State v. Rudolph

970 P.2d 1221, 349 Utah Adv. Rep. 11, 1998 Utah LEXIS 59, 1998 WL 430333
CourtUtah Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 31, 1998
Docket960482
StatusPublished
Cited by49 cases

This text of 970 P.2d 1221 (State v. Rudolph) 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. Rudolph, 970 P.2d 1221, 349 Utah Adv. Rep. 11, 1998 Utah LEXIS 59, 1998 WL 430333 (Utah 1998).

Opinion

HOWE, Chief Justice:

Defendant Henry Lee Rudolph appeals from his convictions for aggravated burglary under Utah Code Ann. § 76-6-203, a first degree felony, and violation of a protective order under § 76-5-108, a class A misdemeanor.

BACKGROUND

The State charged Rudolph with aggravated burglary, aggravated sexual assault, and violation of a protective order. He appeared pro se with the assistance of standby counsel. Following a jury trial in late 1994, he was convicted of and sentenced on the charges of aggravated burglary and violation of a protective order, but was acquitted on the charge of aggravated sexual assault.

Rudolph appealed his convictions to this court. Because significant portions of the trial transcript were incomplete due to technical problems with the court reporter’s machinery, we summarily reversed his convictions and remanded his case to the trial court *1224 for a new trial on the aggravated burglary and violation of a protective order charges. On remand, the trial judge, Judge Timothy R. Hanson, recused himself, and the case was reassigned to Judge Pat B. Brian.

In February 1996, Rudolph’s new trial began, and he again appeared pro se. However, during the redirect examination of the State’s first witness, the court granted Rudolph’s motion for a mistrial. He also moved to recuse Judge Brian from further proceedings in the ease. Although Judge Brian apparently granted this motion, he continued to preside over Rudolph’s third trial.

At the third jury trial, Rudolph was represented by court-appointed counsel. He was again convicted of aggravated burglary and violation of a protective order and was sentenced to concurrent prison terms as prescribed by statute. Rudolph now appeals from these convictions.

FACTS

Rudolph’s convictions arose from the alleged burglary of the victim’s home on August 1, 1994. He first met the victim in January 1988 or 1989, and they eventually married in August 1993. Thereafter, their relationship deteriorated, and on June 6, 1994, she obtained an ex parte protective order against him and filed for divorce. Rudolph was served with the ex parte order the following day. She later obtained a permanent protective order at a hearing of which he had notice but did not attend. He was not served with that order.

On the morning of August 1, 1994, Rudolph parked his car around the corner from the victim’s home and entered the home by breaking into a basement window. When she returned home later that day, she was greeted by Rudolph, who was standing in the hallway with a large knife in his pocket. He appeared angry and told her that “[she] should have known that he would have a reaction to what [she] had done.” 1 He then noticed a “hickey” on her neck and demanded to know who she had been with. He became irate when she told him that she had been seeing a co-worker. He punched her several times and pushed her onto the sofa.

He then withdrew the knife from his pocket and began yelling obscenities at her. He threatened her, telling her that “[she] would never leave the house again” and that he was going to “cut [her] up into little pieces.” He then forced her to disrobe at knife point and continued to berate her with threats and insults as she sat naked on the sofa. After a twenty-minute tirade, he ordered her into the bathroom. He struck her as she walked towards the bathroom, hitting her in the forehead and right ear.

Once in the bathroom, he told her to take a shower and “wash [her] filthy body.” He watched her shower and then put down the knife, undressed himself, and entered the shower. He ordered her to wash his genitals and perform oral sex on him. She obeyed his orders because she was afraid for her life. He then told her to lie down in the bathtub, and he had sexual intercourse with her. Af-terwards, he insisted that she go into the bedroom, where he once again forced intercourse.

Rudolph apparently calmed down after intercourse, but the victim remained upset and was crying. She was dizzy, nauseated, and her head hurt. She wanted him to leave and told him to do so several times, but he refused.

The victim then asked him to get some boxes from her car. While he was in the garage getting the boxes, she quickly dialed “911” and left the receiver off the hook. After learning that she had called “911,” he went into another tirade, renewing his threats and stating that “[he was] going to show [her] what it feels like to be backed up against the wall, with nowhere to go, like a caged animal.” He then began to strangle her with his hands, and she momentarily *1225 blacked-out. After he finally released her, he forced her back into the bedroom at knife point. He told her that he was going to commit suicide in her car and ordered her to find him a hose that he could insert into the exhaust pipe.

She was finally able to escape while searching for the hose. As she ran out of the garage, two police officers approached her. She ran to them, yelling, “He is going to kill me. He is going to kill me.”

Rudolph fled from the house by jumping out of a second-story window. Even though one of the officers sprayed him in the face and eyes with pepper mace Rudolph managed to get to his car and drive off. However, he was apprehended only a few blocks away from the home.

The police collected evidence at the home. They took photographs of the victim and crime scene, recovered a knife in the bedroom, and found a suicide note written by Rudolph. 2 They also questioned Rudolph, and he admitted that he had broken into the victim’s home. In addition, he confessed that he had struck her during the incident, that he had a knife with him, and that he had oral sex with her in the shower. However, he maintained that he had not used the knife to threaten her and that sex had been consensual.

Rudolph contends on appeal that (1) the jury instructions regarding the burglary element of intent to commit a sexual assault were erroneous; (2) the trial court erred by including the “remaining unlawfully” language of the burglary statute in its instructions to the jury; (3) the State’s evidence did not support his aggravated burglary conviction; (4) the trial judge failed to respond to a question submitted by the jury during deliberations; (5) the judge erred by presiding over Rudolph’s third trial even though he had previously recused himself from the case; (6) the double jeopardy guarantee barred his convictions; and (7) the evidence did not support his conviction for violation of a protective order. Rudolph has also submitted his own pro se briefs, wherein he argues that the prosecutor engaged in prosecutorial misconduct by knowingly using false evidence and perjured testimony at trial. We address each of these assignments of error below.

ANALYSIS

I. JURY INSTRUCTIONS ON INTENT TO COMMIT SEXUAL ASSAULT

The first issue that we must resolve is whether three of the trial court’s jury instructions regarding the intent element of burglary were erroneous.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
970 P.2d 1221, 349 Utah Adv. Rep. 11, 1998 Utah LEXIS 59, 1998 WL 430333, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-rudolph-utah-1998.