COURT OF APPEALS OF VIRGINIA 

Present: Judges Coleman, Willis and Bray 

Argued at Norfolk, Virginia 

FRANCISCO SAUCEDO, S/K/A 

 FRANCISCO ZUNIGA SAUCEDO 

v. Record No. 1978-94-1 MEMORANDUM OPINION*

 BY JUDGE SAM W. COLEMAN III 

COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA JULY 5, 1995 

 FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE CITY OF VIRGINIA BEACH 

Frederick B. Lowe, Judge 

 Brandon Baade, Assistant Public Defender 

(Office of the Public Defender, on brief), 

for appellant. 

 Katherine P. Baldwin, Assistant Attorney 

General (James S. Gilmore, III, Attorney 

General, on brief), for appellee. 

 Francisco Zuniga Saucedo was convicted in a bench trial of 

taking indecent liberties with his thirteen-year-old daughter. 

The only issue on appeal is whether the trial judge erred by 

refusing to permit defense counsel to ask the thirteen-year-old 

victim whether she told the prosecutor that she wanted to drop 

the charges against her father. Because the appellant failed to 

proffer her answer to the question for the record, we are not 

able to determine whether her answer would have been relevant or 

material. 

 On New Year's Eve, Francisco Saucedo spent the evening at 

home with his wife and children. At bedtime, all of Saucedo's 

 

 * Pursuant to Code § 17-116.010 this opinion is not 

designated for publication. 
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family retired to their respective bedrooms, except the 

thirteen-year-old daughter, who fell asleep on the family room 

sofa. During the night, the daughter was awakened by the 

pressure of her father on top of her. Her panties and shorts 

were partially down, and her father was feeling her breasts. She 

told her father to get off her. He told her to be quiet. She 

pushed him away and went to her bedroom. Saucedo was 

subsequently charged with aggravated sexual battery, attempted 

rape, child neglect, and taking indecent liberties. The trial 

court convicted him of taking indecent liberties, and this appeal 

followed. 

 On cross-examination of the daughter, defense counsel asked 

her about conversations she had with a social worker. She 

acknowledged that she had told the social worker that she wanted 

to drop the charges against her father. Defense counsel then 

asked, "[d]id you inform Mr. Zanin [the prosecutor] you wanted to 

drop the charges." The trial court sustained the Commonwealth's 

attorney's objection to the question, holding that it was not 

relevant whether the thirteen-year-old daughter wanted to drop 

the charges. The appellant argued that the answer would have 

been relevant because it would have shown bias or prejudice and, 

therefore, was exculpatory. 

 "When an objection is sustained and evidence is rejected, it 

is incumbent upon the proponent of the evidence to make a proffer 

of the expected answer; otherwise, the appellate court has no 
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means of determining if the evidence is material or otherwise 

admissible." Speller v. Commonwealth, 2 Va. App. 437, 440, 345 

S.E.2d 542, 545 (1986); see also Mostyn v. Commonwealth, 14 Va. 

App. 920, 924, 420 S.E.2d 519, 521 (1992); Smith v. Hylton, 14 

Va. App. 354, 357-58, 416 S.E.2d 712, 715 (1992). 

 Although the appellant contends that the victim's answer 

would have shown bias and, thus, would have provided exculpatory 

evidence, we have no basis for examining that claim. See Spencer 

v. Commonwealth, 238 Va. 295, 305, 385 S.E.2d 785, 792 (1989), 

cert. denied, 493 U.S. 1093 (1990); see also Mackall v. 

Commonwealth, 236 Va. 240, 256-57, 372 S.E.2d 759, 769, cert. 

denied, 492 U.S. 925 (1988); Barrett v. Commonwealth, 231 Va. 

102, 108, 341 S.E.2d 190, 194 (1986). The appellant's failure to 

proffer the victim's answer precludes us from reviewing the 

issue. Moreover, to the extent that the victim may have 

expressed that sentiment to others in general, and assuming that 

her sentiment along that line was relevant and admissible, 

evidence that she expressed that sentiment to a social worker was 

received in evidence without objection. 

 We, therefore, affirm the appellant's conviction. 

Affirmed.