State v. Hughes, 560 P.3d 188

Daymian Martiez Hughes was convicted of criminal trespass, sexual battery, unlawful detention, and four counts of domestic violence in the presence of a child after an incident involving his former girlfriend ("Mother") and their children at a hotel.
At the time, Hughes and Mother were governed by a mutual restraining order prohibiting physical contact and requiring only text communication regarding their children.
The incident at issue occurred when Hughes arrived uninvited at Mother’s hotel room, refused to leave after repeated requests, and physically grabbed and groped Mother in the presence of their children; a hotel manager and police were subsequently involved.
At trial, Mother and two daughters testified to Hughes’s unwanted physical contact and refusal to leave; Hughes and his son testified to a conflicting version, claiming Mother invited him and there was no assault.
After a jury trial, Hughes was convicted of all charges except using/threatening with a dangerous weapon. He moved to arrest judgment on all counts, which was denied, then appealed.

Issue	Hughes’s Argument	State’s Argument	Held
Sufficiency of evidence (all counts)	Testimony of Mother and daughters was inherently improbable & thus insufficient to convict.	Testimony was not inherently improbable; corroborated by multiple witnesses.	Testimony was not inherently improbable; evidence was sufficient to support each conviction.
Dom. violence in presence of Son	Son testified he did not witness or hear any domestic violence, so evidence is insufficient.	Son was present in the room; reasonable inference he could see/hear what occurred.	Sufficient evidence that Hughes knew Son was present and might see/hear the violence.
Ineffective assistance: restraining order evidence	Counsel was ineffective for introducing the full 911 recording with reference to the mutual restraining order, which was prejudicial.	No reasonable probability outcome would have changed; evidence was cumulative/non-prejudicial.	No prejudice resulted from introduction of stray reference to restraining order; ineffective assistance claim rejected.

State v. Heaps, 999 P.2d 565 (Utah 2000) (review standard for jury verdicts favors the verdict unless evidence is inherently improbable)
State v. Robbins, 210 P.3d 288 (Utah 2009) (outlining the standard for when testimony is inherently improbable and can be disregarded by appellate courts)
State v. Prater, 392 P.3d 398 (Utah 2017) (explaining that contradictions in witnesses' pretrial/trial statements are usually for the jury to weigh, not a basis for inherent improbability)
Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984) (establishes the test for ineffective assistance of counsel: deficient performance and resulting prejudice)