Opinion ID: 2329146
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Harmful Error Regarding Count Three

Text: First, with respect to the defendant's conviction of risk of injury to a child for the bathroom incident, the state's case rested almost entirely on the victim's credibility. The state did not introduce any physical or medical evidence of abuse and did not present any eyewitness testimony other than that of the victim. The state's case surrounding the details of the alleged abuse centered on the victim's testimony, the constancy of accusation testimony of the victim's mother and aunt, and the testimony of Ron-Priola regarding her physical examination and ultimate diagnosis of the victim. There was also evidence that, around the time of the abuse, the victim's behavior changed at school and at home. Furthermore, the defendant's confessions to the police and the department pertained only to the bedroom incident, and did not include any admissions of inappropriate conduct as part of a separate bathroom incident as charged in count three of the information. Moreover, the defendant testified at trial and denied both of the victim's claims of abuse. Consequently, with respect to the bathroom incident, the state's only properly admitted substantive evidence was essentially the testimony of the five year old victim, whose credibility was central to the state's case, and the evidence of the child's behavior. Ron-Priola's diagnosis of [c]hild [s]exual [a]buse, therefore, bolstered the credibility of the victim relative to that of the defendant. Ron-Priola's qualifications are extensive, [11] and she was qualified as an expert in the field of child sexual abuse without objection. In light of Ron-Priola's expertise, and in view of the fact that the victim's statements provided the only evidence of the defendant's guilt, it is reasonable to presume that the jurors would conclude that, if Ron-Priola believed the victim's allegations enough to reach a diagnosis of [c]hild [s]exual [a]buse, then they should as well. See State v. Grenier, supra, 257 Conn. at 809, 778 A.2d 159. Although there was also evidence of the child's behavioral change, that evidence was not tied to either specific incident and was, therefore, explainable as deriving from either. Thus, in our view, it was insufficiently corroborative of the bathroom incident to overcome the more weighty effect that Ron-Priola's impermissible opinion likely had on the jury's verdict. The state makes four arguments in support of its position that any error by the trial court was harmless. First, the state contends that the most damaging evidence against the defendant was his own confession, not Ron-Priola's diagnosis of [c]hild [s]exual [a]buse. This argument is without merit with respect to the defendant's conviction under count three of the information. As previously noted, the defendant's confession was applicable only to the bedroom incident, or count four of the information, and had nothing to do with the bathroom incident described by the victim at trial. Indeed, rather than confessing to the bathroom incident, the defendant repeatedly denied ever having been in the bathroom with the victim and touching her in an inappropriate manner. Second, the state contends that Ron-Priola's testimony was brief and ambivalent in nature, and acknowledged that the victim's lack of physical injury was consistent with both sexual abuse and a lack of sexual abuse. Citing State v. Whitley, supra, 53 Conn.App. at 423, 730 A.2d 1212, the state argues that, because Ron-Priola's evidence could be interpreted as either favorable or unfavorable to the defendant, the testimony was not necessarily prejudicial. We disagree. Contrary to Ron-Priola's testimony regarding her physical examination, her diagnosis was not ambivalent in nature and could not be interpreted either favorably or unfavorably to the defendant. Quite the opposite, by opining that the victim had been sexually abused, Ron-Priola's diagnosis was definitive and conclusory in nature, and thus encouraged the jury to favor the victim's story over that of the defendant. Third, the state contends that the trial court's curative instruction issued during its jury charge mitigated any danger that the jury would place undue weight on Ron-Priola's written report and the testimony surrounding her diagnosis. As we noted in State v. Grenier, supra, 257 Conn. at 810, 778 A.2d 159, in which the state raised the identical argument under very similar facts, [w]e acknowledge that, as a general matter, the jury is presumed to follow the court's curative instructions in the absence of some indication to the contrary. In the present case, however, the court did not give a curative instruction immediately following the admission of the written report and the improper testimony. Instead, the court, in the presence of the jury, overruled the defendant's objection to the admission of the unredacted written report into evidence, and heard arguments, outside the presence of the jury, regarding the defendant's motion in limine to exclude testimony from Ron-Priola regarding her diagnosis. Furthermore, the jury instruction eventually given by the trial court at the close of evidence simply permitted the jury to accept or reject Ron-Priola's opinion and did not instruct the jury to disregard her diagnosis of [c]hild [s]exual [a]buse. [12] Finally, the state claims that any error associated with admitting the improper evidence was harmless because the defendant was acquitted of the more serious charges of first degree sexual assault, thus suggesting that the jurors were not overly influenced by Ron-Priola's testimony and had carefully weighed all of the evidence in arriving at a verdict. This claim is similarly without merit. The primary difference between the crimes of sexual assault in the first degree and risk of injury to a child is the act of sexual intercourse, or penetration of the victim's vagina. We conclude that, merely because the jury did not find, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the defendant had penetrated the victim's vagina as part of the two sexual assaults, does not establish that the jury failed to be influenced by Ron-Priola's diagnosis of [c]hild [s]exual [a]buse in reaching guilty verdicts on the risk of injury counts. At a minimum, Ron-Priola's diagnosis endorsed and provided credibility to the victim's claim that some type of inappropriate contact had taken place between the victim and the defendant in the bathroom and bedroom of his home. B