Wyman v. State

• Decision Date: 08 October 2009
• Docket Number: No. 50218.,50218.
• Citation: 217 P.3d 572
• Parties: Catherine WYMAN, Appellant, v. The STATE of Nevada, Respondent.
• Court: Nevada Supreme Court

217 P.3d 572

Catherine WYMAN, Appellant, v. The STATE of Nevada, Respondent.

No. 50218.

Supreme Court of Nevada.

October 8, 2009.

Dennis E. Widdis, Reno; Martin H. Wiener, Reno, for Appellant.

Catherine Cortez Masto, Attorney General, Carson City; Richard A. Gammick, District Attorney, and Joseph R. Plater, Deputy District Attorney, Washoe County, for Respondent.

BEFORE THE COURT EN BANC.

OPINION

By the Court, HARDESTY, C.J.

In 2007, a jury convicted appellant Catherine Wyman of second-degree murder for the 1974 killing of her three-year-old adopted son. In this opinion, we address two of the issues that Wyman presents on appeal.

First, we address Wyman's challenge to the district court's denial of her motion to dismiss the complaint based on the pre-indictment delay. After establishing that this court will review a district court's denial of a motion to dismiss based on pre-indictment delay for an abuse of discretion, we conclude that the district court did not abuse its discretion by refusing to dismiss the complaint because Wyman failed to demonstrate that she was prejudiced by the delay and that the State intentionally delayed filing the complaint to gain a tactical advantage over Wyman. Hence, we conclude that this challenge does not warrant reversal.

Second, we consider Wyman's challenge to the district court's denial of her request for a certificate of materiality to obtain the out-ofstate mental health records of the State's primary witness, under Nevada's Uniform Act to Secure the Attendance of Witnesses From Without a State in Criminal Proceedings, codified in NRS 174.395 through 174.445. In concluding that Nevada's Uniform Act applies to subpoenas duces tecum for material books and records that include an ancillary request for the appearance of an out-of-state witness, we further conclude that the term "material," as used in NRS 174.425(1) (which authorizes a criminal defendant in one jurisdiction to subpoena a "material witness" from another jurisdiction to testify in a criminal matter), refers to evidence that has some logical connection with the facts of consequence or the issues presented in the case. Turning to the merits of Wyman's challenge, we conclude that the district court abused its discretion by denying Wyman's request for a certificate of materiality to obtain the State's primary witness's out-of-state mental health records. Because we conclude that this error was not harmless, we reverse Wyman's judgment of conviction.¹

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

In the early evening of August 10, 1974, Wyman brought her three-and-one-half-year-old adopted son, J.W., to St. Mary's Hospital in Reno, Nevada. Wyman told doctors that J.W. had fallen out of a lawn chair that morning, striking his head on the sidewalk, and that he complained of abdominal pain and became lethargic thereafter.

At the hospital, J.W. was examined by Dr. William Buntain, a pediatric surgeon. The examination revealed that J.W. had multiple bruises throughout his body, including on his forehead, chin, face, chest, legs, back, abdomen, and genitals — all of which were at different healing stages. J.W. also had a head concussion and scratch marks on his neck. Dr. Buntain inserted a catheter in J.W.'s neck area in order to rehydrate him, whereupon J.W. ceased breathing and failed to respond to two epinephrine injections. After 20 minutes of trying to resuscitate J.W., doctors terminated their efforts as J.W. was unresponsive.

Dr. Donald Olson, a neurosurgeon who also examined J.W., suspected child abuse, noting that he "would recommend further photographs for documentation of these multiple bruises and would significantly doubt that this was a minor injury, as suggested by the parents." Also suspicious of child abuse, Dr. Buntain requested that the police be contacted and instructed that the Washoe County coroner perform an autopsy to determine the precise cause of death. The pathologist's findings revealed that J.W. had died from a "transection of the jejunum with generalized peritonitis," meaning, a part of J.W.'s small intestine was completely transected so that the contents of J.W.'s small bowel, liver, gallbladder, and stomach had emptied into his abdomen.

The coroner who performed the examination in 1974 concluded that J.W.'s death was the result of an accidental fall from a lawn chair. However, the Washoe County coroner who served from 1979 to 2006 did not agree with those findings, stating, "The mode of injury is inconsistent with the [accidental fall from a lawn chair] finding." Neither Wyman nor anyone in her family was prosecuted for J.W.'s death at that time.

Over 30 years later, on March 10, 2005, Julie Bader-Dunn, Wyman's adult daughter, telephoned the Sparks Police Department (Sparks P.D.) alleging that Wyman had murdered J.W. Dunn reported to police that Wyman severely abused J.W. and that Dunn had witnessed Wyman kicking J.W. in the stomach on the morning of his death. Dunn explained to police that she had originally revealed Wyman's killing of J.W. when she commenced weekly treatment with a marriage and family therapist in 1995 to address marital problems.

In the course of making her allegations to police, Dunn relayed that she meets with a psychiatrist once a month who prescribes her medication. Dunn also stated that she has attempted to commit suicide several times since 1974; one attempt included her consumption of Drano, a household cleaning product. Dunn further informed police that she had a mental breakdown in 2005 and that she was currently consulting a therapist once per week, in addition to the monthly psychiatrist meetings, in order to "deal with all the issues and so that [she is] a strong witness" for the State. Throughout her contact with police, Dunn relayed additional information, including a memory that she "recalled" during a more recent session with her therapist. Dunn gave her therapist permission to speak with detectives, reasoning, "[the therapist] has been treating me for the major depression and guilt that I have carried for all these years." One year after Dunn made her initial accusations to police, detectives from Sparks P.D. arrested Wyman.

On May 30, 2006, approximately 32 years after J.W.'s death, a criminal complaint was filed against Wyman. The following month, Wyman was charged, via indictment, with one count of open murder, and a second count of child abuse for the 1974 death of J.W. The child abuse charge was subsequently dropped.

Prior to trial, Wyman filed a motion to dismiss the complaint due to the pre-indictment delay of 32 years. Wyman maintained that because the State failed to indict her in 1974 when J.W. died, and because there is no new forensic evidence in the case, the State did not have a justifiable reason for the delay. The district court denied the motion, concluding that both the State and the defense were prejudiced by the delay. While the court noted that witnesses might have died or moved away after 32 years, the court concluded that Wyman failed to demonstrate that the State lost evidence or intentionally delayed the prosecution in order to gain a tactical advantage. Due to the lack of prejudice suffered by Wyman and the lack of intent to delay by the State, the district court denied Wyman's motion.

In addition, at various times during the proceedings, Wyman moved the district court for a certificate of materiality, under Nevada's Uniform Act to Secure the Attendance of Witnesses From Without a State in Criminal Proceedings, to obtain evidence that was located in California. Wyman sought the certificate in order to obtain Dunn's mental health records that were kept in California, where Dunn's marriage and family therapist and psychiatrist were located. Wyman argued that because Dunn was the State's primary witness, the out-of-state evidence was material to her ability to refute Dunn's allegations. In making her materiality argument, Wyman emphasized that Dunn was the State's only witness who identified Wyman as being responsible for J.W.'s death. For her proffers, Wyman directed the district court to the various statements that Dunn made to police concerning her mental health issues and treatment and the fact that Dunn's allegations first transpired during sessions with her therapist. As evidenced by Dunn's own statements, Wyman argued, Dunn intertwined the allegations with her treatment, therefore rendering the status of Dunn's mental health material. And since Wyman was otherwise unable to obtain Dunn's mental health information, Wyman argued that she was prejudiced because she was unable to defend against the State's allegations.

The district court denied the motions, concluding that Wyman failed to demonstrate with sufficient particularity that Dunn's out-of-state mental health records would produce any information that would prove to be helpful to her case and that her defense would be prejudiced without them.²

On appeal, Wyman challenges the district court's denial of her motion to dismiss the complaint for pre-indictment delay and the denial of her request for a certificate of materiality to obtain Dunn's mental health records from California.

DISCUSSION

In this opinion, we address two of the issues that Wyman raises on appeal. First, we address Wyman's challenge to the district court's denial of her motion to dismiss the complaint based on the pre-indictment delay. Initially, we conclude that the court will review challenges to pre-indictment delay for an abuse of discretion. We conclude that because Wyman failed to demonstrate with adequate specificity that she was prejudiced by the delay and that the State intentionally delayed filing the complaint to gain a tactical advantage over Wyman, the district court did not abuse its discretion by refusing to dismiss the complaint. Therefore, we conclude that this challenge does not warrant reversal.

Second, we consider Wyman's challenge to the district court's denial of her...