In re A.D-C.

2024 UT App 150
CourtCourt of Appeals of Utah
DecidedOctober 24, 2024
Docket20221120-CA
StatusPublished

This text of 2024 UT App 150 (In re A.D-C.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Utah primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re A.D-C., 2024 UT App 150 (Utah Ct. App. 2024).

Opinion

2024 UT App 150

THE UTAH COURT OF APPEALS

STATE OF UTAH, IN THE INTEREST OF A.D.-C., A PERSON UNDER EIGHTEEN YEARS OF AGE.

A.D.-C., Appellant, v. STATE OF UTAH, Appellee.

Opinion No. 20221120-CA Filed October 24, 2024

Fourth District Juvenile Court, Provo Department The Honorable F. Richards Smith No. 1208680

Douglas J. Thompson and Margaret P. Lindsay, Attorneys for Appellant Sean D. Reyes and Emily Sopp, Attorneys for Appellee

JUDGE RYAN M. HARRIS authored this Opinion, in which JUDGES RYAN D. TENNEY and JOHN D. LUTHY concurred.

HARRIS, Judge:

¶1 A.D.-C. (ADC), a sixteen-year-old juvenile, borrowed his father’s Cadillac Escalade one night and took it for a spin, accompanied by a friend. At the time, ADC had a learner permit but not a driver license. The ride ended when ADC took a turn too fast, rolled the vehicle, and crashed through a backyard fence. The State filed a delinquency petition against ADC, alleging that he had taken actions constituting the crimes of reckless driving and driving without a license. ADC admitted that he had been driving without a license, but he contested the reckless driving In re A.D.-C.

charge. After a bench trial, however, the juvenile court found that ADC had indeed been driving recklessly, and it adjudicated him delinquent on that charge.

¶2 ADC now appeals that determination, asserting that some of the testimony offered by responding police officers was improperly admitted, and that the evidence was insufficient to support a determination that he violated the reckless driving statute. We reject ADC’s assertions and affirm his adjudication.

BACKGROUND

¶3 One evening after dark, police received a report that there had been a vehicle “rollover” near the local high school. Two officers arrived at the scene, and they found a Cadillac Escalade that had come to rest “in someone’s yard,” “right where a fence” used to be, right-side up but “turned the opposite direction of the travel.” The vehicle had extensive “damage to [its] top and sides,” and had “scraping” on its chrome hubcaps. Officers also observed damage to nearby shrubbery, trees, and fences. And on the pavement, the officers observed “scrape marks from the vehicle” as well as “extensive skid marks,” which they deduced were “from the tires” because there was “rubber residue on the road.”

¶4 The accident occurred at a relatively large intersection, and the posted speed limit on the more arterial of the two intersecting roads was 45 miles per hour. Both of the intersecting roads had at least one lane of travel in each direction as well as a shared turn lane in the middle. The officers located ADC at the scene, who told them that he had been “traveling southbound” on the busier road and that the vehicle’s “steering” or “front tire” had “locked up,” causing him to lose control of the vehicle. The officers also learned that ADC did not have a driver license, although he did have a learner permit. Fortunately, neither ADC nor his passenger was seriously injured, despite the severity of the crash.

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¶5 From ADC’s statements and their own observations at the crash scene, the officers concluded that ADC had been traveling southbound at or near 45 miles per hour and had attempted to turn left (eastbound) onto the cross-street, but that he had not successfully navigated the turn and had rolled the vehicle over and crashed through a fence and into the yard. At the scene, officers cited ADC for “reckless driving” and for “violation of [his] learner’s permit.”

¶6 One month later, the State filed a delinquency petition against ADC, asserting that he had taken actions that constituted the crimes of reckless driving and driving without a license. As the case proceeded, ADC admitted to the unlicensed driving charge, but he elected to contest the reckless driving charge, and the case moved toward trial.

¶7 A few months later, the juvenile court held a half-day bench trial to consider the reckless driving charge. At the outset, ADC’s attorney (Counsel) indicated that the State had told him that it would not be offering any expert testimony and that he intended to object to any testimony that he thought constituted expert testimony.

¶8 In support of its case, the State called only two witnesses: the officers who had responded to the crash scene. The first officer (Officer 1) offered his observations of the scene, including a description of the location and positioning of the vehicle, the skid marks on the road, the statements ADC had made, and the general layout of the intersection. Officer 1 also testified that when the vehicle was pulled onto a tow truck, the wheels appeared intact and were not locked in any position, leading him to conclude that the vehicle “had not locked up.” Counsel lodged no objection to any of this testimony.

¶9 At one point, the State asked Officer 1 how, in his opinion, the vehicle could have come “to rest on its wheels” facing the wrong direction in the yard. At this, Counsel objected, arguing

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that the question called for expert testimony. The court overruled the objection, stating that it would “allow the . . . testimony as to what was observed and reasonable conclusions from those observations based upon training and [experience].” Officer 1 then testified that, in his view, ADC had attempted to take a turn that “had exceeded the speed limit” and that the vehicle had “rolled, hit the curb, and then flipped itself back upright” and came to rest in the yard. And he noted “the velocity that must have occurred in order for that vehicle to roll and crash through trees, fences and end up in somebody’s backyard.”

¶10 Later, the State asked Officer 1 which individual traffic citations could have been issued to ADC under the circumstances. Officer 1 stated that, among other things, ADC could have been cited for speeding, failing to maintain lane of travel, making an improper turn, failing to maintain control of the vehicle, and driving carelessly. While Officer 1 acknowledged on cross- examination that he did not observe ADC speeding, he clarified that “the skid marks and the totality [of the circumstances] would suggest [ADC] was speeding.”

¶11 Officer 2 likewise offered his observations of the accident scene, which testimony came in without objection. Later, though, Officer 2 testified about the particulars of the skid marks he observed on the pavement, stating that some of the marks were “yaw marks.” He explained that yaw marks are a type of skid mark that “almost look like half-moons” and that these marks indicate that “the vehicle is sliding sideways,” usually as a result of “excessive speed.” At this point, Counsel objected, asserting that this testimony about yaw marks was expert testimony that had not been previously disclosed and for which insufficient foundation had been laid. The court overruled this objection. Officer 2 then added that he had learned about yaw marks from instruction he had received “in the police academy.”

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¶12 Shortly thereafter, the State asked Officer 2 for his opinion about “what [he thought] happened.” Counsel lodged no objection to this question. In response, Officer 2 stated, “I believe the vehicle was trying to make a left-hand turn to go eastbound on [the cross-street] and was going at a high rate of speed and couldn’t control the vehicle and rolled.”

¶13 The State also asked Officer 2 whether drivers have less control over their vehicles at higher speeds. When Officer 2 answered in the affirmative, Counsel objected, arguing that the State was once again calling for expert testimony.

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2024 UT App 150, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-ad-c-utahctapp-2024.