State Ex Rel. Sa

2001 UT App 308, 37 P.3d 1172, 2001 WL 1243948
CourtCourt of Appeals of Utah
DecidedOctober 18, 2001
Docket20000265-CA
StatusPublished

This text of 2001 UT App 308 (State Ex Rel. Sa) 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. Sa, 2001 UT App 308, 37 P.3d 1172, 2001 WL 1243948 (Utah Ct. App. 2001).

Opinion

37 P.3d 1172 (2001)
2001 UT App 308

STATE of Utah, in the Interest of S.A., a person under eighteen years of age.
M.A., Appellant,
v.
State of Utah, Appellee.

No. 20000265-CA.

Court of Appeals of Utah.

October 18, 2001.
Rehearing Denied December 10, 2001.

*1174 Gregory B. Wall, Wall & Wall, Salt Lake City, for Appellant.

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 GREENWOOD, JACKSON, and BILLINGS.

OPINION

GREENWOOD, Presiding Judge.

¶ 1 This is one of two appeals that stem from a juvenile court adjudication regarding the parents of S.A.[1] The State filed a petition alleging M.A. (Mother) had caused the death of her infant son T.A. and that S.A, her older son, was a sibling at risk. The State contended Mother was solely responsible for T.A.'s death and, therefore, D.A. (Father) was not a party to the adjudication phase of the juvenile court proceedings.

¶ 2 Mother appeals the juvenile court's decision finding her responsible for T.A.'s death and finding S.A. to be a sibling at risk.

BACKGROUND[2]

¶ 3 Mother and Father are married and are the biological parents of two sons: S.A., born January 24, 1996, and T.A., born May 25, 1999, who died September 14, 1999. On September 13, 1999, Mother was home alone with her two children. T.A. was fussy and off his normal schedule. The family had recently moved into a new home and had not established telephone service, so Mother drove to a phone booth to call Father. Father stated that Mother sounded stressed during their conversation. After returning home, Mother put T.A. in his crib around 2:30 for his afternoon nap, but he awoke between 3:00 and 3:20. When Mother heard T.A. fussing, she rocked him and placed him back in the crib. She then went to make dinner.

¶ 4 Father arrived home from work between 4:00 and 4:30 p.m. Mother met him at the top of the stairs, which was unusual. Normally, Father checked on T.A. when he returned from work, but on this day he showered first. Mother asked him to eat dinner before showering. It was also unusual for dinner to be prepared when Father arrived at home.

¶ 5 After dinner, Mother asked Father to get T.A. up. Father found T.A. lying face down in the crib with his right arm over his head. Father, believing T.A. was seriously ill or dead, screamed that T.A. was dead. Mother came into the room, but stayed away from the baby. She told Father to start CPR and went to a neighbor's home to call 911.

¶ 6 Father administered five rounds of CPR before the EMTs arrived and continued resuscitation efforts. The EMTs immediately took T.A. to Tooele Regional Medical Center (TRMC). As efforts to revive T.A. continued, he was life-flighted to Primary Children's Medical Center (PCMC). The TRMC physician did not see any retinal hemorrhaging during T.A.'s exam.

¶ 7 T.A. was admitted to the PCMC Pediatric Intensive Care Unit where resuscitation efforts were successful. The pediatrician specializing in critical care, Dr. Vernon, examined T.A. Dr. Vernon found extensive retinal hemorrhaging, anoxic brain injury, and diffuse brain swelling so severe he did not *1175 believe that the child could live. T.A. was not brain dead upon admission, but was nearly so. Dr. Vernon explained the findings to both parents who, in his opinion, acted odd in that they sat at opposite sides of the room instead of together comforting each other, which was more common in his experience. Dr. Vernon's diagnosis was a non-accidental trauma and that T.A. had been in acute distress for a few hours prior to being admitted to PCMC. Mother and Father granted permission to remove T.A. from life support when physicians told them he was brain dead. T.A. died shortly thereafter on September 14, 1999.

¶ 8 Because retinal injuries like those T.A. suffered are often indicative of child abuse, medical personnel called the police and the Department of Child and Family Services (DCFS). DCFS removed S.A. from his home. A shelter hearing took place on September 17, 1999, and the juvenile court granted DCFS temporary custody of S.A. After a kinship study, S.A. was placed with his maternal grandparents.[3]

¶ 9 In its petition, the State alleged that Mother caused T.A.'s death and that S.A. should continue in DCFS custody as a sibling at risk.

¶ 10 Mother was charged with murder on October 13, 1999. Mother filed a motion to strike the adjudicative hearing on the State's petition until after the criminal case had been resolved. The juvenile court denied the motion.

¶ 11 The State filed a motion requesting that Father obtain separate counsel because the State contended Mother caused T.A.'s death and Father was not responsible. Mother and Father opposed the motion because of the potential financial burden it would place on the family and contended any conflict between the parents was speculative. The juvenile court granted the State's motion. The juvenile court also heard arguments regarding Father's status in this matter. The State argued "there would be no adjudication pursued as to the father and that he had only been subpoenaed as a witness." The trial court determined that no allegations were made against Father, and, therefore, he was not a party to the adjudication. The trial court informed Father's counsel he would be allowed only to rehabilitate Father as a witness and could not otherwise participate during the trial.[4] During this same hearing, both Mother and Father presented oral motions to the court asking it to dismiss the case as the trial was scheduled to begin after the sixty-day deadline imposed by statute. Father also made a motion to intervene. The trial court denied the motions.

¶ 12 During the adjudication hearing[5] on the State's petition, the State presented further medical evidence to demonstrate T.A.'s death was not accidental. Mother argued T.A. had a "near miss" Sudden Infant Death Syndrome event and the prolonged CPR caused the ocular damage. The State's experts testified that Mother's theories were improbable. Two physicians testified that brain damage was the cause of death and that it probably occurred at the same time as the ocular damage. The juvenile court found Mother abused T.A. and caused his death and S.A. was a sibling at risk. Both Father and Mother appealed the juvenile court's decision.[6] This opinion addresses Mother's appeal.

ISSUES AND STANDARDS OF REVIEW

¶ 13 Mother first contends her due process rights were violated when the State proceeded against her in separate proceedings in separate forums involving the same factual issues.[7] Mother also argues her due process *1176 rights were impaired when she chose to exercise her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination by not testifying in the juvenile court proceeding, to prevent the State from using her testimony in the pending criminal prosecution. Mother further argues the trial court erred in ordering Father to obtain separate counsel. She argues the cost of two attorneys, as well as the potential costs of expert witnesses, compromised her ability to defend herself and violated her due process rights.

¶ 14 "`Constitutional issues, including. . . due process, are questions of law which we review for correctness.'" In re Adoption of S.L.F., 2001 UT App 183, ¶ 9, 27 P.3d 583 (quoting In re K.M.,

Related

United States v. Kordel
397 U.S. 1 (Supreme Court, 1970)
United States v. One Assortment of 89 Firearms
465 U.S. 354 (Supreme Court, 1984)
Lewis v. Moultree
627 P.2d 94 (Utah Supreme Court, 1981)
Burns v. Summerhays
927 P.2d 197 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 1996)
State in Interest of K.M.
965 P.2d 576 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 1998)
State in Interest of AR
937 P.2d 1037 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 1997)
State in Interest of NR
967 P.2d 951 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 1998)
State v. Shepherd
1999 UT App 305 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 1999)
State v. Pursifell
746 P.2d 270 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 1987)
Bair v. Axiom Design, L.L.C.
2001 UT 20 (Utah Supreme Court, 2001)
Green v. Louder
2001 UT 62 (Utah Supreme Court, 2001)
State, in the Interest of E.R.
2000 UT App 143 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 2000)
K.P.S. v. State
2000 UT App 182 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 2000)
State v. Tyree
2000 UT App 350 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 2000)
T.S. v. L.F.
2001 UT App 183 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 2001)
D.A. v. State
2001 UT App 307 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 2001)
M.A. v. State
2001 UT App 308 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 2001)
State ex rel. J.J.T.
877 P.2d 161 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 1994)
State v. Newman
928 P.2d 1040 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 1996)
Office of the Guardian ad Litem ex rel. S.C. v. Anderson
1999 UT App 251 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 1999)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2001 UT App 308, 37 P.3d 1172, 2001 WL 1243948, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-sa-utahctapp-2001.