood, he had kicked him. Defendant claimed that he had been barefoot and that he had not done it that hard or that many times. He stated that Michael must have something medically wrong with him to bruise as he did.

Barrie took Michael to the doctor about his bruises and lack of balance. The doctor pressed on Michael's stomach and spine but not on his rib area. The doctor ordered no x-rays but prescribed a suppository and Tylenol. When Barrie told defendant that the doctor had found nothing wrong with Michael, he said, "See, I told you he was playing little games with you."

In late November, Barrie and defendant bought a motorcycle. When defendant asked Michael to come for a ride, Michael started crying. Defendant told Barrie to "boot [Michael's] butt." Reluctantly, Michael went. When they returned, Michael was tearful and silent. Defendant stated that he had hit some loose gravel and tipped the motorcycle over but that neither of them got hurt. Barrie examined Michael and found a bump on his forehead. She noticed that his eyes were not focused and thought he had a slight concussion.

On December 14, 1986, two days before he died, Michael started crying in the morning. When Barrie was unable to stop the crying, defendant grabbed Michael and took him to the basement. Barrie followed when she heard muffled sounds. She saw defendant hanging the child by the hood of his coat. Michael's face was red and his eyes were bulging. He was not struggling, but was hanging limp. When Barrie shouted that Michael wasn't breathing, defendant replied that he knew and that he didn't care. After more argument, defendant finally let go. Barrie carried Michael to her pickup and left.

When she returned that night, she and defendant argued about his treatment of the children. Defendant admitted that he had backhanded Michael, knocking him onto the cement basement floor. He stated that if he was not going to be allowed to discipline Michael, Barrie had better keep the child "out of his face." The argument continued the next day. Defendant claimed that Michael was coming between them. Later, Matthew overheard defendant tell Michael that he hated him.

The next morning, defendant, Barrie, and the children drove to Moab. After several stops, they went to the Yellow Front store. Defendant "winked" at Michael and suggested that the child "spend some time with him." Michael was unhappy when his mother left, but he continued to sit in the truck and eat some candy he had been given. Approximately five minutes later, defendant came into the store and yelled for Barrie. He was holding Michael, who was limp and white and did not appear to be breathing. Barrie drove to the hospital, with defendant holding Michael on the passenger side. She thought defendant was performing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. They reached the hospital, and Barrie ran into the emergency room for help. When she returned, defendant was holding the child but not performing resuscitation. Medical personnel unsuccessfully worked on Michael, who remained unresponsive, until the attending physician, Dr. Robert Murray, declared him dead.

Hospital personnel asked what had happened. Defendant said that he was reading and Michael was eating his candy. Michael said something and suddenly rolled his eyes back in his head, arched his back, and gasped for air. Defendant thought he was choking so he put his finger down the child's throat but found nothing. Defendant told others that Michael acted like he had a seizure. Dr. Murray thought that Michael may have had an aneurism but concluded that an autopsy was necessary to determine the cause of death. Barrie refused an autopsy because she did not want them "to cut up her baby." The child was subsequently embalmed.

The next morning, defendant and Barrie left for Idaho to bury Michael at her family home. That night, they stayed in Bountiful, Utah. Authorities twice contacted them there for permission for an autopsy. Barrie continued to refuse. Defendant told her that the police were raising questions about him. Bruises which had not been apparent on the body in the hospital were now evident. Defendant said the bruises looked suspicious. He told Barrie that if she "was looking for something bad, [she would] find it."

Defendant told Barrie that he had read her daily journal and that it related their fights over the discipline of the children. He said that if the police came back and searched, the journal would amount to "probable cause" to take the child's body for an autopsy. He persuaded Barrie to let him rip out several pages of the journal and destroy them.

Defendant and Barrie proceeded to Ririe, Idaho, with Michael's body. The child was buried there on December 20, 1986. Defendant left for the Delores River area of Idaho while Barrie remained in Ririe with Matthew. Matthew told his mother that he had seen defendant "punch and kick" Michael and that similar things had been done to him. Barrie decided that she would allow an autopsy. Defendant returned to Ririe to reunite with Barrie. She told him about her decision to allow the autopsy. He became angry with her and accused her of trying to make him look bad. He then gave an account of how the child had died that conflicted with the account he had previously given to Dr. Murray. When the reunion proved unsuccessful, he returned to the Idaho mountains.

Michael's body was exhumed and an autopsy performed on April 12 and 13, 1987. Based on the results of that autopsy, an information was filed, charging defendant with the death of the child. After an extensive manhunt, defendant was arrested on August 12, 1989, by officers of the Ravalli County, Montana Sheriff's office under fugitive warrants issued as a result of the charges filed in Utah. The officers located defendant high in the mountains of the Continental Divide near the Idaho-Montana border. They flew in by helicopter and captured defendant on the Idaho side of the border and then took defendant by helicopter to the Ravalli County jail.

Defendant maintains that he was physically and verbally abused during the arrest by the Montana officers. He contends the following: He was tightly handcuffed and was told to cooperate if he wanted the cuffs loosened. One deputy jerked him up by his hair to take his picture. Another threatened to tie him to the helicopter and "drag him all over Ravalli county." He was struck in the groin, was strip-searched, and was told how lucky he was that the officers did not kill him and save the county a lot of money. Sheriff Printz, who was in charge of the arrest, told him that he would put a bullet in his head if he tried to cause the helicopter to crash.

After the arrest, defendant was taken to the Ravalli County jail. Some thirty hours after defendant's arrest, Sheriff Printz and Michael Hines, a Utah investigator, interviewed defendant concerning the charges against him. This unrecorded interview took place before defendant could be arraigned. The interview lasted about one and a half hours and took place without counsel present. Mr. Hines testified that he read defendant his Miranda rights from a form. However, the "Warning and Waiver of Rights" portion of the form, which acknowledges that the defendant understands his rights, was not read to defendant, and the signature line at the bottom of the form was not signed by defendant.

Defendant contends that he expressly and impliedly requested counsel both during his processing at the jail and at the interview with Hines and Printz. The State disputes these claims, stating that at no time prior to or during the interview did defendant equivocally or unequivocally request that he have counsel present.

During his interview with Hines and Printz, defendant initially denied...