Jailhouse calls to girlfriend urging sex with son properly admitted

A jailed man’s 15 phone calls with his girlfriend urging her to have sex with her learning-disabled son to show he wasn’t gay were properly admitted as evidence that led to his conviction of conspiracy to commit child molesting, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday.

Tracy D. Guffey was convicted of the Class A felony and four other felony charges, and he was adjudicated a habitual offender. He was sentenced to an aggregate 85 years in prison for plotting the attempted molestation from the Fayette County Jail.

In the phone calls, Guffey urged girlfriend Amanda Mize to ply the 12-year-old child with vodka and orange juice and encourage him to have sex with her. Deputies were listening to the calls and monitored Mize, arresting her outside a liquor store where she had purchased vodka. Despite initial denials, Mize later told Department of Child Services caseworkers she likely would have done what Guffey said had she not been arrested.

Mize also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit child molestation, according to the record.

Judge Rudolph R. Pyle III wrote for the panel that the trial court didn’t abuse its discretion in admitting the phone calls into evidence, concluding, “any prejudice that may have possibly arisen from the recordings did not substantially outweigh the probative value of the evidence.”

Guffey also failed to persuade the panel that the evidence against him was insufficient. “(A)lthough Mize expressed some reluctance to engage in a sexual act with her son, the evidence shows that she, upon Guffey’s encouragement, agreed to do so,” Pyle wrote. “Moreover, Mize expressly testified that she and Guffey did enter into an agreement.”  

The trial court did, however, fail to merge a couple of the five convictions and entered judgment on other charges that constitute double jeopardy, Pyle wrote for the panel in Tracy D. Guffey v. State of Indiana, 21A01-1410-CR-446.

The case was remanded for resentencing on the Class A felony charge, which carries a maximum 50 years in prison, plus the habitual offender enhancement that could add up to 30 years in prison.