State v. Wilder, 387 P.3d 512

Background

At a late-night party, Wilder repeatedly pursued the victim outside to his car despite her refusals; he drove off while she was still partly outside and repeatedly demanded oral sex.
After parking in an empty lot, Wilder ordered the victim to undress, bit her breast, threatened to gut her, and she escaped from the car to an apartment complex.
Wilder chased her into the hallway, grabbed her by the hair, dragged her briefly (about two steps/≈10 seconds), punched her in the face, then fled; the victim reported the incident and Wilder was arrested.
Wilder was tried and convicted of aggravated sexual assault and aggravated kidnapping; he received concurrent 15-to-life sentences, consecutive to another sentence.
After trial, Wilder learned a juror attended junior high with his sons; Wilder moved for a new trial alleging juror bias and sought an evidentiary hearing, but the trial court denied the motion for lack of evidentiary support.
On appeal Wilder (1) challenged denial of the new-trial evidentiary hearing, (2) argued insufficient evidence supported aggravated kidnapping, and (3) claimed ineffective assistance because counsel did not move to merge the kidnapping and sexual-assault convictions. The court affirmed.

Issues

Issue	Wilder's Argument	State's Argument	Held
Whether the trial court abused its discretion by denying an evidentiary hearing on alleged juror bias	Juror knew Wilder’s children and was biased; an evidentiary hearing was needed to question the juror	Wilder presented no affidavits or corroborating evidence; trial court properly exercised discretion in denying further inquiry	No abuse of discretion; denial affirmed — Wilder offered innuendo, not actual evidence
Sufficiency of evidence for aggravated kidnapping	The brief hair-grab/drag and short detention were insufficient as a predicate for aggravated kidnapping	The hallway detention (hair grab, brief dragging, punch) was an unlawful detention and, combined with bodily injury, supported aggravated kidnapping	Sufficient evidence: a reasonable jury could find unlawful detention and aggravating bodily-injury element
Whether detention was merely incidental to the sexual assault (merger)	The kidnapping merged with the sexual assault because detention related only to completing the sexual offense	The hallway detention was a separate, subsequent act with independent significance and not inherent to the prior sexual assault	No merger as matter of law; convictions did not merge
Ineffective assistance for failing to move to merge convictions	Trial counsel was deficient for not moving to merge the counts	Even if counsel did not move, merger would have been futile; no prejudice shown	Not ineffective: counsel not required to make a futile motion; claim fails

Key Cases Cited

State v. Hamilton, 827 P.2d 232 (Utah 1992) (standard for reviewing jury verdicts in the light most favorable to the verdict)
State v. Mead, 27 P.3d 1115 (Utah 2001) (sufficiency review; reasonable inferences for each element suffice)
Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (U.S. 1984) (two-prong test for ineffective assistance: deficient performance and prejudice)
State v. Finlayson, 994 P.2d 1243 (Utah 2000) (Finlayson I) (merger test: detention must not be slight/incidental; must be independently significant)
State v. Finlayson, 362 P.3d 926 (Utah Ct. App. 2014) (Finlayson II) (applying merger test and finding no merger where detention exceeded time necessary for initial assault)
State v. Lee, 128 P.3d 1179 (Utah 2006) (no merger where subsequent dragging/relocation and additional violence were independent of the initial assault)
State v. Sanchez, 344 P.3d 191 (Utah Ct. App. 2015) (no merger where defendant dragged victim down hallway and inflicted further injury)
State v. Mecham, 9 P.3d 777 (Utah Ct. App. 2000) (clarifying no "substantial period" requirement for aggravated kidnapping unlawful-detention variant)
State v. Dunn, 850 P.2d 1201 (Utah 1993) (importance of reasonable-doubt standard when evaluating sufficiency of evidence)