State v. Huey
| Decision Date | 29 July 2022 |
| Docket Number | 20200620-CA |
| Citation | 2022 UT App 94 |
| Parties | State of Utah, Appellee, v. David Bradley Huey, Appellant. |
| Court | Utah Court of Appeals |
Fourth District Court, Provo Department The Honorable Lynn W. Davis No. 191400291
Emily Adams and Freyja Johnson, Attorneys for Appellant
Sean D. Reyes, Nathan H. Jack, and John J. Nielsen, Attorneys for Appellee
[1]
¶1 David Bradley Huey appeals his convictions on one count of rape, two counts of forcible sodomy, two counts of object rape, and two counts of forcible sexual abuse. Huey argues that the trial court abused its discretion in denying a requested continuance and in not excluding the State's expert witness. He also argues that his trial counsel was ineffective in not objecting to three alleged instances of hearsay. We reject Huey's arguments and affirm.
BACKGROUND[2]
¶2 In 2019, Huey, a 51-year-old man, was dating a woman (Mother) who had a 16-year-old daughter (Sadie).[3] Huey first met Sadie when she ran away from home and Mother asked Huey to help find her. Sadie's father had recently passed away and Sadie was going through a difficult time, including running away from home and getting suspended from school for vaping.
¶3 Mother shared Sadie's challenges with Huey and told him that she wanted Sadie to be "safe" and "productive" during her suspension from school. Mother also informed Huey that Sadie "had some community service hours to do" as a result of her suspension. Huey told Mother "that he could sign off [on] her community service hours . . . because he did Habitat for Humanity" work and "offered to let her come to work with him." Mother agreed, and Huey told her that "he'd keep an eye" on Sadie.
¶4 Mother dropped Sadie off at Huey's home the next morning a Thursday. Mother told Sadie that Huey was in charge and that "she was required to do what he said." After Mother left, rather than taking Sadie to a Habitat for Humanity worksite Huey took Sadie to a mansion where he was refinishing some cabinets. They worked until around 5:00 p.m. and returned to Huey's home. Huey then told Sadie that she "needed to spend the night because it was the respectful thing to do." Mother soon arrived to pick Sadie up, but when Mother told Sadie "it was time to leave," Huey told Sadie and Mother that Sadie "was spending the night." Mother then offered to spend the night as well, but Huey "cut her off and said that it was okay and that she should just leave," which she did.
¶5 After Mother left, Huey asked Sadie to smoke methamphetamine. Sadie, who had never used methamphetamine before, initially refused, but Huey "just kept asking and asking," so she eventually gave in. The drug made Sadie feel "crappy" and energized her so that she was unable to fall asleep. It also made her unable to "think[] straight" or "make a decision," so much so that she "couldn't even decide what [she] wanted to eat."
¶6 That night, while high on methamphetamine, Sadie and Huey lay in Huey's bed taking selfies and talking for around "six or seven hours, just about life." During this time, Sadie felt "like [Huey] understood [her]."
¶7 Sadie continued to work with Huey for about a week. She returned to her home Friday night and Saturday night after work but spent Sunday through Wednesday morning with Huey at the worksite and Huey's home. During this time, Huey had them use methamphetamine multiple times a day, at both locations. Huey had Sadie smoke the methamphetamine and ingest it in pill form. Sadie was essentially "under the influence the whole time" she was with Huey.
¶8 In addition to having Sadie use methamphetamine, Huey gradually cut off Sadie's communication with Mother. His behavior toward Sadie also became increasingly inappropriate. At the worksite, Huey began grabbing Sadie's breasts, buttocks, and pubic area whenever he walked by her. Sadie told him not to, but "[h]e wouldn't say anything," and it "would . . . happen again." Sadie then "just gave up" trying to stop him "[b]ecause it didn't seem like there was a use to it." Huey also "talk[ed] about how he wanted to play with [Sadie's] virgin pussy."
¶9 When Sadie returned home Friday night and Saturday night, Huey messaged her asking her to send "naked pictures" and telling her "to run away with him." Sadie rebuffed both requests. But Huey "just kept bugging" her, "saying that he wanted to do stuff to" her because she was a virgin and "that it would be fun." Sadie "ignored him" but Huey persisted, telling her, "Let me do some things to you, . . . you sit back and I'll do all the work."
¶10 When Sadie was at Huey's home from Sunday through Wednesday morning, Huey said, "If you're going to sleep in someone's house you sleep in their bed because it's the respectful thing to do," and "it was a rule of his bed that you can't wear clothes." Sadie thought this "was gross" but complied, explaining, "I was scared to say no, that he was going to tell my mom about the meth." One night, while Sadie was lying in bed, Huey "started dry humping [her] in his sleep." When he woke up, Sadie told him what he had done and asked if she could sleep on the couch. Huey refused and told her to "just let it happen" and resumed humping her, this time "while he was awake."
¶11 On multiple occasions, Huey grabbed Sadie's breasts and "put his mouth on them," both over and under her clothes, leaving behind bruises. And "[m]ore than once," Huey penetrated Sadie's vagina with his finger. The first time occurred when Sadie was naked in Huey's bed pursuant to his "rule." Sadie told Huey to stop, but he "just kept doing it." Sadie "was scared and grossed out" and "just wanted to go home" but did not out of fear that he would tell Mother of her drug use. On another occasion, Huey had Sadie lie down on him on the couch with her back against his chest. He then put his hands down Sadie's pants and touched the "outside [and] inside" of Sadie's vagina. Sadie again "asked him to stop," but "like before," Huey did not "say anything" and continued. On another occasion, while they were lying in bed, Huey "put his tongue and his mouth and his lips" on Sadie's vagina. Sadie also later told law enforcement that, during this time, Huey "got close to having sex with her" when he put "his penis . . . on her vagina" but stopped because Mother called him at that moment.
¶12 On Wednesday morning, the last day Sadie spent with Huey, the two again used methamphetamine and Huey again grabbed Sadie's breasts and digitally penetrated her vagina. Huey then wanted to have sex with Sadie but could not get an erection, so he made Sadie "put [her] hand on it and jerk it." When this failed, Huey did it himself until he was erect and then forced his penis into Sadie's vagina. While Huey did this, Sadie "didn't want to be there anymore" and "said something gross" in order "to gross him out so he'd kick me out." She "didn't . . . just leave" because she "wasn't thinking straight" due to the methamphetamine and "couldn't really think of a way to leave." Huey then called Sadie "a whore." Sadie responded, "I would have been better off fucking a stranger," at which point Huey told her to leave.
¶13 Sadie then dressed and went to a nearby gas station. She returned to Huey's home shortly thereafter, however, to retrieve her "dad's necklace and [her] earrings," which she had forgotten. After she retrieved those items, she returned to the gas station. During this time, Sadie called her friend, Jessica, and told her that she was leaving the home and that Huey had "forced her to do meth and raped her." When the phone call ended, Jessica told her father what Sadie had said, and he called the police.
¶14 While at the gas station, Sadie called another friend, Randy, and asked him for a ride. Huey then texted Sadie, telling her, "We can forget about this" and "We can have a good day." Sadie did not respond, and Huey headed to the gas station. When she saw Huey's car pull into the gas station, Sadie asked a stranger for a ride. The stranger agreed to help and took Sadie to meet Randy.
¶15 Randy thought that Sadie was in "a lot of distress," "nervous," and "scared," and that she was under the influence of drugs because she was "fidgeting" and "just really high energetic." Sadie then asked Randy to drive her to a grocery store in her hometown. During the drive, Sadie told Randy that Huey forced her to take methamphetamine and have sex with him, following which Randy suggested they contact Mother and the police. Sadie resisted because she was afraid of getting in trouble for using methamphetamine.
¶16 When they got to Sadie's hometown, a police officer was already waiting for Sadie because of Jessica's father's earlier phone call to the police. The officer took Sadie to the hospital for a sexual assault examination and called Mother to inform her that Huey had raped Sadie. After learning this information, Mother called Huey and "asked him if he gave [Sadie] meth." Huey admitted that he did. Mother also "asked him if he raped my daughter." Huey responded, "I didn't rape your daughter." Mother then "asked him if he had sex with my daughter, and the only thing he answered" was, "I didn't rape your daughter."
¶17 During the sexual assault examination, Sadie disclosed to the nurse that Huey raped her using "verbal threats or coercion" but later clarified that "[h]e didn't threaten, but he tried to convince me to do things with him." The nurse then found three to four lacerations on Sadie's genitals, which she determined were "caused by an over-stretching or a stretching force or blunt force trauma to the area."
¶18 A toxicology report for Sadie came back positive...
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