Opinion ID: 901521
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Were the trial court's findings of fact clearly erroneous?

Text: [¶9.] Throughout his briefs, Liechti disagrees with many of the trial court's findings of fact. For example, Liechti contends that, contrary to the trial court's findings: 1) he did not watch S.S. with binoculars while she was swimming; 2) he only used his binoculars to watch the children playing in their tree house on one occasion; 3) he did not attempt to stop the Schaefer children on numerous occasions; 4) he did observe the racing that he reported to law enforcement; and 5) he did not say anything about a shotgun after learning that charges would not be brought against the children. However, the evidence presented at trial supported the trial court's contrary findings. [¶10.] Most of the evidence presented at the trial was live witness testimony. The record reflects that while Liechti said one thing, the children, the Schaefer parents, Scheller, and State's Attorney Bormann said another. [1] Therefore, the trial court's credibility determination played a crucial role in the resolution of these factual disputes. Ultimately, the trial court made specific findings that Liechti was not credible and that the children, the Schaefer parents, and Scheller were credible. [2] Because we give due regard to the trial court's opportunity to observe witnesses and judge their credibility, and because the trial court expressly found that Liechti was not credible, we conclude that the trial court was not clearly erroneous in accepting the children's, the Schaefer parents', and Scheller's version of the facts.