State v. Teuscher

• Decision Date: 20 October 1994
• Docket Number: No. 930303-CA,930303-CA
• Citation: 883 P.2d 922
• Parties: STATE of Utah, Plaintiff and Appellee, v. Jerri TEUSCHER, Defendant and Appellant.
• Court: Utah Court of Appeals

Page 922

883 P.2d 922

STATE of Utah, Plaintiff and Appellee, v. Jerri TEUSCHER, Defendant and Appellant.

No. 930303-CA.

Court of Appeals of Utah.

Oct. 20, 1994.

Robert K. Heineman (argued), Joan C. Watt, Salt Lake Legal Defender Ass'n, Salt Lake City, for appellant.

Jan Graham, Atty. Gen., J. Frederic Voros, Jr. (argued), Asst. Atty. Gen., Salt Lake City, for appellee.

Before BENCH, DAVIS and GREENWOOD, JJ.

BENCH, Judge:

Defendant appeals from a jury conviction of manslaughter, a second degree felony, in violation of Utah Code Ann. § 76-5-205 (1990). We affirm.

FACTS

On December 16, 1991, defendant telephoned 911 and reported that one of the children in her home day care facility was not breathing. When emergency personnel arrived at defendant's home, they found two-month-old Richard Oscar Christensen lying on the kitchen floor. Emergency personnel noted that Richard had no pulse, no respirations, and that his skin was a little pale with cyanosis and slightly cold to the touch. ¹ Richard's pupils were not reactive and he exhibited delayed capillary refill.

Emergency personnel attempted to revive Richard by mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and chest compressions at defendant's home and in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. Richard was admitted to Primary Children's Hospital. About an hour after being admitted to the hospital, Richard's heartbeat was restored. He had no spontaneous breathing, however, and his color was very poor, he was flaccid, his reflexes were negligible, and his pupils were not reactive to light. Richard never regained the ability to sustain life on his own, and the day after he was admitted to the hospital he was pronounced dead.

On the day of Richard's death, detective Jill Candland of the Salt Lake City Police Department telephoned defendant and asked her and her two teenage daughters, who were present in the home when emergency personnel arrived, to come to the police station to give statements. Defendant and her two daughters went to the police station that evening and gave statements. Because the police had not yet determined whether any criminal conduct had occurred, none of the interviewees was advised of their Miranda rights. See Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 445, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 1612, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966). Defendant stated that she did not know what had happened to Richard, but claimed that when she checked on him he was moving around and that thirty seconds later, after picking him up, he went limp.

On January 3, 1992, detective Candland contacted defendant again and asked her to come to the police station for another interview. Defendant was interviewed twice on the evening of January 3. Before making any statements, defendant was advised of her Miranda rights. Detective Candland testified at trial that on January 3, defendant initially indicated she did not know what had happened to Richard. Later that evening, defendant changed her statement and indicated that Richard had hit his head on the arm of a rocking chair. When detective Candland told defendant that such an incident was inconsistent with Richard's injuries, defendant changed her statement again and indicated that she accidently dropped him in a playpen. Detective Candland testified that she believed defendant's explanation could account for Richard's injuries and that at that time the police lacked "reasonable cause to believe that a crime had been committed and the defendant had committed that crime." Detective Candland arranged for defendant to return to the police station on January 6 in order to videotape defendant demonstrating how she dropped Richard.

When defendant returned to the police station to be videotaped on January 6, she was not advised of her Miranda rights. Defendant was videotaped demonstrating how she dropped Richard as she had explained on January 3.

Defendant was arrested on March 6, 1992, and charged with second degree murder, a first degree felony, in violation of Utah Code Ann. § 76-5-203 (Supp.1991). The State filed a motion in limine to allow it to introduce evidence of prior bad acts committed by defendant against children in her day care. The trial court granted the State's motion in part and allowed the State to introduce limited evidence concerning defendant's prior bad acts. The following summarized testimony was admitted at trial:

(1) Testimony from David and Heather Marston that on November 19, 1990, their six-month-old son Austin suffered a broken leg while in defendant's care. Mrs. Marston testified that Austin was screaming when she picked him up from defendant's home and defendant stated that "he must be hungry. He just got up from his nap." Both Mr. and Mrs. Marston testified that when Austin continued to cry and could not straighten his leg, they took him to a hospital where it was determined that his leg was broken. Mrs. Marston testified that defendant initially told her that nothing had happened to Austin but later indicated that she remembered him rolling off of the couch.

(2) Testimony from detective Charles Trost from the Salt Lake City Police Department that he interviewed defendant and that she had stated "to her knowledge that there wasn't an injury to [Austin], that she had done nothing to have caused an injury, that she knew of no reason why the child would be considered injured in her house." Detective Trost also testified that defendant told him she had placed Austin on a couch but that he had not fallen off. Detective Trost further testified that defendant called him the night before a subsequently scheduled police interview and stated her daughter had dropped Austin. Finally, detective Trost testified that during the police interview on the following day, defendant stated that she, not her daughter, had dropped Austin after changing his diaper and that she thought he "hadn't hit that hard on the floor."

(3) Defendant's daughter testified that defendant had told her that Austin had broken his leg when he fell down some stairs.

(4) Defendant's neighbor, Bently Wilson, testified that in the summer of 1991 he observed defendant pick up a three- to four-year-old boy and shake him "harshly" and "vigorously" for "five to ten seconds" while his head "went back and forth."

(5) Defendant's neighbor, Brenda Wilson, testified that in the summer of 1991 she saw defendant call a crying four-year-old to her in her back yard and when he was within reach of defendant "she reached out and grabbed his hair with her fist and yanked his head over so that it was closer to where she was standing...." She further testified that defendant "proceeded to lift him up and over the railing by one arm into the house."

(6) Various witnesses testified to seeing children in closets in defendant's home. One witness testified that upon investigating noise coming from a closet she opened the closet door and found two children in the closet. Another witness testified that he had seen six or seven children crowded into a dark basement closet.

The trial court ruled that evidence regarding Austin Marston's broken leg, testimony from defendant's daughter concerning the manner in which Austin's leg was broken, and testimony from Mr. and Mrs. Wilson concerning other incidents of abuse against other children were admissible under Rule 404(b) of the Utah Rules of Evidence to show the identity of the perpetrator, the intent or mental state of the perpetrator, and the absence of accident or mistake. The trial court further ruled that evidence of children being locked in closets was admissible under Rule 404(b) to show the intent or mental state of the perpetrator.

At trial, the State also introduced evidence from several medical experts who concluded that Richard's death was due to injuries sustained by unnatural force applied to his spinal column such that it was stretched, twisted The jury was instructed on second degree murder and the lesser-included offenses of manslaughter and negligent homicide. The jury convicted defendant of manslaughter and this appeal followed.

flexed, or extended. The State's medical experts agreed that Richard's pattern of injuries were consistent with being held by the head and violently shaken.

ANALYSIS

Rule 404(b)

Defendant argues that the trial court erred by admitting evidence of her prior acts of child abuse under Rule 404(b) of the Utah Rules of Evidence. Rule 404(b) provides:

Evidence of other crimes, wrongs or acts is not admissible to prove the character of a person in order to show action in conformity therewith. It may, however, be admissible for other purposes, such as proof of motive, opportunity, intent, preparation, plan, knowledge, identity, or absence of mistake or accident.

Utah R.Evid. 404(b). "[E]vidence of other offenses may be received, if relevant, for any purpose other than to show a mere propensity or disposition on the part of the defendant to commit the crime...." United States v. Woods, 484 F.2d 127, 134 (4th Cir.1973), cert. denied, 415 U.S. 979, 94 S.Ct. 1566, 39 L.Ed.2d 875 (1974); ² see also Ronald N. Boyce & Edward L. Kimball, Utah Rules of Evidence 1983, 1985 Utah L.Rev. 63, 85-86 ("Utah case law and both the old and new Utah Rules have taken the position that evidence of other crimes or wrongs is admissible unless its relevancy is only to show the disposition of a person."). A trial court has broad discretion in admitting prior bad-act evidence under Rule 404(b). See United States v. Sykes, 977 F.2d 1242, 1246 (8th Cir.1992); accord United States v. Dobynes, 905 F.2d 1192, 1195 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, 498 U.S. 877, 111 S.Ct. 206, 112 L.Ed.2d 167 (1990). "Improperly admitted evidence requires reversal of a conviction only where we conclude there is a 'reasonable likelihood that the error affected the outcome of the proceedings.' " State v. O'Neil, 848 P.2d 694, 699 (Utah App.) (quoting State v. Hamilton, 827 P.2d 232, 240 (Utah 1992)), cert. denied, 859 P.2d 585 (Utah 1993).

Defendant argues that the identity of...