State v. Maestas

Decision Date10 February 2000
Docket NumberNo. 961831-CA.,961831-CA.
PartiesSTATE of Utah, Plaintiff and Appellee, v. Tony R. MAESTAS, Defendant and Appellant.
CourtUtah Court of Appeals

Lynn R. Brown and Linda M. Jones, Salt Lake Legal Defender Association, Salt Lake City, for Appellant.

Jan Graham, Attorney General and J. Frederic Voros, Jr., Assistant Attorney General, Salt Lake City, for Appellee.

Before Judges BILLINGS, ORME, and WILKINS.1

OPINION

ORME, Judge:

¶ 1 Defendant Tony R. Maestas appeals his convictions for drug offenses, arguing, first, that he received ineffective assistance of counsel at his jury trial, and second, that his arrest and the search that followed were illegal because Department of Corrections officers acted beyond the scope of their jurisdiction when they conducted an undercover operation outside the prison. Additionally, defendant appeals the revocation of his probation, asserting the trial court erred when it determined defendant willfully failed to comply with the terms of his probation. We conclude defendant has not met his burden on appeal and affirm.

BACKGROUND

¶ 2 Sometime in 1992, the Department of Corrections (DOC) launched an investigation aimed at cutting off the flow of illegal drugs into the Utah State Prison. DOC officials planned an undercover sting operation and enlisted the aid of an inmate to act as a confidential informant. The informant, posing as a prisoner out on work release, was to contact individuals on the outside whom DOC officials suspected were supplying drugs to work-release inmates. Defendant was not a suspected supplier and thus not an identified target of the sting operation. ¶ 3 On March 14, 1992, the informant donned a "wire," and, accompanied by an undercover DOC officer, Teresa Gabaldon, set about to contact known drug dealers Patricia Chacon and Jeanette Appleman. Two other DOC officers, Kim Allen and Leo Lucey, monitored the conversations broadcast via the body wire, and observed many of the events from a surveillance van.

¶ 4 The informant and Gabaldon expressed to Appleman and Chacon their interest in purchasing illegal drugs, and the women responded by paging their supplier. The supplier still had not responded to the page, when, sometime later, Appleman and Gabaldon went to a payphone to page the supplier again. As she left, Appleman mentioned that her brother's neighbor — who happened to be none other than defendant — could get drugs for her. Appleman indicated she had no way to contact defendant, but that he frequently dropped by.

¶ 5 While Appleman and Gabaldon were gone, defendant did in fact drop by, in the company of another man. The informant told them Gabaldon and Appleman were out trying to contact their supplier because he, the informant, wanted to purchase drugs. Defendant then displayed a small bag of cocaine and said, "I have this right here." The informant bought the cocaine for $100, and defendant left the apartment.

¶ 6 The informant then came out of Appleman's apartment, got into Gabaldon's car, and gave her the cocaine he had just purchased. Armed peace officers were notified that the sale had been completed, and they stopped the car in which defendant was riding and arrested him. Incident to the arrest, one of the officers searched defendant and confiscated two separate substances, believed to be illegal drugs, and nearly $400 in cash.

¶ 7 Defendant was charged with unlawful possession of a controlled substance within 1000 feet of a public school, a first degree felony in violation of Utah Code Ann. § 58-37-8(1)(a)(ii) (Supp.1991) (currently codified at § 58-37-8(4)(a)(ix) (Supp.1999)), and possession of a controlled substance, a third degree felony in violation of Utah Code Ann. § 58-37-8(2)(a)(i) (Supp.1999). Defendant's case was tried to a jury, which found him guilty on both counts. Thereafter, defendant was sentenced to statutory prison terms and fines, but execution of the prison sentences was stayed and defendant was placed on probation and ordered to complete the Odyssey House treatment program.

¶ 8 Less than a month after his participation in the program began, defendant's probation officer filed a Progress/Violation Report informing the trial court that defendant had "become suicidal, homicidal, and had begun attacking staff and personnel at Odyssey House." The report was prompted by defendant's repeated suicidal "ideation" and a threat to assault his ex-wife. Odyssey House had warned defendant that, because it was not a psychiatric facility, defendant could not stay in the program if his suicidal inclination continued.

¶ 9 At the hearing on the order to show cause why defendant's probation should not be revoked, the trial court heard testimony that defendant was capable of following the rules of Odyssey House. The court ultimately found that defendant had violated the conditions of his probation and that his "violation was knowing and intentional under circumstances where the defendant had the ability to comply with the Court's order on the conditions of probation." Defendant's probation was revoked, and he was ordered to serve his prison sentence.

ISSUES AND STANDARDS OF REVIEW

¶ 10 Defendant raises three main issues on appeal.2 First, he argues he received ineffective assistance of counsel in his jury trial because trial counsel failed to impeach the confidential informant's credibility. Following our temporary remand, the trial court held a hearing pursuant to Rule 23B of the Utah Rules of Appellate Procedure and made findings of fact relevant to defendant's claim. We defer to those factual findings, but determine as a matter of law "whether the defendant received ineffective assistance of counsel in violation of the Sixth Amendment." State v. Huggins, 920 P.2d 1195, 1198 (Utah Ct.App.),cert. denied, 929 P.2d 350 (Utah 1996). See State v. Gallegos, 967 P.2d 973, 975-76 (Utah Ct.App.1998)

.

¶ 11 Defendant also argues that evidence seized in the search incident to his arrest should have been suppressed because the arrest was illegal. He argues the arrest violated his Fourth Amendment rights and exceeded the scope of DOC's statutory authority. Because this issue was not raised below, defendant asserts that his trial counsel was ineffective and that the trial court committed plain error. These are questions of law, which we review nondeferentially. See State v. Simmons, 866 P.2d 614, 618 (Utah Ct.App.1993)

("Whether police action implicates a fundamental violation of a defendant's rights is a question of law, which we independently review for correctness."); State v. Fixel, 945 P.2d 149, 151 (Utah Ct. App.1997) (interpretation of statute is question of law reviewed for correctness); Gallegos, 967 P.2d at 975-76 (claim of ineffective assistance of counsel raised for first time on appeal presents question of law).

¶ 12 Finally, defendant argues the trial court erred when it revoked his probation, finding defendant's violation of the terms and conditions of his probation intentional and willful. The trial court's determinations underlying its conclusion that defendant violated his probation are findings of fact we will not disturb unless clearly erroneous, i.e., against the clear weight of the evidence. See State v. Martinez, 811 P.2d 205, 209 (Utah Ct.App.),

cert. denied, 815 P.2d 241 (Utah 1991). Moreover, revocation of probation is within the trial court's discretion. See State v. Archuleta, 812 P.2d 80, 82 (Utah Ct.App. 1991). Therefore, we view the evidence of a probation violation in a light most favorable to the trial court's findings and substitute our own judgment only if the evidence is so deficient as to render the court's action an abuse of discretion. See State v. Peterson, 869 P.2d 989, 991 (Utah Ct.App.1994).

INEFFECTIVE ASSISTANCE OF COUNSEL

¶ 13 Defendant argues he received ineffective assistance of counsel in violation of his Sixth Amendment right because his trial counsel failed to investigate and impeach the credibility of the State's key witness, the confidential informant. The trial court held a Rule 23B hearing and made specific findings of fact regarding defendant's ineffective assistance claim.

¶ 14 Specifically, the trial court found that the confidential informant had been imprisoned on multiple counts of forgery and one count of fraud, and, while serving his sentence, had been disciplined numerous times for using drugs and smuggling them into the prison. A DOC assessment described the informant as an inmate who "cannot be trusted at all." He was under investigation for drug-related activities when he was asked to participate in DOC's investigation. An agent of the Department of Adult Probation and Parole was, for obvious reasons, of the opinion that "it would not be wise to allow him to participate." Nevertheless, the informant accepted the invitation, and, although a DOC investigator testified he was promised nothing in return other than a letter recommending that he not lose his parole date despite a "dirty" urinalysis, he was paroled on April 2, 1992, less than one month after his participation in the investigation and more than nine months ahead of schedule.3 The drug-related activities for which he was under investigation before the sting operation resulted in no prison discipline or criminal charges.

¶ 15 Defendant argues defense counsel's failure to discover these facts impugning the informant's credibility and to present them to the jury constitutes representation so deficient as to violate defendant's constitutional rights to competent representation and to confront the witnesses against him. However, in addition to showing trial counsel made serious errors abridging his Sixth Amendment rights, defendant must also show counsel's errors prejudiced him by depriving him of a fair trial and producing a verdict in which we have no confidence. See Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 687, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 2064, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984)

. The State argues that...

To continue reading

Request your trial
18 cases
  • State v. Jones
    • United States
    • Court of Special Appeals of Maryland
    • 26 Abril 2001
    ...307 Md. 260, 513 A.2d 314 (1986), appeal dismissed, 479 U.S. 1049, 107 S.Ct. 920, 93 L.Ed.2d 973 (1987); see, e.g., Utah v. Maestas, 997 P.2d 314, 320 n. 4 (Utah 2000) (stating that it "is too late" to raise an argument in reply brief), cert. denied, 4 P.3d 1289 (2000); United States v. Mic......
  • State v. Wimberly
    • United States
    • Utah Court of Appeals
    • 27 Junio 2013
    ...on a probation violation, “ ‘the court must determine by a preponderance of the evidence that the violation was willful.’ ” 2State v. Maestas, 2000 UT App 22, ¶ 24, 997 P.2d 314 (quoting State v. Peterson, 869 P.2d 989, 991 (Utah Ct.App.1994)). ¶ 12 Although at various times the trial court......
  • State v. Legg
    • United States
    • Utah Court of Appeals
    • 10 Abril 2014
    ...In addition, the trial court must find, also by a preponderance of the evidence, that the violation was willful, see State v. Maestas, 2000 UT App 22, ¶ 24, 997 P.2d 314, and not merely the result of circumstances beyond the probationer's control, see State v. Hodges, 798 P.2d 270, 277 (Uta......
  • State v. Robinson
    • United States
    • Utah Court of Appeals
    • 22 Mayo 2014
    ...and substitute our own judgment only if the evidence is so deficient as to render the court's action an abuse of discretion.” State v. Maestas, 2000 UT App 22, ¶ 12, 997 P.2d 314.ANALYSIS ¶ 8 Robinson contends that the trial court abused its discretion by revoking his probation without hold......
  • Request a trial to view additional results

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT