State v. Stensrud, No. 32819-4-II (Wash. App. 8/11/2006)
| Decision Date | 11 August 2006 |
| Docket Number | No. 32819-4-II,32819-4-II |
| Court | Washington Court of Appeals |
| Parties | STATE OF WASHINGTON, Respondent, v. JASON ALAN STENSRUD, Appellant. |
Appeal from Superior Court of Pierce County. Docket No: 02-1-05871-1. Judgment or order under review. Date filed: 01/28/2005. Judge signing: Hon. Rosanne Nowak Buckner.
Counsel for Appellant(s), David Bruce Koch, Nielson Broman & Koch PLLC, 1908 E Madison St, Seattle, WA 98122-2842.
Counsel for Respondent(s), P. Grace Kingman, Attorney at Law, 930 Tacoma Ave S Rm 946, Tacoma, WA 98402-2102.
Jason Stensrud appeals his conviction of second degree murder and first degree criminal mistreatment relating to the death of his newborn daughter. Although the State informed the court it did not view the crimes as `anything involving Satanism' or an `act of Satanism,' it nevertheless offered extensive evidence of Stensrud's involvement with Satanism to prove motivation and intent, arguing that someone deeply entrenched in a Satanic lifestyle would be more likely to kill a weak or ill baby.
Stensrud argues that he did not receive a fair trial because the court admitted improper character evidence and opinion testimony, excluded proper reputation testimony, and gave erroneous jury instructions. He also claims that he received ineffective assistance of counsel and that insufficient evidence supports his convictions. We agree that Stensrud did not receive a fair trial as a result of the court's admission of improper testimony and reverse and remand for a new trial.
Jessica Dearinger became pregnant while she was dating Stensrud. She told him about the pregnancy after she felt the baby moving inside her. Dearinger and Stensrud (then ages 19 and 21, respectively, but still living at their parents' homes) concealed the pregnancy from their parents. She did not seek any prenatal care. She had other health issues during her pregnancy, however, that required x-rays and prescription medications. In addition, she smoked, took methamphetamine, and drank alcohol throughout her pregnancy. Dearinger and Stensrud discussed giving the baby up for adoption. But they worried no one would want the baby, anticipating harmful consequences of the x-rays and drugs.
Stensrud told his co-workers and other friends about Dearinger's pregnancy. He seemed `upbeat' about having a baby. 3 Report of Proceedings (RP) at 133. On May 6, 2001, he called work and said he could not come in that day because Dearinger was having her baby. His supervisors announced over an intercom system that he and Dearinger were having the baby.
Dearinger and Stensrud spent that evening in her bedroom at her parents' home in Tacoma. She was having labor contractions and her water broke. According to Stensrud, they planned to go to the hospital for the baby's birth. But she did not want to go until she was in the advanced stages of labor because she did not want to spend a long time at the hospital. She had some familiarity with the birthing process through her training to become a certified nursing assistant. They both were high on drugs.
According to Stensrud, when he told Dearinger they should leave for the hospital, she agreed but said she needed to use the bathroom first. She went into the bathroom while Stensrud waited in the bedroom. A short time later, she came out with a baby girl wrapped in a towel. The baby was still attached to the umbilical cord. She told Stensrud to cut the cord with the scissors of a multi-use Swiss army-style knife. He did so. But neither he nor Dearinger clamped the umbilical cord afterwards. The baby struggled to breathe.
The baby's appearance surprised Stensrud as she did not look like what he expected. A chalky substance covered her, she appeared discolored, and her feet seemed deformed. The baby began to cry. Stensrud and Dearinger were afraid that Dearinger's parents would hear the baby. Stensrud held the baby for about a half minute. During that time, he placed his hand over her mouth, attempting to quiet her. When he realized the baby could not breathe through her nose, he removed his hand and gave her back to Dearinger.
According to Stensrud, they planned to take the baby to the hospital, but Dearinger directed him to clean the bathroom first so her parents would not find out she had given birth. He went into the bathroom and spent about five minutes wiping up the blood. When he came back into the bedroom, Dearinger was on the bed with the baby beside her, lifeless. According to Stensrud, Dearinger told him they did not need to go to the hospital anymore because she stopped the baby from suffering.
Neither Dearinger nor Stensrud called 911 and neither attempted to resuscitate the baby. According to Stensrud, he asked Dearinger what they were going to do, and she told him that she had carried the baby for nine months, and now it was his responsibility to dispose of the body.
Stensrud put the baby and the placenta in a shopping bag and then put the bag in a closet. Several hours later, the couple left the house with the baby in the bag. Stensrud placed the baby in the trunk of his car. Then they ran some errands and drove to Stensrud's home in Belfair. According to Stensrud, while they were traveling to his home, Dearinger told him she had wrapped her hand in a towel and `stopped it from suffering' by covering the baby's mouth. 5 RP at 389. They left the baby in the trunk of Stensrud's car while they went inside, played video games, watched movies, and rested.
The next day, Stensrud went to work and told his friend, Nick Bohannan, that he urgently needed to speak with him. He appeared pale and anxious. He told Bohannan, `We killed the baby.' 3RP at 104. When Bohannan asked Stensrud what happened, Stensrud replied that Dearinger gave birth in the bathroom and when the baby started crying she tried to quiet the baby and smothered her. Stensrud told Bohannan that he was in another room when it happened. Stensrud did not tell Bohannan that he knew Dearinger was going to smother the baby when he left her to clean the bathroom. According to Bohannan, Stensrud said that he placed some personal items in the bag with the baby's body because of a Satanic belief that the items would protect the baby in the afterlife.
Stensrud asked Bohannon for advice on how to dispose of the body. They discussed putting the baby in the trash compactor, throwing it off the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, and burying it on his parents' property. Stensrud decided to bury the baby on his parents' property. He put the baby inside a Styrofoam cooler and placed the cooler in the pump house at his parents' home.
Bohannan told his sister, who told her employer, a municipal court judge. The judge notified authorities, who then interviewed Bohannan. Bohannan told the police that Stensrud saw Dearinger smother the baby and did nothing to prevent it. At trial, however, Bohannan said, `I may have .. . phrased that poorly, because I do not remember at all and that's something that I do think would have seriously stuck out in my head, that he said he was in the room and watched her do it.' 3 RP at 128. He testified that Stensrud told him he had been cleaning the bathroom at the time and that the baby was dead when he came back into the bedroom.
The police went to Stensrud's home to investigate. Stensrud agreed to talk with the police. First he said the baby was stillborn. Then he said the baby was born alive but died shortly thereafter on its own. Finally, he said that Dearinger told him that she had smothered the baby while he was cleaning the bathroom. Stensrud directed the police to the baby's body. Inside the container with the baby, the police found a bracelet, two small stuffed animals, and part of a beaded necklace with a metal eagle charm attached.
An autopsy revealed that the baby was born alive and died from asphyxiation. The baby was full-term, weighed 7 pounds, was 18- inches long, and had no congenital abnormalities or deformities. The baby had a high level of methamphetamine in her bloodstream, which contributed to her death. The failure to clamp the umbilical cord was likely a contributing factor in the baby's death, although the State's expert testified that there was no reasonable medical certainty that it was a cause of death.
The police searched Dearinger's home. They found blood splattered throughout her bedroom and the strong smell of chemicals in the bathroom. They also found a blood-stained, multi-use utility knife. The police arrested Dearinger. She pleaded guilty to controlled substance homicide.
The State charged Stensrud with second degree murder on the alternative theories of intentional murder and felony murder. The predicate felony for the felony murder charge is first or second degree criminal mistreatment. The State alleged that Stensrud committed first and/or second degree criminal mistreatment by failing to seek medical attention for the baby, thereby causing her death. The State also charged him with first degree criminal mistreatment and unlawful concealment of a body.
Dearinger and Stensrud shared an affinity for `Goth' style music and dress. They adorned their bedrooms with Goth-style posters and ornaments. The posters feature grotesque scenes of violence, nudity, sadomasochism, torture, and death. Dearinger painted her bedroom walls and ceiling black. Nails protrude from the ceiling. Prescription pill bottles hang from the ceiling. Posters of Marilyn Manson cover the walls. The police recovered a CD cover from Dearinger's bedroom from a band called `Dying Fetus.' Ex. 115.
Stensrud's bedroom walls are plastered with similar grotesque posters. A black cloth hangs from the ceiling. One poster shows a nude woman below the caption `Praise the Whore.' Ex. 122. The woman wears a crown of thorns and her hands are held up. Blood trickles from wounds on her hands and chest. In another poster, a woman lies prone on top of a sarcophagus....
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