State v. Pritchett

2003 UT 24, 69 P.3d 1278, 473 Utah Adv. Rep. 45, 2003 Utah LEXIS 52, 2003 WL 21057387
CourtUtah Supreme Court
DecidedMay 13, 2003
Docket20010498
StatusPublished
Cited by56 cases

This text of 2003 UT 24 (State v. Pritchett) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Utah Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Pritchett, 2003 UT 24, 69 P.3d 1278, 473 Utah Adv. Rep. 45, 2003 Utah LEXIS 52, 2003 WL 21057387 (Utah 2003).

Opinion

RUSSON, Justice:

'I 1 John Vincent Pritchett ("Pritchett") appeals his conviction for aggravated sexual abuse of a child, a first degree felony in violation of Utah Code Ann. § 76-5-404.1(8)(j) (1999). The trial court sentenced Pritchett to the statutory term of five years *1280 to life, but stayed execution of the sentence pending disposition of this appeal.

BACKGROUND

I. FACTS

12 The facts are recited in a light most favorable to the jury verdict.

¶ 3 On September 22, 1998, Pritchett spent the day with nine-year-old B.B., her mother (.B., and B.B's younger brother and sister. Pritchett had known the family since B.B. was five months old. The group went out for pizza and played in the park and then returned to the Blazor home. The children asked Pritchett to play hide-and-seek, and B.B. was disappointed when he declined. After watching television for a while, the children asked Pritchett to spend the night at the house, and he agreed to stay until the children fell asleep.

4 The children's rooms were being renovated, so G.B. prepared the sofa bed for the children to sleep on in the living room. The mattress on the sofa bed was encased in plastic and made noise whenever anyone sat or moved on it. After the children were in bed, Pritchett sat on the edge of the sofa bed and talked with G.B. until she fell asleep on another couch a few feet away. GB. later testified that she was not expecting Pritchett to join B.B. and the other children on the sofa bed, but that she was waiting for him to leave. Sometime before 10:30 p.m., Pritchett is alleged to have awakened B.B. by repeatedly pulling her underpants down to her knees and penetrating her vagina with his index and middle fingers. GB., who was on the couch asleep about three to five feet away, did not hear anything. B.B. did not say anything during the alleged incident, but made what she later described as a "leave me alone" sound. B.B. did, however, seratch Pritchett on the back with the claws of her pet turtle because she was mad at him.

¶5 Around 10:80 p.m., G.B. awoke when she heard water running and saw the living room light on. Pritchett was in the bathroom, and G.B. saw BB. tucked into the corner of the -sofa bed holding her turtle. G.B. asked B.B. why she was awake, and B.B. replied that she wanted Pritchett to

leave and never come back. When Pritchett came out of the bathroom, he was wearing only his pants, and his shirt was on the floor by the sofa bed. G.B. told Pritchett that it was time for him to leave, and they went out to the front porch and talked for a few minutes. While they were on the porch, B.B. made a "hate and like note," listing names of people she liked on one side of a piece of paper and names of those she did not like on the other. B.B. put Pritchett's name on the "hate" side of the list. She said nothing else to her mother that night.

¶6 At school the next day, September 283, B.B. attended an assembly where she saw a video about child molestation and the differences between "good touches and bad touches." In the car on the way home from school, B.B. told G.B. that Pritchett had touched her "private areas" and that Pritch-ett's "private touched hers and that he put it inside hers." B.B. also told her mother that she wanted her to call the police, but G.B. wanted to call the family doctor first. On the doctor's instructions, G.B. took B.B. to Primary Children's Hospital where she was examined on September 24 by Dr. Kadish ("Kadish") and interviewed by a police detective. Kadish concluded that B.B.'s genital examination was normal, but he could not "rule out the possibility of sexual abuse as the tissues may heal or not be injured in many cases of inappropriate touching."

1 7 Pritchett denies touching B.B.'s vaginal area with either his hand or his penis. He says that he joined the children on the sofa bed so that they would go to sleep. He claims that B.B. kept getting up to play with her turtle and that after he told her mother as much, G.B. told B.B. to go back to sleep, even "sereaming" at her at one point to put the turtle away and go to bed. Pritchett says that the scratches were the result of B.B. putting the turtle on his back while she was playing. He denies ever removing his shirt and says that he left the house because B.B. was not going to sleep. A forensic nurse, Su Bryner-Brown ("Bryner-Brown"), testified at trial that if Pritchett had had intercourse with B.B., Kadish's examination would have shown extensive trauma. Bryner-Brown did agree, however, that it would *1281 be possible for a child who had a penis rub her labia to have a normal exam. The nurse testified, in fact, that physical findings are rare in child molestation cases.

II. PROCEDURAL HISTORY

18 At trial, the State elicited testimony from .B., over repeated defense objections, about changes in B.B's behavior, how B.B. was not the same child as before, and why the family had moved out of state. Arguing that continued questioning about B.B.'s changed behavior constituted prosecutorial misconduct, Pritchett's defense counsel made a motion for mistrial, which the trial court subsequently denied. The trial court also allowed B.B. to refresh her memory by reviewing a transcript of the preliminary hearing, which contained her testimony of Pritch-ett penetrating her vagina with his fingers and his penis. Under initial direct examination, B.B. was unable to testify to anything other than Pritchett pulling down her underpants several times. After reviewing the transcript, she testified that Pritchett touched and penetrated her vagina with his fingers, but she could not testify that he touched or penetrated her vagina with his penis.

T9 Following the State's case, the defense moved for dismissal of both charges against Pritchett, count I, rape of a child, a first degree felony in violation of Utah Code Ann. § 76-5-402.1 (1999), and count II, aggravated sexual abuse of a child, a first degree felony in violation of Utah Code Ann. § 76-5-404.1(8)(J) (1999). The motion was based upon insufficiency of the State's evidence and B.B.'s incompetency to testify because of her lack of memory. The trial court denied the motion. After presentation of Pritchett's defense, the case was submitted to the jury, which acquitted Pritchett on count I and convicted him on count II. The defense moved for arrest of judgment, again arguing insufficiency of the State's evidence, and the trial court also denied that motion. Pritchett now appeals.

ANALYSIS

I. PROSECUTORIAL MISCONDUCT

10 The first issue Pritchett raises on appeal is that the trial court erred in not granting his motion for a mistrial based on prosecutorial misconduct. In State v. Harmon, 956 P.2d 262 (Utah 1998), we set forth the standard of review for this issue:

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Bluebook (online)
2003 UT 24, 69 P.3d 1278, 473 Utah Adv. Rep. 45, 2003 Utah LEXIS 52, 2003 WL 21057387, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-pritchett-utah-2003.