State v. Hattrich

2013 UT App 177, 317 P.3d 433, 739 Utah Adv. Rep. 36, 2013 WL 3752669, 2013 Utah App. LEXIS 175
CourtCourt of Appeals of Utah
DecidedJuly 18, 2013
Docket20111091-CA
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 2013 UT App 177 (State v. Hattrich) 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 v. Hattrich, 2013 UT App 177, 317 P.3d 433, 739 Utah Adv. Rep. 36, 2013 WL 3752669, 2013 Utah App. LEXIS 175 (Utah Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

*436 CHRISTIANSEN, Judge:

11 Defendant Paul John Hattrich appeals his convictions for three counts of first degree felony sodomy on a child. We affirm.

BACKGROUND

( 2 Between 1994 and 1999, Defendant sexually victimized five juveniles. In May 2009, the State filed an information charging Defendant with thirty sexual offenses against children. Over the next two years, the State amended the information four times.

8 Prior to the preliminary hearing, Defendant filed three motions: (1) a motion for a change of venue, (2) a motion to dismiss nine counts of the Second Amended Information, and (8) a motion to sever the counts for trial. The trial court denied outright the venue and dismissal motions. Also, the trial court granted the motion to sever as to counts 26 and 27-dealing in material harmful to a minor-but denied the motion as to the remaining counts.

{4 Following the trial court's ruling on these motions, but before the scheduled preliminary hearing, the State filed a Third Amended Information on March 2, 2011, charging - Defendant with twenty-seven counts of various sexual offenses involving the five victims. The counts in the information included two counts of rape of a child, both first degree felonies, see Utah Code Ann. § 76-5-402.1(1), (2) (Michie Supp. 1996); thirteen counts of sodomy on a child, all first degree felonies, see id. § T6-5-403.1(1), (2); nine counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child, all first degree felonies, see id. § T6-5-404.1(1), (8)(b)(d), (4); one count of sexual abuse of a child, a second degree felony, see id. $ 76-5-404.1(1), (2); and two counts of dealing in material harmful to a minor, both third degree felonies, see id. § 76-10-1206(1)(a), (8) (Michie 1995).

T5 The preliminary hearing was held on June 21, 2011, more than three months after the State filed the Third Amended Information. At the close of that hearing, the magistrate bound Defendant over for trial on all counts except count 21, third degree felony sexual abuse of a child, which the magistrate dismissed. - Defendant subsequently filed three additional motions: (1) a motion to dismiss the Third Amended Information based upon multiplicity concerns or, in the alternative, to reduce the counts; (2) a motion to quash bindover; and (8) a motion to dismiss the Third Amended Information for constitutional and rule violations. The trial court denied all three motions. The State ultimately filed a Fourth Amended Information, omitting the sexual abuse count dismissed at the preliminary hearing and the two counts of dealing in material harmful to a minor that the trial court had previously severed. Trial was scheduled to begin An-gust 22, 2011.

T 6 Prior to trial, Defendant entered into a plea agreement with the State. He pleaded guilty to three counts of sodomy on a child in exchange for dismissal of the remaining counts. Defendant's guilty pleas were entered "conditional on Defendant's right to appeal any issues which hafd] arisen or been litigated in this case." Thereafter, the trial court sentenced Defendant to a prison term of fifteen years to life for each count and ordered the sentences to run concurrently. Defendant appeals, challenging his convie-tions on various grounds.

ISSUES AND STANDARDS OF REVIEW

T7 Defendant first argues that the trial court erred in denying his motion for a change of venue. The decision to grant or deny a motion for a change of venue "lies within the sound discretion of the trial court . and [an appellate court] will not disturb that decision unless an abuse of discretion is shown." State v. James, 767 P.2d 549, 551 (Utah 1989).

T8 Defendant next contends that the trial court improperly denied his motion to sever the counts for trial. "[Tlhe grant or denial of severance is a matter within the discretion of the trial judge, so we reverse [a denial] only if the trial judge's refusal to sever charges is a clear abuse of discretion in that it sacrifices the defendant's right to a fundamentally fair trial." State v. Burke, 2011 UT App 168, ¶ 15, 256 P.3d 1102 (alterations in original) (citation and internal quotation marks omitted).

*437 19 Third, Defendant challenges the trial court's denial of his motion to quash bindover. "When the review of a [trial] court's denial of a motion to quash a bindover implicates questions of law, we review for correctness, giving no deference to the [trial] court's legal conclusions." State v. Timmerman, 2009 UT 58, ¶ 7, 218 P.3d 590.

€10 Defendant also argues that the trial court erred in denying his two motions to dismiss the Third Amended Information for violation of the rules against multiplicity and constitutional and rule violations. "[The propriety of a trial court's decision to grant or deny a motion to dismiss is a question of law that we review for correctness." State v. Salazar, 2005 UT App 241, ¶ 4, 114 P.3d 1170 (alteration in original) (citation and internal quotation marks omitted).

11 Finally, Defendant argues that there were no exigent cireumstances to justify his warrantless arrest in the privacy of his home. Even though this issue was not preserved before the trial court, Defendant asserts that appellate review is appropriate because exceptional cireumstances exist. See generally State v. Low, 2008 UT 58, ¶ 19, 192 P.3d 867 ("When a party fails to preserve an issue for appeal, [appellate courts] will address the issue only if (1) the appellant establishes that the district court committed plain error, (2) exceptional cireumstances exist, or (8) in some situations, if the appellant raises a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel in failing to preserve the issue." (citations and internal quotation marks omitted)).

ANALYSIS

I. The Trial Court Acted Within Its Discretion by Denying Defendant's Motion To Change Venue.

J 12 Defendant first argues that the trial court abused its discretion by denying his motion to change venue. "The right to trial by an impartial jury is guaranteed by both the United States Constitution and the Utah Constitution." - State v. Stubbs, 2005 UT 65, ¶ 9, 123 P.3d 407; see also U.S. Const. amend. VI; Utah Const. art. 1, § 12. Furthermore, rule 29 of the Utah Rules of Criminal Procedure provides, "If the prosecution or a defendant in a criminal action believes that a fair and impartial trial cannot be had in the jurisdiction where the action is pending, either may, by motion, ... ask to have the trial of the case transferred to another jurisdiction." Utah R.Crim. P. 29(d)(1). Defendant asserts that he could not receive a fair and impartial trial in Sevier County-the location where Defendant committed the criminal acts charged in this case.

%13 Criminal defendants may properly challenge a trial court's denial of a change of venue motion following conviction by a jury. When such is the case, we consider "whether [the] defendant was ultimately tried by a fair and impartial jury." State v. Widdison, 2001 UT 60, ¶ 38, 28 P.3d 1278. However, when a defendant challenges a denial of a change of venue motion on interlocutory appeal, we employ a totality of the circumstances test. See State v. James, 767 P.2d 549, 552 (Utah 1989).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2013 UT App 177, 317 P.3d 433, 739 Utah Adv. Rep. 36, 2013 WL 3752669, 2013 Utah App. LEXIS 175, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-hattrich-utahctapp-2013.