State v. Huether
| Decision Date | 26 August 1997 |
| Docket Number | No. 96-554,96-554 |
| Citation | 284 Mont. 259,943 P.2d 1291 |
| Parties | STATE of Montana, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Ray HUETHER, Defendant and Appellant. |
| Court | Montana Supreme Court |
Roberta A. Drew, Deputy Public Defender, Billings, for Defendant and Appellant.
Joseph P. Mazurek, Attorney General, Cregg W. Coughlin, Assistant Attorney General, Helena, Dennis Paxinos, Yellowstone County Attorney, and Melanie B. Logan, Deputy County Attorney, Billings, for Plaintiff and Respondent.
Ray Huether (Huether) appeals from the Thirteenth Judicial District Court's order denying his motion to exclude evidence of other crimes, wrongs, or acts. We affirm.
We address the following dispositive issue on appeal:
Did the District Court abuse its discretion in admitting evidence that Huethers infant son had died while in his care seven months prior to the death of his infant daughter?
Since this case involves a plea of guilty, the following facts are taken primarily from the affidavit in support of the State's motion to file the information. At approximately 4:52 p.m. on May 16, 1995, Huether called 911 to report that "an infant" in his care had stopped breathing. Emergency personnel arrived at the Huether residence and found Huether's daughter Becca Huether (Becca), aged two and one-half months, without a pulse and unable to breathe on her own. Huether explained to the emergency personnel that he had put Becca down at approximately 4:30 p.m. and, when he checked on her a short time later, found her not breathing and without a pulse. Attempts were made to resuscitate Becca and she was transported to the emergency room at St. Vincent Hospital. Despite continued resuscitation efforts and after an examination by an emergency room doctor, Becca was pronounced dead at approximately 5:35 p.m. on May 16, 1995.
At the hospital, Huether told different versions of the afternoon's events leading up to his discovery of Becca's lifeless body. Huether told Yellowstone County Deputy Coroner Keith Montgomery (Coroner Montgomery) that he had last seen Becca alive at 3:30 that afternoon and heard her in her bassinet at 4:00 p.m. Huether said, however, that he had fallen asleep after taking some cold medicine and that when he woke up he found that Becca was not breathing.
Yellowstone County Sheriff's Department Detective Dick Hirschi (Detective Hirschi) was dispatched to the hospital, spoke with Coroner Montgomery and met with the Huether family including Huether's wife, Christina. Huether's version to Detective Hirschi differed from the versions he gave Coroner Montgomery and the emergency personnel. Huether told Detective Hirschi that when Christina left for work at approximately 3:00 p.m. that day he was left in charge of Becca and their other children,a five-year-old daughter and six-year-old son. Huether said that approximately one-half hour after Christina left, he received a telephone call from Jeanette Miller (Miller). Huether told Detective Hirschi that he was in his bedroom talking to Miller and had placed Becca in her bassinet near his bed. He stated he laid on his bed and continued to speak to Miller until approximately 4:50 p.m. when he checked on Becca and found her blue in color and not breathing.
Detective Hirschi later contacted Miller and she stated that ten to fifteen minutes into her telephone conversation with Huether she could hear a baby crying loudly in the background. She said she teasingly stated to Huether that he must be pinching the baby and that the baby did not sound happy; Huether replied that the baby was not happy a lot of the time. Approximately thirty minutes later, Miller asked Huether what he had done after she noticed the sounds from the baby had become softer. Huether told Miller he had moved the baby from his room to the baby's playpen in the other room where his other children were watching television.
Seven and one-half months prior to Becca's death, Coroner Montgomery investigated the death of Huether's seven-month-old son, Rick Huether (Rick). Rick had died while in Huether's sole care. Because no medical cause could be found for Rick's death, it was listed as Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). Due to Rick's SIDS-related death Becca's pediatrician had prescribed, as a precautionary measure, the use of an apnea Huether's statements to Coroner Montgomery and others regarding the use of Becca's apnea monitor included his admission to Coroner Montgomery that, even though an apnea monitor had been prescribed to monitor Becca's pulse and breathing, he had not placed it on her before putting her in her bassinet the day of her death. Furthermore, a member of the SIDS support group to which Huether and Christina belonged informed sheriff's detectives that one hour after Becca's death Huether had left a message on her answering machine. Huether's message stated: Additionally, when Christina received Huether's phone call at work informing her of Becca's situation, he stated "you're not going to believe this," and informed her that Becca had not been on the monitor and had turned blue and that they were headed for the hospital.
monitor to monitor Becca's pulse and breathing. Pursuant to the doctor's instruction, Becca was to wear the monitor whenever she might fall asleep.
In June of 1995, Huether was charged with negligent homicide for the death of his daughter Becca, in violation of § 45-5-104, MCA. Upon review of the evidence surrounding Becca's death indicating that Becca may have died as a result of asphyxia or suffocation, the State filed notice of intent to introduce evidence that, seven and one-half months prior to Becca's death, Rick had died of SIDS while in Huether's care. The State contended that evidence of the circumstances surrounding Rick's death was relevant in establishing knowledge and lack of mistake or accident concerning Becca's death. Huether moved to exclude the evidence concerning Rick's death. In a pretrial ruling, the District Court held that the evidence of Rick's death was relevant in showing Huether's knowledge and absence of mistake or accident. Huether subsequently filed, and the District Court denied, two motions to reconsider.
Following the District Court's order denying Huether's request to exclude evidence of other crimes, Huether entered an Alford plea to the charge of negligent homicide and reserved his right to appeal. Huether appeals the District Court's order denying his request to exclude evidence of other crimes, wrongs, or acts.
Did the District Court abuse its discretion in admitting evidence that Huether's infant son had died while in his care seven months prior to the death of his infant daughter?
The standard of review for an evidentiary ruling is whether the district court abused its discretion. State v. Gollehon (1993), 262 Mont. 293, 301, 864 P.2d 1257, 1263. The determination of whether evidence is relevant and admissible is left to the sound discretion of the trial judge and will not be overturned absent a showing of abuse of discretion. Gollehon, 864 P.2d at 1263. See also State v. Stringer (1995), 271 Mont. 367, 374, 897 P.2d 1063, 1067.
Huether was charged with, and pled guilty to, the charge of negligent homicide, a violation of § 45-5-104(1), MCA. Section 45-5-104(1), MCA, provides:
(1) A person commits the offense of negligent homicide if he negligently causes the death of another human being.
Pursuant to § 45-2-101(42), MCA, the term negligently is defined as:
"Negligently"--a person acts negligently with respect to a result or to a circumstance described by a statute defining an offense when the person consciously disregards a risk that the result will occur or that the circumstance exists or when the person disregards a risk of which the person should be aware that the result will occur or that the circumstance exists. The risk must be of a nature and degree that to disregard it involves a...
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