Court Opinion

ID: 9560548
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 17:50:58.524044+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:12:09.450542
License: Public Domain

JACKSON, Judge
(dissenting):
I respectfully dissent from the majority’s reversal of the trial court’s finding that the defendant was not indigent and could therefore obtain counsel. The trial court did not enter enough relevant findings of fact to logically support its decision. The majority opinion surveys other jurisdictions identifying four potential standards of review, but in light of the deficient findings, undertakes a de novo review of the evidence, making and entering its own findings of fact. On the basis of additional findings regarding unscheduled necessities including clothing, medical and dental expenses, and other bills, my colleagues reverse the trial court’s decision. This court should not survey other jurisdictions when our own supreme court has already decided an issue. Additionally, the findings in this case are insufficient to support any determination as to indigency. The proper remedy for such an insufficiency is not to review the evidence de novo, but to remand for further findings demonstrating how the trial court reached its conclusion.
A de novo review is improper in light of the controlling Utah case of Webster v. *264Jones, 587 P.2d 528 (Utah 1978). The Webster court noted that article I, section 12 of the Utah Constitution assures an accused “the right to representation by an attorney of his choice if he is able to employ counsel, or if he is indigent and unable to obtain counsel, he is entitled to a court-appointed attorney.” Id. at 530 (footnote omitted). The Webster court further stated that whether an accused is able to employ his or her own counsel “is a question of fact to be determined by the [trial] court.” Id.
The Utah. Supreme Court held long ago that “[t]he doctrine of stare decisis and the solemn pronouncements of this court ... should not be treated ... lightly ... by seeking cases from other jurisdictions ... in order to construe a constitutional provision ... already ... construed_” Springville Banking Co. v. Burton, 10 Utah 2d 100, 349 P.2d 157, 171 (1960) (Henriod J. specially commenting on Wade J. concurrence). The doctrine of stare decisis is not limited to interpretations of constitutional provisions. Where the supreme court of this state has decided an issue that remains good law, the Utah Court of Appeals should not ignore that precedent and create its own body of law by adopting the precedents of other jurisdictions.
Rule 12 of the Utah Rules of Criminal Procedure requires the trial court to “state its findings on the record” where “factual issues are involved in determining a motion.” Utah R.Crim.P. 12(c). The purpose of factual findings is to “ensure that the ultimate [decision] follows logically from, and is supported by, the evidence....” Smith v. Smith, 726 P.2d 423, 426 (Utah 1986); Milne Truck Lines v. Public Serv. Comm’n, 720 P.2d 1373, 1378 (Utah 1986) (findings should be sufficiently detailed to disclose steps by which factual conclusions are reached).
I do not dispute whether there was sufficient evidence to support the given findings, or whether the trial court arbitrarily ignored substantial uncontroverted evidence to reach a particular finding. I argue that a determination of indigency cannot follow logically from the findings of fact as stated by the trial judge. There simply are not enough relevant findings to come to any conclusion as to indigency.
As the main opinion points out, indigency determinations are made by weighing several factors. When an ultimate decision of the trial court is based on the weighing of different factors, “findings of fact are inadequate [if] they ... do not demonstrate a rational factual basis for the ultimate decision by reference to pertinent fac-tors_” Sanderson v. Tryon, 739 P.2d 623, 627 (Utah 1987) (emphasis added). In the case before us, the trial court concluded the defendant was not indigent based on the following findings of fact:
1. That the defendant has been employed during the pend[ency] of this matter.
2. That the defendant is now employable but has chosen not to work since it is not in his economic interest to work.
3. That the defendant is presently being supported by his wife who has full time employment.
These three findings, although somewhat pertinent, do not form a rational factual basis on which to base an indigency determination. They reference only the defendant’s income. The trial court made no findings of fact as to the defendant’s assets, liabilities, or other factors relevant to a defendant’s ability to obtain adequate legal counsel. The main opinion condenses these three findings into two factors: (1) defendant’s employment profile, and (2) the financial support defendant received from his ex-wife, finding them to be an adequate basis for an indigency determination because the bulk of the trial evidence was undisputed.
As footnote eight of the main opinion notes, undisputed facts alone are not enough to make remand unnecessary. The appellate court must be able to “fairly and properly resolve the case on the record before it.” Flying Diamond Oil Corp. v. Newton Sheep Co., 776 P.2d 618, 622 (Utah 1989). Proper resolution of an indigency determination is made by consideration of all relevant “factors and circumstances bearing upon the question_” State v. Mickle, 56 Haw. 23, 525 P.2d 1108, 1111 *265(1974). This court in State v. Lopez, 831 P.2d 1040, 1047-48 (Utah App.1992), cert, granted, 843 P.2d 1042 (Utah 1992), remanded the case to the trial court to make relevant findings in part because “[t]he court ... failed to address many relevant uncontested facts.” (Emphasis added). In Kelsey v. Hanson, 818 P.2d 590, 591 (Utah App.1991), the uncontested evidence before the trial court was that petitioner’s sole income was $225.00 per month and that she did not have funds or assets to pay the divorce filing fee. The trial judge relied solely on the fact that petitioner paid an attorney $100.00 to prepare the divorce decree papers. Id. The court remanded the case for consideration of other relevant factors including: “petitioner’s employment status and earning capacity; financial aid from family or friends; financial assistance from state and federal programs; petitioner’s necessary living expenses and liabilities; petitioner’s unencumbered assets, or any disposition thereof, and her borrowing capacity; and, the relative amount of court costs to be waived.” Id. at 591-92 (citing Mickle, 525 P.2d at 1111). Undisputed evidence is insufficient to make remand unnecessary if that evidence is silent on relevant factors necessary to make a determination.
The main opinion notes that indigence is not equivalent to total destitution, but is a question of an individual’s present ability to retain counsel. The ability to retain counsel is not only a function of how much disposable income one has, but also what that disposable income can secure with respect to adequate legal counsel. The record, including the impecuniosity hearing transcripts, contains no evidence, undisputed or not, concerning the cost of retaining counsel or whether the defendant attempted to procure counsel. Without knowing the current rates or the retainer fee the defendant will have to pay up front, a trial judge cannot determine the defendant’s present ability to pay for a first interview, let alone the ability to pay for full trial preparation and representation. We do not allow judges to take judicial notice of such evidence when determining attorney fees, in cases where they are at issue, and we should not allow the trial judge to do so here. See Utah R.Evid. 201(b). The determination of a person’s present ability to retain counsel and consequently a person’s indigency status should not be made in the vacuum created by assumption, but by looking at the reality, as demonstrated in the record, of retainer fees and other attorney charges. The trial court’s findings of fact are inadequate because they do not demonstrate a rational basis on which to base a conclusion for or against indigency, and the record is silent on whether the defendant can secure legal counsel with any disposable income he may have.
The remedy for inadequate findings is not a de novo review of the record by this court. The absence of adequate findings of fact “precludes appellate review of the evidentiary basis underlying the trial court’s decision and requires remand for more detailed findings by the trial court.” Estate of Quinn v. Quinn, 830 P.2d 282, 286 (Utah App.1992); accord Woodward v. Fazzio, 823 P.2d 474, 478-79 (Utah App. 1991); State v. Lovegren, 798 P.2d 767, 770-71 (Utah App.1990)).1 In Lovegren, as in this case, the trial court’s findings were “inadequate to provide meaningful review on appeal.” Lovegren, 798 P.2d at 771. The Lovegren panel héld that even though the trial court’s decision on the pre-trial motion before it “may have been correct, the critical ‘issues are for the trial court to decide and ... the findings of fact must reveal how the court resolved each material issue.’ ” Id. (quoting Acton v. Deliran, 737 P.2d 996, 999 (Utah 1987)). In the absence of adequate findings, it is simply “not the function of the appellate court to *266try the facts or substitute for the trial court in the determination of factual issues.” Sabol v. Snyder, 524 F.2d 1009, 1011 (10th Cir.1975); see also Utah R.Civ.P. 52(a) (1992).
CONCLUSION
An indigency determination is to be reviewed using a clearly erroneous standard, giving great deference to the trial court’s findings of fact. Findings of fact are inadequate when they do not form a rational basis for the trial judge’s conclusions. In the case before us, the trial court has failed to state enough findings of fact on relevant issues to form any conclusion as to the indigency of the defendant. Accordingly, the trial court has failed to properly comply with rule 12 of the Utah Rules of Criminal Procedure.
The main opinion conducts a de novo review of the evidence, making additional findings of fact on which it bases its reversal of the trial judge. The main opinion excuses its departure from the well-established functions of the trial and appellate courts by stating that the evidence before the trial judge is undisputed. Whether the evidence is undisputed is irrelevant if the evidence is silent on factors necessary to make an indigency determination. Instead of establishing a precedent for appellate courts making findings of fact after de novo reviews in cases where the trial court’s findings are insufficient, this court should follow the precedent of Kelsey and remand this case for a redetermination of defendant’s ability to obtain adequate counsel.

. See Lopez, 831 P.2d at 1048 (this court remanded the case to the trial court to make relevant findings of fact necessary to apply a legal standard); Kelsey, 818 P.2d 590, 592 (Utah App.1991) (per curiam) (this court remanded the case to the trial court because the trial court did not rely on a sufficient number of relevant factors to make its indigency determination); Jefferies v. Jefferies, 752 P.2d 909, 911-12 (Utah App.1988) (this court remanded the case to the trial court because the trial court failed to make findings on all material factors and hence, the findings of fact were insufficient).