Andrew William Deeds

2014 WY 124, 335 P.3d 473, 2014 Wyo. LEXIS 141
CourtWyoming Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 3, 2014
DocketS-13-0256
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 2014 WY 124 (Andrew William Deeds) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wyoming Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Andrew William Deeds, 2014 WY 124, 335 P.3d 473, 2014 Wyo. LEXIS 141 (Wyo. 2014).

Opinion

FOX, Justice.

[T1] Andrew Deeds was initially charged with seven counts of first-degree sexual abuse of a minor, but entered guilty pleas to five counts of second-degree sexual abuse of a minor. The district court sentenced him to five consecutive sentences of no less than twelve years and no more than eighteen years, and ordered that Mr. Deeds be given credit for 721 days of presentence confinement, without specifying how those days should be applied to his sentence. On appeal, Mr. Deeds contends that the prosecutor breached the plea agreement and committed prosecutorial misconduct when she referred to elements of first-degree sexual abuse of a minor and presented unreliable allegations at the sentencing hearing. We affirm on those issues. We remand to the district court to specify how Mr. Deeds' presentence confinement should be applied to his sentence, in compliance with Wyoming Rule of Criminal Procedure 82(c)(2)(F).

ISSUES

[¶ 2] 1. Did the prosecutor breach the plea agreement when she referred at sentencing to elements of a crime to which Mr. Deeds did not plead?

2. Did the prosecutor engage in misconduct that denied Mr. Deeds due process when she referred to elements of the no-longer-charged offense at sentencing?

3. Did the prosecutor engage in misconduct that denied Mr. Deeds due process when she presented undocumented information of bragging, for the first time, during the sentencing hearing?

4. Was the sentence's reference to credit for presentence confinement sufficiently specific to comply with W.R.Cr.P. 32(0)(@)(F)?

FACTS

[¶ 3] Andrew Deeds was charged with seven counts of first-degree sexual abuse of a minor. Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 6-2-314(@)@) (LexisNexis 2018). The State and Mr. Deeds agreed to a plea agreement to reduce the charges to five counts of second-degree sexual abuse of a minor. Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 6-2-315(a)(ii) (LexisNexis 2018). They also agreed that sentencing would be open to argument at the sentencing hearing. The plea agreement, which was not reduced to writing, was presented by the prosecutor and agreed to by Mr. Deeds' counsel.

*477 [PROSECUTOR]: This plea agreement anticipates an amendment of the charge from first degree-or sexual abuse of a minor in the first degree to sexual abuse of a minor in the second degree, five counts of that, which is a felony, punishable for not more than 20 years, and a fine of not more than $10,000, or both, for each count. So that's basically changing it from first to second and dropping two counts, and I have the Second Amended Information for the Court.
THE COURT: Thank you.
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THE COURT: All right. Thank you. Any further terms?
[PROSECUTOR]: No, Your Honor. We'd just argue sentencing to the Court. That would be our plea agreement.
THE COURT: Al right. Thank you. [Addressing defense counsel], has she accurately set forth the terms of the plea agreement?
[DEFENSE COUNSEL]: Yes, Your Hon- or, that's correct.

[¶4] Before accepting Mr. Deeds guilty plea, the district court questioned him about the factual basis for it. The district court asked Mr. Deeds whether he performed sexual intercourse or digital penetration on the victim. Mr. Deeds replied that he had not, and that the contact with the victim consisted of "just primarily-Jjust touching."

[T5] The district court then asked the prosecutor whether there were any additional facts pertinent to the plea agreement. The prosecutor replied, "I guess for purposes of second degree we don't need to-but she provided information about intrusion, and he, at that time, confirmed that and confirmed that there were about ten times[.]' The district court then asked Mr. Deeds, "You talked to law enforcement after this and admitted to this conduct; is that correct?" Mr. Deeds replied, "Yes, sir." The district court then accepted the guilty pleas on all five amended charges.

[T6] At the sentencing hearing, the district court reviewed the presentence investigation report (PSI) with both parties and asked whether there were any requested amendments. Mr. Deeds' counsel requested three changes, which, after some discussion, were accepted by the district court.

[T7] The State called the victim's mother for a victim impact statement. In her statement to the court, she discussed taking the victim to the doctor where the victim de-seribed "her uncle having an orgasm." The mother also stated:

Not only has he not shown any remorse, I've also learned that he brags in detail about what he's done to my daughter. He said such things as that his penis was too large ([mother] in tears), and he would have raped her more, but it hurt her too bad, and this is stuff he's bragging about in jail.... Please protect any future vie-tims and please let my daughter know that the system will protect her.

[¶8] Defense counsel and the State then presented their recommendations for sentencing and the mitigating and aggravating factors. The State stressed that Mr. Deeds had actually committed sexual intrusion despite the fact that the charges had been amended to a lesser charge not requiring intrusion as an element. The prosecutor stated that Mr. Deeds had originally admitted to intrusion and his denial of such action at the change of plea hearing was evidence of his lack of responsibility. The prosecutor also noted that Mr. Deeds was bragging about his criminal actions while in prison:

He's talked about this a lot in jail. We've been contacted by various people about his bragging about this, but the net result from that to me is that he's not sorry. He's maybe sorry he got caught, but he doesn't-when you're bragging about it, it doesn't seem to be-he's not grasping that he victimized somebody and this is probably going to affect her for the rest of her life.

[¶9] With regard to sentencing, the prosecution also stated:

What I-again, what I've done is I've given this Court the ability to do-to give the kind of treatment, which I think is very lenient treatment for a grown man having intercourse with a little girl for being sentenced to prison on one count, *478 and then get suspended sentences on the others, to sentencing him to 20 years on each one consecutive; the Court has that leeway, everywhere from zero to a hundred years. I think somewhere more in the line of the middle of that would be appropriate, at the very least.

[¶ 10] Mr. Deeds' counsel then argued for reduced sentencing and increased treatment opportunities. The district court expressed reservations about the State's limited treatment options when weighed against the potential for recidivism characteristic of sexual abuse perpetrators.

[¶ 11] Before issuing its final judgment and sentence, the district court allowed Mr. Deeds to make a statement. Mr. Deeds did not use the opportunity to indicate acceptance of responsibility, instead rationalizing his behavior:

Then what were the conditions or cireum-stances in which it or they became an involuntary problem.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2014 WY 124, 335 P.3d 473, 2014 Wyo. LEXIS 141, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/andrew-william-deeds-wyo-2014.