State of Iowa v. Darriel Marcell Dean

Court of Appeals of Iowa·Decided February 8, 2023·No. 21-1338·Published

Opinion

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF IOWA

No. 21-1338

Filed February 8, 2023

STATE OF IOWA, Plaintiff-Appellee,

vs.

DARRIEL MARCELL DEAN, Defendant-Appellant.

Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Henry County, John Wright, Judge.

The defendant appeals from his convictions for child endangerment causing serious injury and child endangerment, challenging the competency of a child witness as well as the weight and the sufficiency of the evidence. AFFIRMED.

Martha J. Lucey, State Appellate Defender, and Rachel C. Regenold, Assistant Appellate Defender, for appellant.

Brenna Bird, Attorney General, and Linda J. Hines, Assistant Attorney General, for appellee.

Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., Greer, J., and Potterfield, S.J.* *Senior judge assigned by order pursuant to Iowa Code section 602.9206 (2023).

POTTERFIELD, Senior Judge.

Darriel Dean appeals his convictions for child endangerment resulting in serious injury and child endangerment. He challenges (1) the district court’s decision that five-year-old K.D. was competent to testify, (2) the sufficiency of the evidence to support each of his convictions, (3) and the district court’s denial of his motion for new trial based on the weight of the evidence. I. Background Facts and Proceedings.

Dean was charged by trial information with child endangerment causing serious injury and child endangerment. His children, F.D. and K.D., were the alleged victims. The charges were based on the fact that three-year-old F.D. needed to be transported to the hospital due to having what appeared to be a seizure in the early morning hours of April 16, 2021. Further tests showed F.D. had a fracture in his skull in the left frontal lobe. Initial reports noted that Dean reported F.D. was having issues as early as 9:00 or 10:00 p.m. on April 15, but medical help was not sought until 1:33 a.m. on April 16. Additionally, it was alleged that five-year-old K.D. suffered trauma as a result of the harm done to F.D.

Dean pled not guilty and elected to have a jury trial.

At the two-day trial in July, K.D. and seven-year-old G.B., who were both present on April 15, testified about what they witnessed. Additionally, the emergency room (ER) physician who was working when F.D. arrived at the ER, Dr. Rose Schabilion, testified. The officer who investigated F.D.’s injury and the mental health counselor who met with K.D. in November 2021 also testified.

The jury found Dean guilty of both counts as charged. After denying his motion for new trial, the district court sentenced Dean to a term of incarceration not to exceed ten years.

Dean appeals.

II. Discussion.

1. Competency of Child Witness.

Dean challenges the competency of K.D., the five-year-old witness who testified for the State at trial. He maintains the district court abused its discretion in finding her competent to testify. See State v. Brotherton, 384 N.W.2d 375, 377– 78 (Iowa 1986) (reviewing ruling on witness competency for an abuse of discretion).

Under Iowa Rule of Evidence 5.601, “[e]very person is competent to be a witness unless a statute or rule provides otherwise.” Dean urges us to use the test that was laid out in the prior version of the rule and argues the district court abused its discretion by failing to do so.1 But Dean did not ask the district court to use the old test. See Top of Iowa Coop v. Sime Farms, Inc., 608 N.W.2d 454, 470 (Iowa 2000) (“[O]ne purpose of our error preservation rules is to ensure that the opposing

1 Under Iowa Rule of Evidence 601 (1985), “a child [was] presumed to be competent.” But if the child’s competency was questioned, then the court was required to determine:

(1) the child is mentally capable of understanding the questions being asked;

(2) the child is able to formulate intelligent answers and communicate impressions and recollections regarding the incident about which the child is to testify; and (3) the child can understand the responsibility to tell the truth.

State v. Andrews, 447 N.W.2d 118, 120 (Iowa 1989) (citing Iowa R. Evid. 601 (1985)). The text of the rule changed in 1990 and matches what is now rule 5.601. See 1990 Iowa Acts ch. 1015, § 1.

party and the district court are alerted to an issue at a time when corrective action can be taken . . . .”). And, even if he had, we conclude that test is no longer necessary. See State v. Cahill, 972 N.W.2d 19, 34 (Iowa 2022) (“The basic premise behind Federal Rule 601 and presumably behind the most recent Iowa rule is that virtually all witnesses who possess relevant evidence should be allowed to present it to the jury and allow the jury to determine its probative value.” (quoting 7 Laurie Kratky Doré, Iowa Practice Series: Evidence § 5.601:1 (Nov. 2022 update) [hereinafter Doré, Evidence]).

Instead, with the starting point that every person is competent to testify absent some other rule or law preventing them, the court should focus on whether other rules of evidence prevent the testimony. See Doré, Evidence § 5.601:1 (“[M]any trial courts likely will look carefully at the requirements of Rules 5.602, 5.603 and 5.403 when deciding child witness competency.”); see also Iowa Rs. Evid. 5.403 (“The court may exclude relevant evidence if its probative value is substantially outweighed by a danger of one or more of the following: unfair prejudice, confusing the issues, misleading the jury, undue delay, wasting time, or needlessly presenting cumulative evidence.”), 5.602 (“A witness may testify to a matter only if evidence is introduced sufficient to support a finding that the witness has personal knowledge of the matter.”), 5.603 (“Before testifying, a witness must give an oath or affirmation to testify truthfully. It must be in a form designed to impress that duty on the witness’s conscience.”).

Here, the district court engaged in lengthy colloquy with K.D.:

Q. What is your name? A. [K.D.]

Q. Hi, [K.D.] How old are you? A. Five.

Q. Five years old. Does that mean that you’re in kindergarten? A. Not yet.

Q. Oh, okay. Are you going to go to kindergarten next year?

A. Yes.

Q. And, [K.D.], do you have any brothers or sisters? A. I have—Yes.

Q. And how many brothers do you have? A. Uh—

Q. Pardon me? A. I don’t remember.

THE FOSTER FATHER: Who’s your brother?

K.D.: [F.], [Z.], [T.]—

THE FOSTER FATHER: She’s talking about her—our kids, but [F.] is her biological brother.

THE COURT: Okay. Just a second, sir. I need to ask her these questions. So [K.D.], what is your last name? A. It’s hard to remember.

Q. Yeah, it is. So let’s talk about something that might be easy to answer, okay? Let’s talk about when you’re telling your friends a story. Can you think of any stories you might have told your friends? A. Well—

Q. Well, do you tell your friends any secrets? A. Uh, no.

Q. Okay. Do you like to play with friends? A. Yes.

Q. And when you play with friends, do you talk about things?

A. Yes.

Q. What would you talk about? A. I would talk about that we do something, to play, like Polly.

Q. What is it? A. Polly.

Q. Oh, okay. So I haven’t had a [five] year old around for a while, so I’m not up to date on those. Do you like to play games? A. Yes.

Q. And when you play games, do you play by the rules?

A. Uh, yes.

Q. Okay. And when you are asked questions by your friends, do you tell them the answers? A. Yeah. It’s kind of hard to tell the answers.

Q. Okay. So if I asked you, what is the color of my tie, what would you say? A. Blue.

Q. Okay. And if you were to look at, say, the color of the mask that [the guardian ad litem] is wearing, what color is that? A. Black.

Q. Okay. There’s a fire extinguisher right beside you. What color is that? A. Red.

Q. Do you know what it means to tell the truth? A. Yes.

Q. Tell me what it means to tell the truth. A. That you don’t lie. You just say the truth when it’s hard, but you do it anyway.

Q. And is it good to lie? A. No.

Q. And if someone were to ask you a question, would you tell the truth or would you lie? A. Tell the truth.

Q. So do you know what a promise is? A. Yes.

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