State Ex Rel. Lm

2001 UT App 314, 37 P.3d 1188, 2001 WL 1298238
CourtCourt of Appeals of Utah
DecidedOctober 25, 2001
Docket20000323-CA
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 2001 UT App 314 (State Ex Rel. Lm) 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
State Ex Rel. Lm, 2001 UT App 314, 37 P.3d 1188, 2001 WL 1298238 (Utah Ct. App. 2001).

Opinion

37 P.3d 1188 (2001)
2001 UT App 314

STATE of Utah, in the interest of L.M., a person under eighteen years of age.
T.M. and J.M., Appellants,
v.
State of Utah, Appellee.

No. 20000323-CA.

Court of Appeals of Utah.

October 25, 2001.

*1190 Steven C. Russell and G. Brent Smith, Salt Lake City, for Appellants.

Mark L. Shurtleff, Attorney General and John Peterson, Attorney General's Office, Salt Lake City, for Appellee.

Martha Pierce, Salt Lake City, Guardian Ad Litem.

Before Judges BILLINGS, ORME, and THORNE.

OPINION

THORNE, Judge:

¶ 1 Appellants T.M. (Father) and J.M. (Mother) (collectively Parents) appeal from the juvenile court's determination that K.M. had been abused prior to her death, and that L.M. was neglected. Parents also appeal the juvenile court's resulting dispositional order permanently placing L.M. with her maternal grandparents and indefinitely extending the court's existing gag order. We affirm in part and reverse in part.

BACKGROUND

¶ 2 We recite the facts in a light most favorable to the juvenile court findings. See Tucker v. Tucker, 910 P.2d 1209, 1216 (Utah 1996).

¶ 3 On July 14, 1999, at approximately 11:15 am, some thirteen hours after putting four month old K.M. to bed, Parents discovered that she was not sleeping, but instead, lay lifeless in her crib, a blanket wrapped tightly around her head. Because K.M. was not breathing, Parents called 911. Soon thereafter, paramedics arrived and transported K.M. to Ogden Regional Medical Center where doctors pronounced her dead on arrival. Then, following routine procedures, emergency room personnel noted that K.M.'s body was warm and supple on arrival, and that her internal temperature was 98.4 degrees.

¶ 4 Additionally, the two nurses involved in preparing K.M.'s body removed her diaper, noting that K.M. had been changed recently, and that the diaper was relatively dry and contained only a small amount of feces. The nurses also noticed large abrasions on K.M.'s labia majora and that K.M.'s vaginal and anal openings were enlarged. Following a consultation with two emergency room physicians, the nurses notified the Division of Child and Family Services (DCFS), the Weber County Children's Justice Center, and the local police department.

¶ 5 Later that day, K.M.'s body was transported to the Weber County Children's Justice Center, where Jeanlee Carver, a nurse practitioner trained in the area of child abuse, performed a colposcopic examination. *1191 As a result of the examination, Ms. Carver discovered three notable injuries: (1) abrasions to K.M.'s right and left labia majora; (2) petechial hemorrhaging in K.M.'s labia minora; and (3) hemorrhages and lacerations at the posterior fourchette of K.M.'s vagina. Ms. Carver noted that the labial injuries were the result of some sort of abrasion, and concluded that all of the injuries were "positive for non-accidental traumatic injury to the genitalia, physical or sexual abuse."

¶ 6 Ms. Carver forwarded her report, as well as the still pictures and video footage resulting from her examination, to Dr. Karen Hansen, a physician working with Primary Children's Child Protection Team.[1] Dr. Hansen reviewed the material and concluded that the "the most likely etiology [to explain the injuries to K.M.'s genitals] was inflicted trauma."

¶ 7 After Ms. Carver completed her exam, K.M.'s body was taken to the Utah Medical Examiner's Office where doctor Ed Leis, the chief deputy medical examiner, performed an autopsy. Dr. Leis confirmed the injuries to K.M.'s genitals and concluded that the injuries occurred prior to K.M.'s death, but he was unable to determine the cause of the injuries. Dr. Leis was also unable to determine the cause of K.M.'s death.

¶ 8 On July 19, 1999, DCFS filed a verified petition seeking custody of L.M. based upon the circumstances surrounding K.M.'s death and the evidence of sexual abuse. The petition came to trial on January 6 and 7, 2000. At trial, both the State and Parents presented evidence and witness testimony supporting their positions. On February 29, 2000, the juvenile court issued findings of fact and conclusions of law.

¶ 9 Based on the evidence presented, the juvenile court concluded that K.M., pursuant to Utah Code Ann. § 78-3a-103(1)(a) (1996), had been abused and therefore, L.M., pursuant to Utah Code Ann. § 78-3a-103(a)(r)(i)(D) (1996), was a neglected child. As a result of these findings, on March 22, 2000, the juvenile court issued a Dispositional Order placing L.M. in the permanent custody of her maternal grandparents. The order also permitted Parents' continued supervised visitation and continued the juvenile court's previously issued gag order prohibiting all involved parties from discussing the case with the media. Parents now appeal.

ISSUES AND STANDARDS OF REVIEW

¶ 10 After reviewing Parents' arguments, we have distilled Parents' concerns into three substantive issues.

¶ 11 First, Parents argue that the evidence presented at trial was insufficient to support the juvenile court's findings of fact.[2] We review challenges to the juvenile court's findings of fact for clear error. See In re E.D., 876 P.2d 397, 402 (Utah Ct.App.1994). Unless the findings are against the clear weight of the evidence, we will not set the juvenile court's findings aside. See State v. C.K., 2000 UT App 11, ¶ 17, 996 P.2d 1059.

¶ 12 Parents next assert that even if the evidence is sufficient to support the court's findings, the findings do not support the juvenile court's conclusions of law; therefore, the court's dispositional order violates Utah law. We review a juvenile court's legal conclusions for correctness; however, we grant the juvenile court a measure of discretion when applying the law to a specific fact scenario. See In re L.P., 1999 UT App 157, ¶ 4, 981 P.2d 848. Moreover, "[j]uvenile courts have broad discretion in child custody cases." In re J.M.V., 958 P.2d 943, 947 (Utah Ct.App.1998); see also In re W.S., 939 P.2d 196, 199-200 (Utah Ct.App.1997).

¶ 13 Finally, Parents argue that the juvenile court's gag order is an unconstitutional prior restraint on their right to free *1192 speech. Whether a gag order violates the right to free speech presents a question of law, which we review for correctness. See In re M.L.C., 933 P.2d 380, 382 (Utah 1997).

ANALYSIS

I. Findings of Fact

¶ 14 Parents first argue that the evidence presented was insufficient to support the trial court's finding that K.M. suffered non-accidental trauma prior to her death. Normally, we examine a trial court's findings for clear error, see In re E.D., 876 P.2d at 402; however, when an appellant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence supporting a court's findings of fact, we require them to first "marshall [sic] the evidence in support of the findings and then demonstrate that despite this evidence, the court's findings are so lacking in support as to be against the clear weight of the evidence." In re D.G., 938 P.2d 298, 301 (Utah Ct.App.1997) (alteration in original) (citations omitted).

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Bluebook (online)
2001 UT App 314, 37 P.3d 1188, 2001 WL 1298238, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-lm-utahctapp-2001.