Griswold v. State

2001 WY 14, 17 P.3d 728, 2001 Wyo. LEXIS 16, 2001 WL 115343
CourtWyoming Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 12, 2001
Docket00-86
StatusPublished
Cited by41 cases

This text of 2001 WY 14 (Griswold v. State) 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
Griswold v. State, 2001 WY 14, 17 P.3d 728, 2001 Wyo. LEXIS 16, 2001 WL 115343 (Wyo. 2001).

Opinion

KITE, Justice.

[T1] This appeal is taken from an order denying Homer Griswold's motion for a new trial. The sole issue, presented by Mr. Gris-wold, is whether the trial court abused its discretion in denying his motion for a new trial based upon the discovery of evidence which was not presented at trial We conclude that Mr. Griswold has not sustained his burden of demonstrating an abuse of diseretion by the trial court. We affirm the denial of the motion for a new trial.

ISSUES

[¶ 2] Mr. Griswold presents the following issue:

Did the court err in denying Appellant's motion for a new trial based on new evidence?

The State rephrases the issue as:

Whether the district court properly denied Appellant's motion for a new trial.

FACTS

[¶ 3] The appellant, Mr. Griswold, was tried before a jury in the district court of Campbell County. He was convicted of ten counts of second-degree sexual assault and two counts of indecent liberties involving two minors, and he appealed. The Supreme Court affirmed the convictions in Griswold v. State, 994 P.2d 920 (Wyo.1999).

[¶ 4] While the appeal from his conviction was pending, Mr. Griswold filed a motion for new trial pursuant to W.R.Cr.P 33(c) asserting newly discovered evidence. The evidence at issue includes documents from the Department of Family Services (DFS) which relate to two witnesses who testified at trial regarding Mr. Griswold's prior bad acts pursuant to W.R.E. 404(b). The documents were discovered by Mr. Griswold as the result of a civil case pending in the United States District Court for the District of Wyoming.

*731 [¶ 5] Mr. Griswold further claims that two additional documents from DFS relating to the victims in the underlying case should be considered newly discovered evidence by this Court. He makes this argument even though the trial judge reviewed these documents in camera prior to the criminal trial pursuant to Gale v. State, 792 P.2d 570 (Wyo.1990), and ruled that they were not relevant or exculpatory.

[¶ 6] The trial court issued an order which directed the Weston County district court to deliver the juvenile court file of the W.R.E. 404(b) witnesses to the Campbell County district court. Upon in camera examination of the juvenile court file, the trial court found that nearly all of the alleged newly discovered evidence from the DFS files was duplicated in the court file. The trial court determined that Mr. Griswold failed to exercise due diligence to obtain the juvenile court file as he knew, as a foster parent for these children, that the file existed, but he never requested it. Further, the trial court found that much of the alleged newly discovered evidence only impeached the witnesses and contradicted evidence produced at trial. After review of the alleged newly discovered evidence, the trial court found that the grant of a new trial would not produce a different verdict and, on January 20, 2000, denied the Motion for New Trial. Mr. Griswold appeals to this Court.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

[17] It is clearly within the sound discretion of a trial court to either grant or deny a motion for a new trial based upon newly discovered evidence, and the ruling by the trial court will not be a basis for reversal of the conviction unless an abuse of discretion by the trial court is affirmatively shown. Grable v. State, 664 P.2d 531, 532 (Wyo.1983). It is the appellant's burden to demonstrate an abuse of discretion in the denial of his new trial motion. Kavanaugh v. State, 769 P.2d 908, 913 (Wyo.1989). We recently described the standard of an abuse of discretion as "reaching the question of reasonableness of the choice made by the trial court." Vaughn v. State, 962 P.2d 149, 151 (Wyo.1998). In Vaughn, id. (quoting Martin v. State, 720 P.2d 894, 897 (Wyo.1986)), we confirmed the following definition:

"Judicial discretion is a composite of many things, among which are conclusions drawn from objective criteria; it means [exercising] sound judgment ... with regard to what is right under the cireum-stances and without doing so arbitrarily or capriciously."

See also Shryack v. Carr Construction Company, Inc., 3 P.3d 850, 855 (Wyo.2000). In the absence of an abuse of discretion, we will not disturb the trial court's determination. Taul v. State, 862 P.2d 649, 659 (Wyo.1998).

DISCUSSION

[18] A motion for a new trial on the ground of newly discovered evidence is not favored by the courts and is viewed with great caution. Hopkinson v. State, 679 P.2d 1008, 1012 (Wyo.), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 873, 105 S.Ct. 228, 83 LEd2d 157 (1984). In order to obtain a new trial on the basis of newly discovered evidence, an appellant must establish each of the following factors:

(1) That the evidence has come to his knowledge since the trial; (2) that it was not owing to the want of due diligence that it did not come sooner; (8) that it is so material that it would probably produce a different verdict, if the new trial were granted; and (4) that it is not cumulative, viz., speaking to facts in relation to which there was evidence at the trial.

Opie v. State, 422 P.2d 84, 85 (Wyo.1967). All four of these factors must be met for an appellant to be entitled to a new trial, and, if any one factor is not satisfied, there is no error in the denial of the new trial motion. Grable, 664 P.2d at 585. Therefore, it is not essential that we address each and every factor if an appellant fails in his burden to satisfy even one of the four factors.

[¶ 9] Mr. Griswold identifies four exhibits (C, E, X, A) in his brief, which he claims qualify as newly discovered evidence. For the reasons set forth below, these exhibits fail to satisfy the standard for newly discovered evidence set forth in Opie and, therefore, do not warrant a new trial.

*732 [¶ 10] We will jointly address Exhibits C and E which, unlike Exhibits A and X, were not reviewed by the trial judge in camera prior to the criminal trial. After careful review of the record presented to this Court, we are not persuaded Mr. Griswold has established that Exhibits C and E satisfy each of the factors of the newly discovered evidence test.

A. Exhibit C

[111] Exhibit C is the social summary of W.R.E. 404(b) witness LG prepared for the Weston County juvenile court by a DFS employee, which details the allegations of sexual abuse made by LP against Mr. Griswold in March of 1987.

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Bluebook (online)
2001 WY 14, 17 P.3d 728, 2001 Wyo. LEXIS 16, 2001 WL 115343, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/griswold-v-state-wyo-2001.