Loose v. State

2006 UT App 149, 135 P.3d 886, 549 Utah Adv. Rep. 15, 2006 Utah App. LEXIS 133, 2006 WL 947739
CourtCourt of Appeals of Utah
DecidedApril 13, 2006
DocketNo. 20040400-CA
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 2006 UT App 149 (Loose v. State) 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
Loose v. State, 2006 UT App 149, 135 P.3d 886, 549 Utah Adv. Rep. 15, 2006 Utah App. LEXIS 133, 2006 WL 947739 (Utah Ct. App. 2006).

Opinion

OPINION

GREENWOOD, Associate Presiding Judge:

¶ 1 Petitioner William Jesse Loose (Loose) appeals from a summary judgment rejecting all grounds asserted in his Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus and Post^Conviction Relief (Petition) and denying the Petition. We affirm.

BACKGROUND

¶ 2 In August 1996, after noticing that J.J. exhibited troubling behaviors, J.J.’s mother, Carol Correna Loose (Corey), took J.J. to see a social worker, Joe Tabish. Corey told Ta-[888]*888bish that J.J.’s biological father had sexually abused J.J. in the past.-1 During their first session, Tabish asked J.J. about sexual abuse by her biological father. Tabish then asked J.J. if she had suffered abuse by anyone other than her biological father, and J.J. disclosed that her stepfather, Loose, had sexually abused her. Tabish told Corey about the abuse by Loose, and Corey and her children moved out of the house they shared with Loose.

¶ 3 Subsequently, Loose was charged with two counts of sodomy on a child, two counts of sexual abuse of a child, and one count of aggravated sexual abuse of a child. In a pretrial motion, the State argued that Tabish should be allowed to testify about J.J.’s disclosure under Utah Code section 76-5-411. See Utah Code Ann. § 76-5-411 (2003). The trial court permitted Tabish’s testimony, not as an exception to the hearsay rule under section 76-5-411, but rather as non-hearsay.

¶4 At trial, the State called J.J., who testified that Loose had sexually abused her. During cross-examination of J.J., Loose introduced a letter that J.J. had written prior to trial in which she described the sexual abuse by Loose. The State also called Ta-bish to testify about his first session with J.J. when she had disclosed Loose’s sexual abuse. In relevant part, Tabish testified:

Prosecutor: Did you ask [J.J.] if she had been abused by anyone?
Tabish: Yes, I did. I asked her.
Prosecutor: Is that a standard question that you ask kids in interviews on this context?
Tabish: Yes, it is standard. Once we know there has been a history of sexual abuse, it is not uncommon, there has [sic] been other perpetrators or other traumas of sexual nature. At least, we like to rule out if there is [sic] others so before you give a clinical kind of diagnosis or treatment direction you want to know specifically what you are dealing with.

¶ 5 The jury convicted Loose of two counts of sodomy on a child and two counts of sexual abuse of a child. Subsequently, Loose retained new counsel and filed a motion for new trial, claiming trial error. He later filed an amended motion for new trial following his new counsel’s discovery of a letter J.J. had written to a friend in which she claimed to have lied at trial. The trial court held an evidentiary hearing and determined that the newly discovered evidence would not have changed the outcome of the trial. Accordingly, the trial court denied the motion.

¶ 6 Loose appealed on several grounds. See State v. Loose, 2000 UT 11, ¶ 8, 994 P.2d 1237 (affirming Loose’s convictions). Loose’s appellate counsel argued that Tabish’s testimony was inadmissible hearsay under section 76-5-411. See id. at ¶ 9. The supreme court rejected this contention, noting that the trial court had properly admitted the testimony as non-hearsay. See id. at ¶ 10.

¶ 7 Appellate counsel also argued that the trial court erred by refusing to admit testimony from Loose’s witness, a family friend who would testify about Corey and Loose’s failing marriage. See id. at ¶ 14. The supreme court affirmed the trial court’s decision on the basis that the witness’s testimony was rambling, unresponsive, and was hearsay. See id. at ¶ 15. Finally, the supreme court affirmed the trial court’s denial of the motion for new trial based on the newly discovered letter in which J.J. recanted her testimony. See id. at ¶ 16.

¶ 8 Loose again retained new counsel, who filed the Petition at issue in this case. Loose claimed he had discovered new evidence that J.J. had told her aunt, Vicki Gines (Gines), that she had lied at trial and that her mother, Corey, had coerced her to lie. The post-conviction court granted the State’s motion for summary judgment and denied Loose’s amended Petition, except for the claims of newly discovered evidence. After an eviden-tiary hearing, the trial court denied the remaining claims.

ISSUES AND STANDARDS OF REVIEW

¶ 9 Loose alleges that the post-eon-viction court erred when it (1) barred him from raising claims he could have raised on [889]*889appeal, (2) denied his claim for ineffective assistance of appellate counsel, and (3) determined that the newly discovered evidence did not satisfy the PosMDonviction Remedies Act (the PCRA). See Utah Code Ann. §§ 78-35a-101 to -304 (2002 & Supp.2005). “ ‘We review an appeal from an order dismissing or denying a petition for post-conviction relief for correctness without deference to the lower court’s conclusions of law.’” Myers v. State, 2004 UT 31, ¶ 9, 94 P.3d 211 (quoting Rudolph v. Galetka, 2002 UT 7, ¶ 4, 43 P.3d 467). “Further, ‘we survey the record in the light most favorable to the findings and judgment; and we will not reverse if there is a reasonable basis therein to support the trial court’s refusal to be convinced that the writ should be granted.’ ” Id. (quoting Medina v. Cook, 779 P.2d 658, 658 (Utah 1989)).

ANALYSIS

I. Whether Claims Could Have Been Raised on Direct Appeal

¶ 10 Loose argues that the post-conviction court erroneously barred him from raising the claims he raised on direct appeal. See Utah Code Ann. § 78-35a-106(l)(b) (2002) (“A person is not eligible for relief under [the PCRA] upon any ground that was raised or addressed at trial or on appeal”). Loose claims that the trial court erred in admitting Tabish’s testimony about J.J.’s disclosure, and that his trial counsel was ineffective.

A. Tabish’s Testimony

¶ 11 On direct appeal, Loose’s counsel argued that the trial court erred by admitting Tabish’s testimony, which recounted J.J.’s disclosure, as an exception to the hearsay rule under section 76-5-411. See Loose, 2000 UT 11 at ¶ 9, 994 P.2d 1237. However, the trial court admitted Tabish’s testimony as non-hearsay, offered “not to prove the truth of the matter asserted therein, but to provide a framework.” Id. at ¶ 4. The supreme court noted appellate counsel’s mistaken description of the trial court’s basis for admitting the testimony.2 See id. at ¶ 10.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2006 UT App 149, 135 P.3d 886, 549 Utah Adv. Rep. 15, 2006 Utah App. LEXIS 133, 2006 WL 947739, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/loose-v-state-utahctapp-2006.