Opinion ID: 2176005
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Chlamydia Evidence.

Text: Iowa Rule of Evidence 412 pertinently provides: (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, in a criminal case in which a person is accused of sexual abuse, reputation or opinion evidence of the past sexual behavior of an alleged victim of such sexual abuse is not admissible. (b) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, in a criminal case in which a person is accused of sexual abuse, evidence of a victim's past sexual behavior other than reputation or opinion evidence is also not admissible, unless such evidence other than reputation or opinion evidence is: (1) ... constitutionally required to be admitted; or (2) admitted in accordance with subdivision c and is evidence of: (A) past sexual behavior with persons other than the accused, offered by the accused upon the issue of whether the accused was or was not, with respect to the alleged victim, the source of semen or injury; or .... (c)(3) If the court determines on the basis of [a rule 412 hearing] that the evidence which the accused seeks to offer is relevant and that the probative value of such evidence outweighs the danger of unfair prejudice, such evidence shall be admissible in the trial to the extent an order made by the court specifies evidence which may be offered and areas with respect to which the alleged victim may be examined or cross-examined. (d) For purposes of this rule, the term past sexual behavior means sexual behavior other than the sexual behavior with respect to which sexual abuse is alleged. (Emphasis added.) As he did in the district court, Knox maintains that the chlamydia evidence was admissible under this statute on three grounds. First, the evidence was exculpatory. Second, the evidence could be used to impeach the credibility of the complainant. Last, the evidence was constitutionally required to be admitted. Our review of the district court's ruling on the chlamydia evidence is for an abuse of discretion. See Hutchison v. American Family Mut. Ins. Co., 514 N.W.2d 882, 885 (Iowa 1994) (generally where assignments of error attack trial court's evidentiary rulings, this court will reverse only upon a showing of abuse of discretion). We find an abuse of discretion only when the district court exercises its discretion on grounds or for reasons clearly untenable or to an extent clearly unreasonable. State v. Peters, 525 N.W.2d 854, 859 (Iowa 1994) (citation omitted). A. The exculpatory ground. In his rule 412 motion, Knox stated he intended to offer evidence that the complainant had chlamydia at the time of the alleged incident and he did not. The complainant did test positive for chlamydia when she was examined at a hospital shortly after the alleged incident. Knox did not have the disease when he was tested three months later. The district court concluded this proffered evidence (1) had very weak probative value, (2) would violate rule 412 as evidence of a specific instance of past sexual behavior, and (3) did not fit within the exceptions of rule 412(b)(2)(A). The court therefore ruled the proffered evidence was inadmissible. We need not decide the question whether this proffered evidence of chlamydia falls within the prohibition of the rape shield law. If such evidence was outside the rape shield law, it was admissible or inadmissible on the general grounds of relevancy. See State v. Alvey, 458 N.W.2d 850, 852 (Iowa 1990) (whether victim's past false claims of rape fell within prohibition of rape shield law need not be decided because in either event the question was one of relevancy). Evidence is relevant when it has any tendency to make the existence of any fact that is of consequence to the determination of the action more probable or less probable than it would be without the evidence. Iowa R.Evid. 401. The test of relevancy is whether the evidence offered would render the desired inference more probable than it would without such evidence. Alvey, 458 N.W.2d at 852 (citation omitted). The inference Knox would have the jury make is that he did not engage in sexual intercourse with the complainant. To support this inference Knox proffered the chlamydia evidence at the rule 412 hearing. Because of other evidence, the district court concluded the probative value of this proffered evidence was very weak. We agree. The other evidence included the following. Chlamydia is caused by a bacterial organism which affects the male and female urogenital tracts. Chlamydia is usually transmitted by sexual intercourse. A male has a thirty percent chance of contracting the disease from an infected female in a single act of intercourse. Use of condoms substantially reduces this risk. In contrast, a female has a seventy percent chance of contracting the disease from an infected male. Had Knox engaged in unprotected sexual intercourse with the complainant, his chances of contracting the disease from the complainant would have been only one out of three. In addition, the complainant testified that she was penetrated but she was not sure whether she had been penetrated with a penis, a finger, or some other object. She also testified that Knox did not move his body as if he were having sexual intercourse. Nor could she tell whether he reached any kind of climax. Investigators found no seminal fluid or foreign pubic hairs in the complainant's underpants. Had such evidence been found, one could reasonably infer unprotected sexual intercourse. Shortly after the alleged incident, the police arrested Knox and found condoms in his pocket. All of this evidence suggests that Knox may have used a condom or may have digitally penetrated the complainant. In either of these events, the chances of Knox contracting chlamydia was nil. Finally, there was evidence that chlamydia is easily treatable with widely available antibiotics. This suggests that Knox could have been infected at the time of the alleged incident but was cured when tested three months later. The rape shield law and the general rules of relevancy require a balancing test. The evidence may have some relevancy, yet it may not be admissible if the probative value of such evidence is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice. See Iowa R.Evid. 403; 412(c)(3). Evidence is unfairly prejudicial if it may cause a jury to base its decision on something other than the established propositions in the case. State v. Plaster, 424 N.W.2d 226, 231 (Iowa 1988) (citation omitted). Courts have recognized that the existence of a venereal disease is highly inflammatory. State v. Ridgeway, 66 Ohio App.3d 270, 274, 583 N.E.2d 1123, 1125 (1990) (highly inflammatory nature of evidence that victim, but not defendant, had gonorrhea outweighed probative value and was inadmissible under rape shield law); State v. Ervin, 723 S.W.2d 412, 415 (Mo.Ct. App.1986) (relevancy of defendant's negative gonorrhea test, taken six weeks after the rape, did not render probative value of evidence greater than prejudicial effect of admission to victim). Although the chlamydia evidence was relevant to a degree, it does not reach a level of probative force to warrant the inflammatory and prejudicial impacts upon the victim and the proceeding by its admission. Ervin, 723 S.W.2d at 415. The district court did not abuse its discretion in denying the admission of the chlamydia evidence. See People v. Redman, 135 Ill.App.3d 534, 542, 90 Ill.Dec. 361, 367-68, 481 N.E.2d 1272, 1278-79 (1985) (victim tested positive for oral gonorrhea six days after rape and defendant tested negative for gonorrhea thirty days after attack; trial court's suppression order upheld because lag time between attack and defendant's test rendered evidence irrelevant); State v. Carmichael, 240 Kan. 149, 154, 727 P.2d 918, 924 (1986) (evidence that victim had gonorrhea was no longer relevant where defendant was treated for gonorrhea before any tests were taken to determine whether defendant was infected; evidence could only show that victim had sexual intercourse with someone before rape, which was not permitted under state rape shield law); Ervin, 723 S.W.2d at 415 (suppression of evidence that when rape occurred victim had gonorrhea but defendant did not upheld where (1) there was less than a 331/3% chance defendant would have contracted the disease during unprotected sexual intercourse with the victim, and (2) evidence would have had prejudicial effect); State v. Jarry, 161 Vt. 629, 630, 641 A.2d 364, 365-66 (1994) (refusal to allow cross examination of expert witness on source of rape victim's chlamydia upheld where defendant did not test negatively until four months after attack because evidence was intended to prove only whether defendant had had intercourse with victim on date of alleged incident). B. The impeachment ground. Knox believes admission of the chlamydia evidence was crucial to his theory of defense: The complainant had fabricated the story of the abuse to regain the affections of Moore, her former paramour. Moore had broken up with the complainant several days before Knox's alleged sexual abuse of the complainant. Knox's rule 412 motion sets out his impeachment ground this way: Specifically, the defendant intends to introduce the following: .... 3. Kevin Moore testified that he had sexual intercourse with [the complainant] on numerous occasions both at his home and at [the complainant's] home. (See attached deposition excerpts of Kevin Moore as offer of proof.) Both [the complainant] and Kevin Moore claim that they were only friends and were not close. This evidence of the closeness of their relationship is crucial proof of the motive of [complainant] to tell an untruthful story about James L. Knox. She told this story about James L. Knox to get attention from Kevin Moore who had rejected her only [two] or [three] days earlier. Earlier in his rule 412 motion, Knox stated he intended to offer this chlamydia evidence: The complainant had chlamydia on the date of the alleged incident. At the rule 412 hearing Knox argued tests taken three months later showed he did not have chlamydia. So the chlamydia evidence and the complainant's sexual relations with Moore were an integral part of Knox's impeachment theory. There are three problems with Knox's impeachment theory. First, the theory assumes the complainant lied about contracting the disease from Knox. There was deposition testimony from Thomsen, the complainant's friend, that the complainant had contracted chlamydia approximately two years before the alleged incident but the condition had cleared with medication. There was, however, no testimony that the complainant had the condition or knew she had the condition shortly before the alleged sexual abuse. Cf. State v. Bressman, 236 Kan. 296, 300, 689 P.2d 901, 906 (1984) (defendant offered evidence of complaining witness's prior history of gonorrhea to challenge her credibility; held that trial court did not abuse its discretion in excluding the testimony as irrelevant because witness never testified her statement to defendant that she had gonorrhea was true; rather the statement was made to stop defendant from going any further; laboratory tests on date of alleged incident showed that complaining witness did not have gonorrhea). Second, the probative value of this testimony was tenuous at best. In addition, the testimony was inflammatory to the complainant, branded her as promiscuous, and related instances of past sexual behavior the very type of evidence the rape shield law was intended to prevent. The evidence's probative value was clearly outweighed by the unfairly prejudicial effect to the complainant. See State v. Gettier, 438 N.W.2d 1, 2-4 (Iowa 1989) (defendant not permitted to cross-examine complainant on her statement to defense witness after emerging from defendant's van where alleged sexual abuse occurred that she had had sex with two men that day; although evidence had some probative value for impeachment purposes on issue of consent, court concluded probative value was outweighed by unfair prejudice in causing jury to consider complainant a bad person). As we noted in Gettier, [e]vidence of other acts will be excluded if relevant only to show that the individual is a bad person, capable of committing bad acts. Gettier, 438 N.W.2d at 4; Iowa R.Evid. 404(b). The impeachment evidence Knox intended to introduce clearly insinuates that the complainant is a bad person and for that reason the evidence is unfairly prejudicial. Last, ordinarily inquiry into specific instances of conduct is not allowed. State v. Martin, 385 N.W.2d 549, 552 (Iowa 1986). Iowa Rule of Evidence 608(b), however, does permit such inquiry in the discretion of the court if probative of the witness's truthfulness or untruthfulness. Id.; Iowa R.Evid. 608(b). Rule 608(b) follows Federal Rule of Evidence 608(b). State v. Clark, 325 N.W.2d 381, 383 (Iowa 1982). The note accompanying the federal rule significantly provides: Effective cross-examination demands that some allowance be made for going into matters of this kind, but the possibilities of abuse are substantial. Consequently, safeguards are erected in the form of specific requirements that the instances inquired into be probative of truthfulness or its opposite.... Also, the overriding protection of Rule 403 requires that probative value not be outweighed by danger of unfair prejudice, confusion of issues, or misleading the jury. Fed.R.Evid. 608(b) advisory committee note. We have already mentioned the minimal probative value of the proffered impeachment evidence and its unfairly prejudicial effect on the complainant. Given the specific instances of sexual conduct in the proffered impeachment evidence, we think rule 608(b) likewise supports the district court's decision excluding this evidence. For all these reasons, we conclude the district court was well within its discretion in excluding this evidence. C. The constitutional ground. Knox finally argues that the court had no discretion to deny admission of this impeachment evidence because it was constitutionally required to be admitted under the rule 412(b)(1) exception. Under the federal Constitution and corresponding state constitutional provisions, Knox maintains suppression denied him his Sixth Amendment rights to (1) present testimony in his own defense, and (2) confront and cross-examine adverse witnesses. Under both constitutions he maintains his Fourteenth Amendment due process right to a fair trial was violated. The State counters that this argument is unpreserved. Our careful review of the record reveals that at the rule 412 hearing, Knox's counsel raised no constitutional concerns. The court did not consider constitutional arguments in its rule 412 ruling. Knox's counsel did not file any posthearing or posttrial motion calling constitutional arguments to the district court's attention. The court did not address the issue in any posthearing or posttrial motions. So ordinarily there would be nothing left for our review. See State v. Manna, 534 N.W.2d 642, 644 (Iowa 1995). However, Knox did raise these constitutional concerns during trial when he made an offer of proof on the chlamydia evidence. So we consider them preserved for our review. Nevertheless, we still think the district court did not err on constitutional grounds in refusing to admit the impeachment evidence. This is because no constitutional violation occurs unless the suppressed evidence is relevant to the charge. State v. Jones, 490 N.W.2d 787, 791 (Iowa 1992). As we said, the relevance of the impeachment evidence was, at best, tenuous. And any relevance was overshadowed by the unfairly prejudicial effect of admission. See State v. Clarke, 343 N.W.2d 158, 161 (Iowa 1984) (Even relevant evidence is not constitutionally required to be admitted if the prejudicial effect outweighs the probative value.) (citations omitted); accord Gettier, 438 N.W.2d at 4. Knox's Sixth and Fourteenth Amendment rights were not implicated by the district court's action in denying admission of this marginally relevant, highly prejudicial evidence.