Opinion ID: 2593661
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: civil and criminal trials

Text: ¶ 16 Pamela Mead's family filed a wrongful death action in federal court against Mead to obtain the proceeds of Pamela Mead's $250,000 life insurance policy. That trial resulted in a hung jury, and Mead and Pamela Mead's family reached a settlement. ¶ 17 Following the civil trial, Mead was charged with murder and criminal solicitation, the two charges to be tried together. Prior to trial, Mead filed a motion to sever the counts, which the trial court denied. Mead also requested that the trial court circulate a pre-trial questionnaire to potential jurors to determine if there was any potential bias or prejudice as a result of the extensive pre-trial publicity regarding both the case and the related civil wrongful death action. Out of this same concern, Mead requested individual, in camera voir dire for each potential juror with prior knowledge of the case. The trial court denied both the request for a jury questionnaire and the request for individual, in camera voir dire. However, the trial court did state its willingness to conduct individual, in camera voir dire if the need arose. ¶ 18 During voir dire, the trial court asked whether the potential jurors had any prior knowledge of the case. Several potential jurors admitted they did and related they had heard of the case through media reports. The trial court asked if this prior knowledge would affect their ability to be fair and impartial. Two potential jurors admitted it would. At a later point in voir dire, Mead's counsel asked the trial court for permission to ask individual follow-up questions relating to prior knowledge of the case. The trial court rejected this request, stating its belief that many of the potential jurors who admitted having prior knowledge of the case, in fact, knew very little of the case from the media reports. Instead, the trial court reiterated the question of whether prior knowledge of the case would affect any potential jurors' ability to be fair and impartial. The same two potential jurors again admitted it would, and neither sat on the jury that convicted Mead, one being dismissed by a peremptory challenge and the other dismissed for cause. However, two other potential jurors who admitted to having prior knowledge of the case, but who asserted they could be fair and impartial, ultimately sat on the jury that convicted Mead. ¶ 19 At trial, Mead's neighbor, Marsh, testified that he initially believed Mead was innocent and that the Meads seemed to be happily married. After being asked if he had changed his mind about Mead's innocence, Marsh stated, I changed my mind insofar as I no longer have a certainty of his innocence and I'm more than willing to wait out the process to see things-. Mead's counsel objected, and the trial court ordered the answer be stricken. ¶ 20 Hendrix testified at trial that Mead had passed a polygraph test, but that Mead had told him he had studied books so he would pass. Hendrix also testified that Mead solicited him to kill Pamela Mead only a couple of weeks before Pamela Mead's death. Following the solicitation, Hendrix went on a drug-induced `bender' for a couple of weeks. On regaining control of his faculties, he learned of Pamela Mead's death. He also learned Mead was staying with family. Taking advantage of this knowledge, Hendrix broke into Mead's house twice to steal money. About a month after Pamela Mead's death, Hendrix again broke into Mead's house, and robbed Mead at gunpoint while Mead was in bed with Walls. Hendrix was arrested and charged with three counts of burglary, two counts of aggravated robbery, various gun charges, and interfering with arrest. Hendrix entered a plea bargain allowing him to serve only a few months in jail. ¶ 21 Detective Candland interviewed Hendrix in the Davis County Jail before he entered this plea bargain. She testified that she did not promise Hendrix leniency or talk to the prosecutor. However, she did write a letter to the board of pardons on Hendrix's behalf after he entered his plea bargain. Hendrix also testified that he was not promised leniency in exchange for his testimony against Mead. ¶ 22 Anne Sultan represented Pamela Mead's family during the wrongful death lawsuit against Mead. At trial, Sultan testified that during settlement negotiations in the civil case, Mead had offered to return Pamela Mead's body to her family in Colorado in exchange for the family's dismissing the lawsuit. She also stated the offer sent chills down my spine. In his criminal trial, Mead moved for a mistrial on the grounds that the settlement offer in the civil action was inadmissible under rule 408 of the Utah Rules of Evidence and that Sultan's unsolicited comment that the offer sent chills down my spine was prejudicial. ¶ 23 At trial, Mead's defense was that Pamela Mead's death had been accidental, that she had been feeding the fish in the pond when the Meads' dog, Baron, knocked her off balance and into the pool where she struck her head on the brick lining and then drowned. Dr. Grey testified the scratches on Pamela Mead's abdomen were not consistent with the suggestion that they had been caused by the dog jumping up on her. ¶ 24 Mead proposed several jury instructions the trial court refused to give to the jury. Two of these are relevant on appeal. Mead proposed a jury instruction stating that Hendrix, one of the State's key witnesses, had received certain promises from the prosecutor in exchange for his testimony. Similarly, Mead proposed an instruction stating that the testimony of Hendrix, Simon, and Walls regarding Mead's inculpatory statements about killing his wife could only be considered as circumstantial evidence of motive and intent and not to show that Mead acted in conformity with these statements. ¶ 25 Following deliberations, the jury convicted Mead of murder and criminal solicitation. Mead appeals.