Title: State v. Tester

State: vermont

Issuer: Vermont Supreme Court

Document:

State v. Tester (2006-051)

2007 VT 40

[Filed 11-May-2007]


       NOTICE:  This opinion is subject to motions for reargument under
  V.R.A.P. 40 as well as formal revision before publication in the Vermont
  Reports.  Readers are requested to notify the Reporter of Decisions,
  Vermont Supreme Court, 109 State Street, Montpelier, Vermont 05609-0801 of
  any errors in order that corrections may be made before this opinion goes
  to press.


                                 2007 VT 40

                                No. 2006-051


  State of Vermont                               Supreme Court

                                                 On Appeal from
       v.                                        District Court of Vermont
                                                 Unit No. 1, Windham Circuit

  Dwight Tester, Sr.                             December Term, 2006


  Katherine A. Hayes, J.

  David W. Gartenstein, Windham County Deputy State's Attorney, Brattleboro,
    for  Plaintiff-Appellee.

  Allison N. Fulcher of Martin & Associates, Barre, for Defendant-Appellant.


  PRESENT:  Reiber, C.J., Dooley, Johnson, Skoglund and Burgess, JJ.

       ¶  1.  DOOLEY, J.   Defendant Dwight Tester, Sr., was convicted
  after a jury trial of aggravated sexual assault of his daughter, D.T. 
  While his direct appeal was pending, defendant  moved for a new trial under
  Vermont Rule of Criminal Procedure 33 on the grounds of newly discovered
  evidence.  The trial court denied his motion, concluding that there was no
  reasonable probability that defendant's proffered evidence would have
  changed the outcome of his trial.  Defendant appealed, arguing that the
  court erred in evaluating the relevance and admissibility of the evidence. 
  We affirm.  


       ¶  2.  The record indicates the following.  Defendant was charged with
  aggravated sexual assault in April 2003.  The State relied on D.T.'s
  hearsay statements at trial to establish defendant's guilt.  Its evidence
  showed that in April 2003, when D.T. was seven years old, she told her
  foster mother that defendant had come into her room, knelt by her bed, and
  touched her vagina.  See State v. Tester, 2006 VT 24, ¶ 4, 179 Vt. 627,