State v. Pence
State v. Pence
Opinion
¶ 1 After separating from Defendant Rory Dustin Pence, Victim obtained a protective order against Pence. The protective order instructed Pence to "Stay Away" from the marital home but allowed him visitation with the couple's children. Visitation was to take place at Pence's parents' home, where Pence was living, which was across the street from the marital home.
¶ 2 In August 2014, Victim took the children to a city park. While they were there, Pence drove by and yelled at Victim. Afterward, Victim drove home with the children and noticed that Pence had driven to his parents' home, parked his car in front of the marital home, and made his way onto the sidewalk of the marital home. Victim then called law enforcement while she and the children waited in the vehicle. Upon law enforcement's arrival, Victim exited the vehicle and Pence began arguing with Victim and law enforcement. He "walked right up to Victim" and, as she testified, was "right in [her] face." Pence was later charged with two counts of violating the protective order-one count related to the August 2014 encounter and the second count related to similar events that occurred in September 2014.
¶ 3 Prior to trial, Pence filed a motion to dismiss, arguing that the protective order language was void for vagueness and did not give fair notice to Pence of the prohibited conduct. The trial court denied the motion. At trial, Pence requested an expanded version of an elements jury instruction, but the court denied his request. The jury convicted Pence of the count arising from the August events, but acquitted him of the second count arising from the September events. He appeals his conviction. We affirm.
BACKGROUND 1
¶ 4 In February 2013, Victim filed for divorce. At the same time, she also sought a protective order against Pence, which was granted in July 2013. The protective order awarded Victim temporary possession of the marital home and ordered Pence to "Stay Away" from Victim, her vehicle, job, school, and the marital home. The protective order also ordered Pence not to commit, try to commit, or threaten to commit any form of violence against Victim, including "stalking, harassing, threatening, physically hurting, or causing any other form of abuse." In addition to those provisions, the protective order specifically precluded Pence from "contact[ing]" or "communicat[ing] in any way with [Victim]," except regarding matters relating to their minor children. The court awarded Victim temporary custody of the children and gave Pence permission to have supervised parent-time. Parent-time was to take place at Pence's parents' home, where Pence was living, located across the street from the marital home.
¶ 5 In August 2014, Pence was scheduled to have parent-time with the minor children. Before the commencement of parent-time, Victim picked up dinner with the children. While she and the children were eating their dinner at a nearby park, Victim noticed Pence's blue Mustang drive by. The car slowed down, and Victim saw Pence driving the vehicle. Pence yelled something at Victim, "revved his engine and then took off."
¶ 6 After Victim and the children finished their meal, Victim drove back to the marital home with the children. When she arrived, she noticed Pence standing outside of his parents' home across the street. Victim parked her car and saw that Pence's car was parked in front of the marital home. After parking, Victim observed Pence walk across the street toward the marital home and begin pacing by his car. Victim and the children remained in her car, and Victim called law enforcement.
¶ 7 An officer (Officer) responded within minutes and met Victim and the children at her vehicle. Victim told Officer that she believed Pence was violating the protective order. Officer testified that he observed Pence "standing by the corner in front of the [marital] home." While Victim was talking to Officer, Pence approached Victim's vehicle and was "right in [Victim's] face." Pence then indicated to Officer that he was there to take the minor children for parent-time. Officer told Pence to move his vehicle, to which Pence responded, "[T]his is my house, my trees. And I park my car in the shade. I don't have to move it. And I will not." During this conversation, Pence attempted to "grab" one of the minor children, but the child refused to go with him and "pulled back."
¶ 8 After arguing with Officer and Victim, Pence stated that he "couldn't stand looking at [Victim's] face" and walked back to his parents' house across the street. After speaking to Officer for several more minutes, Victim walked the children across the street to Pence's parents' home for parent-time.
¶ 9 Pence was subsequently charged with two counts of violating a protective order-one count related to the August 2014 events and the other count related to events that took place in September 2014.
See
¶ 10 Also prior to trial, Pence asked the court to use his version of the elements jury instruction. His requested instruction included additional language not found in Utah Code section 76-5-108, highlighted in paragraph 4 below, that stated,
[The jury] cannot convict Mr. Pence of [violating the protective order] unless, based on the evidence, [the jury] find[s] beyond a reasonable doubt each of the following elements:
1. That on or about August 15, 2014, within Sevier County, State of Utah, Mr. Pence was subject to a Protective Order;
2. That Mr. Pence was properly served with the protective order;
3. That the protective order prohibited the conduct Mr. Pence is accused of;
4. That the protective order described the prohibited conduct with sufficient[ ] clarity to give a person of ordinary intelligence fair notice that his contemplated conduct was forbidden by the protective order ;
5. That Mr. Pence intentionally or knowingly violate[d] the protective order.
(Emphasis added.)
¶ 11 The court denied Pence's request, concluding that it was unnecessary for a jury to find elements beyond those required by Utah Code section 76-5-108. Instead, the court gave the State's elements instruction, which stated,
Before [the jury] can convict the Defendant of VIOLATION OF A PROTECTIVE ORDER ... [the jury] must find from the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt, all of the following elements of that crime:
1. That on or about August 15, 2014, within Sevier County, State of Utah, the Defendant was subject to a Protective Order;
2. That the Defendant was properly served with the Protective Order; and
3. That the Defendant knowingly or intentionally violated the Protective Order.
Additionally, the court gave a separate mens rea instruction, with language taken directly from Utah Code section 76-2-103. This instruction defined "Intentional and Knowing Conduct" under Utah law.
See
¶ 12 At trial, Officer was asked if he was able to determine during his investigation whether Pence had been served with the protective order, to which Officer answered affirmatively. Officer next testified to the service of the protective order, without any objection from Pence, stating, "We had the return of service that was served. And it was also through dispatch, advised that it had been served through the state system." 2 Next, Officer identified State's Exhibit 6 (Exhibit 6), which was received as a single document although it was made up of seven pages. The first page of the exhibit was a ruling of the district court outlining which provisions of the protective order would expire after 150 days and which provisions would be permanent. The order stated that it was intended to be a permanent protective order. The next six pages consisted of a copy of the protective order itself. Officer then catalogued the contents of Exhibit 6, which included the protective order, and Exhibit 6 was admitted without objection.
¶ 13 At the close of the State's case, Pence filed a motion for judgment as a matter of law, arguing that there was insufficient evidence of service of the protective order. The court denied the motion. Subsequently, the jury found Pence guilty on the August 2014 count and not guilty on the September 2014 count. Pence appeals.
ISSUES AND STANDARDS OF REVIEW
¶ 14 Pence raises three issues on appeal. First, he contends that the trial court erred in denying his motion to dismiss, which was premised on the argument that the language in Utah Code section 76-5-108 was unconstitutionally vague as applied by the protective order. "Constitutional challenges to statutes present questions of law, which we review for correctness,"
Provo City Corp. v. Thompson
,
¶ 15 Second, he argues that the trial court erred by refusing to give his proposed jury instruction. A court's ruling on a proposed jury instruction is reviewed for correctness.
State v. Maestas
,
¶ 16 Finally, Pence contends that the trial court erred in denying his motion for judgment as a matter of law, which was premised on the argument that there was insufficient evidence that the protective order was served upon him. "We will reverse a guilty verdict only when the evidence ... is sufficiently inconclusive or inherently improbable that reasonable minds must have entertained a reasonable doubt that the defendant
committed the crime of which he or she was convicted."
State v. MacNeill
,
ANALYSIS
I. Vagueness Challenge
¶ 17 Pence first claims that Utah Code section 76-5-108 is unconstitutionally vague as applied because the protective order issued by the district court fails to define the precise locations he is prohibited from visiting, stating only that Pence must "Stay Away" from Victim, her vehicle, job, school, and the marital home. In short, Pence asserts that the command "Stay Away" is vague. We are unpersuaded by Pence's argument.
¶ 18 The State argues that Pence's vagueness challenge is unpreserved because he challenges the language of the protective order, rather than the language of Utah Code section 76-5-108. We acknowledge that courts have long held that the vagueness doctrine only applies to statutes, not to court orders.
See
Kolender v. Lawson
,
¶ 19 The United States Supreme Court has stated that when a party raises both facial and as-applied vagueness challenges, "[a] court should ... examine the complainant's conduct before analyzing other hypothetical applications of the law."
Village of Hoffman Estates v. Flipside, Hoffman Estates, Inc.
,
¶ 20 To survive a vagueness challenge, a statute must "(1) define the criminal offense with sufficient definiteness that ordinary people can understand what conduct is prohibited and in a manner that does not encourage arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement, and (2) establish minimal guidelines that sufficiently instruct law enforcement so as to avoid arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement." Id. ¶ 54 (cleaned up). Pence has failed to establish that the statute violates either prong of this test.
A. Notice of Prohibited Conduct
¶ 21 We first examine whether the language of Utah's protective order statute is so vague that Pence would have had inadequate notice that his conduct toward Victim-including, but not limited to, yelling at Victim while driving past her, approaching Victim's vehicle aggressively, and getting "right in [Victim's] face"-had the potential to violate the protective order issued against him.
¶ 22 The statute at issue, Utah Code section 76-5-108, states, in relevant part,
Any person who is the respondent or defendant subject to a protective order, child protective order, ex parte protective order, or ex parte child protective order ... who intentionally or knowingly violates that order after having been properly served, is guilty of a class A misdemeanor, except as a greater penalty may be provided ....
¶ 23 Moreover, assuming without deciding that the vagueness doctrine applies to court orders in addition to statutes, we disagree with Pence's argument that "ordinary people" would not know "what conduct is prohibited,"
Tulley
,
B. Absence of Arbitrary and Discriminatory Enforcement
¶ 24 Having concluded that the statute is sufficiently definite to have notified Pence that his conduct was prohibited, we next examine whether the protective order statute encouraged arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement.
See
Kolender v. Lawson
,
¶ 25 Here, Pence argues that "[w]ith no criteria to rely upon in the [protective order] beyond the injunction to '[S]tay [A]way,' [he] was left to guess how he was to interpret the requirement to have parent-time across the street in a manner not violative of the [protective order]." This argument fails for two reasons. First, Pence's contention lacks merit because "Stay Away" is not found in the statute , but is instead found in the protective order. Unlike statutes, which apply to everyone within the jurisdiction, orders are tailored to individuals. This concept gives courts wide discretion to vary their language and degrees of severity to the needs of the case. Here, because the language Pence challenges is found in the protective order rather than the statute, the vagueness doctrine is arguably inapplicable.
¶ 26 Second, even assuming-again, without deciding-that the vagueness doctrine applies to court orders in addition to statutes, the protective order is sufficiently definite so as to discourage arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement. Pence asserts that because the protective order did not expressly set out the conduct from which he was prohibited, it was open to interpretation. We disagree. "In an as applied challenge, ... we ... focus on the particular conduct at hand and not on the possible conduct of hypothetical parties."
Green
,
¶ 27 The relevant statute specified that any person subject to a protective order, who intentionally or knowingly violated that order, after having been properly served, was guilty of violating a protective order.
See
II. Jury Instruction
¶ 28 Next, Pence argues that the court erred by not adopting his version of the elements jury instruction, which contained two additional elements required to find him guilty: "[t]hat the protective order prohibited the conduct Mr. Pence is accused of" and "[t]hat the protective order described the prohibited conduct with sufficient[ ] clarity to give a person of ordinary intelligence fair notice that his contemplated conduct was forbidden by the protective order."
¶ 29 In contrast, the instruction given by the trial court tracked the exact language of Utah Code section 76-5-108, which states that "[a]ny person who is the respondent or defendant subject to a protective order, ... who intentionally or knowingly violates that order after having been properly served, is guilty of a class A misdemeanor."
¶ 30 "[E]rrors in jury instructions-even instructions going to the elements of a charged crime-require harmless-error analysis."
State v. Garcia
,
¶ 31 Here, when considered as a whole, the jury instructions fairly and accurately instructed the jury as to the applicable law. All of the elements required in Utah Code section 76-5-108 were included in the elements jury instruction given by the trial court. The language requested by Pence is not found in the statute. Therefore, Pence has failed to show that the instructions, as given, were an incorrect or incomplete statement of the law. 5 Accordingly, the trial court did not err in rejecting the additional proposed language in the elements instruction.
III. Proof of Service
¶ 32 Finally, Pence contends that the trial court erred in denying his motion for judgment as a matter of law, which was premised on insufficient evidence of service.
When considering a sufficiency of the evidence claim, "we review the evidence and all inferences which may reasonably be drawn from it in the light most favorable to the verdict of the jury."
State v. Nielsen
,
¶ 33 The premise of Pence's insufficient evidence argument is that the State's exhibit was inadequate as proof of proper service of the protective order, one of the required elements of Utah Code section 76-5-108.
See
¶ 34 Also, without objection, Officer testified to the service of the protective order, stating, "We had the return of service that was served. And it was also through dispatch, advised that it had been served through the state system." While this evidence is conclusory and hearsay, it nevertheless is evidence that the jury could consider in determining that the protective order had been served because no objection was made. With an evidentiary basis upon which the jury could rely, especially when drawing all inferences in favor of the verdict, the trial court correctly denied the motion for judgment as a matter of law.
See
State v. Gonzalez
,
CONCLUSION
¶ 35 For the aforementioned reasons, we conclude that Utah Code section 76-5-108 is not unconstitutionally vague as applied. We further hold that the jury instructions fairly instructed the jury on the law applicable to the case. And finally, we affirm the trial court's holding that there was sufficient evidence of service of the protective order. Accordingly, we affirm Pence's conviction.
"On appeal from a criminal conviction, we recite the facts from the record in the light most favorable to the jury's verdict."
State v. Pham
,
We acknowledge that Officer's statement was hearsay,
see
Utah R. Evid. 801, but because there was no objection below, it was admitted and available for the jury's consideration,
see
Based on our conclusion that Pence's as-applied challenge fails, any alleged facial challenge fails as well.
See
State v. MacGuire
,
Pence also argues that we should apply the rule of lenity, but he fails to recognize that "the rule of lenity is not implicated unless a statute is ambiguous."
State v. Rasabout
,
Pence also contends that the denial of his requested jury instruction that contained additional elements prevented the jury from making the mens rea finding required by the constitution. But Pence conceded at trial that "intentionally and knowingly" were from the statute and that they were acceptable. Thus, his argument is unpreserved. Further, even if we assume that his concession was made by mistake, it constituted invited error, which precludes our review.
See
State v. Moore
,
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.