Opinion ID: 2221513
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: admissibility of the evidence in this case

Text: [3] ¶ 53. Having articulated the applicable legal principles, we now turn to the question presented in this case: whether the trial court erroneously exercised its discretion when it admitted evidence that Davidson assaulted Cindy P. at his trial for assaulting Tina H. On appeal, the question is not whether this court would have admitted the other crimes evidence, `but whether the trial court exercised its discretion in accordance with accepted legal standards and in accordance with the facts of record.' Plymesser, 172 Wis. 2d at 591 (quoting State v. Kuntz, 160 Wis. 2d 722, 745, 467 N.W.2d 531 (1991)). Thus, the trial court's exercise of discretion will be sustained if the trial court reviewed the relevant facts; applied a proper standard of law; and using a rational process, reached a reasonable conclusion. Sullivan, 216 Wis. 2d at 780-81. If the trial court failed to articulate its reasoning, an appellate court will review the record independently to determine whether there is any reasonable basis for the trial court's discretionary decision. Id. at 781; State v. Gray, 225 Wis. 2d 39, 51, 590 N.W.2d 918 (1999).
¶ 54. The first step in our analysis of whether evidence of the Cindy P. assault was properly admitted is to determine whether the evidence was offered for an acceptable purpose under Wis. Stat. § (Rule) 904.04(2). Sullivan, 216 Wis. 2d at 772. ¶ 55. The record indicates that during pretrial hearings, the State proposed various purposes for which the evidence could be admitted. The trial court's rulings on which purposes were permissible are somewhat unclear. The trial court ruled that the evidence could not be admitted solely for the purpose of establishing motive. However, the court later concluded that because the evidence was admissible for the purposes of establishing opportunity and plan or scheme, it could be admitted for the purpose of motive as well. The court reasoned that although the danger of prejudice outweighed the probative value of the evidence for the purpose of establishing motive, the danger of prejudice did not outweigh the evidence's probative value for the purpose of establishing plan or scheme. The court apparently concluded that because the evidence was therefore admissible for at least one purpose, all applicable purposesmotive, opportunity, and plan or schemecould be submitted to the jury. The jury instruction permitted the jury to consider evidence of the Cindy P. assault for the purpose of establishing motive and plan or scheme. [13] ¶ 56. Applying the greater latitude rule, the court of appeals concluded that the evidence was offered for a permissible purpose under Wis. Stat. § (Rule) 904.04(2). We agree. ¶ 57. First, the trial court could reasonably have concluded that the evidence was admissible for the purpose of establishing motive. Our cases establish that when the defendant's motive for an alleged sexual assault is an element of the charged crime, other crimes evidence may be offered for the purpose of establishing motive. See Plymesser, 172 Wis. 2d at 593 (citing Friedrich, 135 Wis. 2d at 25; Fishnick, 127 Wis. 2d at 260-61; State v. Mink, 146 Wis. 2d 1, 15, 429 N.W.2d 99 (Ct. App. 1988)). ¶ 58. The defendant in this case was charged with second-degree sexual assault of a child in violation of Wis. Stat. § 948.02(2). At the time of the defendant's crime, the statute provided in relevant part: Whoever has sexual contact or sexual intercourse with a person who has not attained the age of 16 years is guilty of a Class C felony. [14] Wis. Stat. § 948.02(2). Sexual contact is defined by Wis. Stat. § 948.01(5), which provided at the time of Davidson's offense: Sexual contact means any intentional touching by the complainant or defendant, either directly or through clothing by the use of any body part or object, of the complainant's or defendant's intimate parts if that intentional touching is either for the purpose of sexually degrading or sexually humiliating the complainant or sexually arousing or gratifying the defendant. Wis. Stat. § 948.01(5). [15] ¶ 59. Thus the defendant's purpose or motive for allegedly touching Tina H. was one element of the charged crime, and evidence relevant to motive was therefore admissible. Plymesser, 172 Wis. 2d at 595-96. See also Fishnick, 127 Wis. 2d at 260-61. ¶ 60. The evidence also was admissible to establish plan or scheme. Evidence of other crimes may be admitted for the purpose of establishing a plan or scheme when there is a concurrence of common elements between the two incidents. Friedrich, 135 Wis. 2d at 24; State v. Spraggin, 77 Wis. 2d 89, 99, 252 N.W.2d 94 (1977). The defendant accurately points out that there were differences between the Cindy P. and Tina H. assaults. The Cindy P. assault took place 10 years before the Tina H. assault, the victims were not the same age, the assaults took place in different places, and only the Tina H. assault involved touching of the victim's breasts. ¶ 61. However, as the trial court noted, the circumstances of the two incidents bear striking similarities. In both assaults, the victim was particularly vulnerable. Tina H., a thirteen-year-old girl, had been drinking wine given to her by the defendant; Cindy P., a six-year-old girl, had ventured alone to the basement of the church to get a drink of water. Also, both offenses took place in unlikely locations, in which the defendant could easily have been apprehended during the commission of the offense. Tina H. was assaulted in a camper while family members slept nearby; Cindy P. was assaulted in the basement of the church, next to the men's room and near to an occupied nursery, while church services took place on the main floor. Finally, both assaults involved touching the girls between the legs. [4] ¶ 62. Because of these common elements, and in light of the greater latitude rule, we conclude that the trial court did not erroneously exercise its discretion when it allowed evidence of the Cindy P. assault to be submitted to the jury for the purpose of establishing plan or scheme.
¶ 63. Having determined that the other crimes evidence was offered for permissible purposes under Wis. Stat. § (Rule) 904.04(2), we next must examine whether the evidence was relevant under Wis. Stat. § (Rule) 904.01. Sullivan, 216 Wis. 2d at 772. The trial court did not explicitly articulate in what manner it believed evidence of the Cindy P. assault was relevant under § (Rule) 904.01. We therefore review the record independently to determine whether there is any reasonable basis for the trial court's implicit conclusion that the evidence was relevant. ¶ 64. Relevance under Wis. Stat. § (Rule) 904.01 has two components; the evidence must relate to some fact that is of consequence to the determination of the action, and it must have some tendency to make that fact more or less probable than it would be without the evidence. Wis. Stat. § (Rule) 904.01; Sullivan, 216 Wis. 2d at 772. ¶ 65. As already discussed, the defendant's motive for touching Tina H. was an element of the charged crime, and the Cindy P. assault related to that consequential fact. Under our prior cases, the fact that the defendant denied sexually assaulting Tina H. does not change this conclusion. The state must prove all the elements of a crime beyond a reasonable doubt, even if the defendant does not dispute all of the elements.... Evidence relevant to motive is therefore admissible, whether or not defendant disputes motive. Plymesser, 172 Wis. 2d at 594-95 (citing Friedrich, 135 Wis. 2d at 22, Fishnick, 127 Wis. 2d at 260-61; and Mink, 146 Wis. 2d at 15). See also State v. Hammer, 2000 WI 92, ¶ 25, 236 Wis. 2d 686, 613 N.W.2d 629 (If the state must prove an element of a crime, then evidence relevant to that element is admissible, even if a defendant does not dispute the element.). It was reasonable to anticipate that jurors would have difficulty believing that the defendant could have any motive to sexually assault his young niece. See Friedrich, 135 Wis. 2d at 27-28 (The average juror could well find it incomprehensible that one who stands before the court on trial could commit such an act.). This provides a reasonable basis for the trial court's implicit conclusion that evidence of the Cindy P. assault related to the defendant's motive, a fact of consequence to the determination of the action. ¶ 66. The record also supports the determination that evidence of the Cindy P. assault was relevant to another fact of consequencethe defendant's opportunity or plan to commit a sexual assault in such an unlikely place. At trial, the defense presented evidence suggesting that it was nearly impossible that he could have assaulted Tina H. in the camper with his family nearby. Evidence of the Cindy P. assault, which also took place under circumstances when there was a danger of discovery, related to the question of whether the defendant could have had the opportunity to commit an assault under unlikely circumstances. See Proper, 85 Wis. at 629 ([The defendant's] conduct on this occasion was corroborative of the evidence of the prosecutrix in respect to other indecent or criminal assaults, such as are charged in the information, and would tend to sustain and render more credible her evidence of other such occurrences.). ¶ 67. Having determined that the other crimes evidence related to facts of consequence to the case, we next must examine whether it has any tendency to make those facts more or less probable. The measure of probative value in assessing relevance is the similarity between the charged offense and the other act. Gray, 225 Wis. 2d at 58 (citing Sullivan, 216 Wis. 2d at 786). The defendant argues that even under the greater latitude rule, the Cindy P. assault was not relevant because it did not bear the substantial similarities to the charged crime that the other crimes evidence in Plymesser, Friedrich, Day, and Hendrickson bore to the charged crimes in those cases. The defendant contends that [t]he only similarity whatsoever between the [assault on Cindy P. and the alleged assault on Tina H.] is the involvement of minor children, and that the other alleged similarities between the Cindy P. and Tina H. assaults are illusory. (Defendant-Appellant's Brief at 35, 41.) ¶ 68. We cannot agree. To begin with, we note the obvious similarity that in both incidents, the defendant was sexually attracted to a child and acted on that sexual attraction by touching the child between her legs. Furthermore, both victims were assaulted when they were particularly vulnerable; Cindy P. was assaulted while she was alone at the drinking fountain, and Tina H. was assaulted while she was sleeping, after her uncle repeatedly gave her wine. Finally, both assaults occurred in locations in which there was a substantial risk of discovery. These similarities rendered evidence of the Cindy P. assault highly probative of the defendant's motive to assault Tina H. and of the defendant's opportunity and plan to commit the assault in the camper while his family slept nearby. ¶ 69. Indeed, the same degree of similarity was sufficient to satisfy this step of the analysis in Plymesser and Friedrich. ¶ 70. In Plymesser, the defendant was charged with sexually assaulting a thirteen-year-old girl, Kelly, in December 1989. Plymesser, 172 Wis. 2d at 586. Kelly testified that the defendant was a friend of her family and that the assault occurred while the defendant was driving Kelly to his home. Id. at 588. She testified that the defendant pulled the car over, kissed her, touched her breasts and vaginal area, and made her touch his penis. Id. at 588-89. The defendant admitted that he had been drinking on the night in question, but denied assaulting Kelly. Id. at 589. The trial court permitted the State to introduce evidence of the defendant's 1977 conviction for assaulting a seven-year-old girl. Id. at 589-90. The victim of the defendant's previous assault was also a daughter of the defendant's friends. Id. at 589. After first denying the assault, the defendant confessed that after drinking a lot of beer, he had put his mouth on the seven-year-old girl's vagina. Id. On appeal, this court determined that the evidence was relevant to establish the defendant's motive for the charged crime and to corroborate the victim's testimony. Id. at 595. ¶ 71. In Friedrich, the defendant was accused of sexually assaulting his fourteen-year-old niece while she was babysitting his children. Friedrich, 135 Wis. 2d at 7-8. The trial court permitted the State to present the testimony of two other girls who claimed that the defendant had sexually assaulted them. Id. at 17-18. One girl testified that five years earlier, when she was ten years old, the defendant pulled her pants down and touched her genital area after he picked her up from school. Id. at 17. The other girl testified that seven years before the trial, when she was thirteen years old, she was assaulted while babysitting the defendant's children. Id. at 17-18. While she was babysitting, she fell asleep; when she awoke, the defendant was sitting next to her. Id. at 17. She testified that he put his hand inside her pants and told her to move her legs. Id. at 17-18. This court concluded that the other crimes evidence was relevant because it tended to establish the existence of a scheme or plan, which related to the defendant's intent to commit the charged crime. Id. at 23-24. [5] ¶ 72. These cases demonstrate that defendant's past offense need not be identical to the charged offense in order to be probative. Remoteness in time and differences in age are considerations, but they are not determinative. Although there were differences between the Cindy P. and Tina H. assaults, the assaults shared many common featuresboth involved particularly vulnerable victims, took place in unlikely locations, and involved touching between the legs. Because of these similarities, and in view of the greater latitude rule as established in this court's precedents, the trial court could reasonably have concluded that the Cindy P. assault was probative of the defendant's motive, opportunity, and plan or scheme in the Tina H. assault.
¶ 73. Having concluded that evidence of the Cindy P. assault was offered for proper purposes under Wis. Stat. § (Rule) 904.04(2) and was relevant under Wis. Stat. § (Rule) 904.01, we now must determine whether under Wis. Stat. § (Rule) 904.03 the probative value of the evidence was substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice. `Unfair prejudice results when the proffered evidence has a tendency to influence the outcome by improper means or if it appeals to the jury's sympathies, arouses its sense of horror, provokes its instinct to punish or otherwise causes a jury to base its decision on something other than the established propositions in the case.' Gray, 225 Wis. 2d at 64 (quoting Sullivan, 216 Wis. 2d at 789-90.). ¶ 74. Although the trial court explicitly concluded that the probative value of the evidence was not outweighed by the danger of prejudice, the court did not explain its reasoning. The court did state that if the evidence had been offered only to establish motive, the danger of prejudice would have outweighed the probative value. Also, the court's determination that the evidence was admissible for the purposes of establishing opportunity, plan or scheme implicitly included a determination that the danger of prejudice did not outweigh the probative value of the evidence for those purposes. ¶ 75. We conclude that the record contains a reasonable basis for the trial court's determination that the probative value of the other crimes evidence was not substantially outweighed by the danger of prejudice under Wis. Stat. § (Rule) 904.03. The probative value of other crimes evidence `depends partially upon its nearness in time, place, and circumstance to the alleged crime or element sought to be proved.' Plymesser, 172 Wis. 2d at 595 (quoting Fishnick, 172 Wis. 2d at 261). In applying § (Rule) 904.03 to the other crimes evidence in Plymesser, this court pointed to the distinct similarities between the incidents. Plymesser, 172 Wis. 2d at 596. The court concluded that the fact that in both incidents the defendant drank with friends and then sexually assaulted the friends' daughters offset the thirteen-year gap in time between the assaults and the difference in the girls' ages. Id. Likewise, in Friedrich, analysis under § (Rule) 904.03 focused on the common elements between the crimes: the girls were of like age, they were part of the defendant's family or had a quasi-familial relationship with the defendant, the nature of the sexual contact was virtually identical, the defendant took advantage of the girls in a relationship of implied trust, and the defendant gratified his sexual desires through the physical contact. Friedrich, 135 Wis. 2d at 24. Thus, similarities between the other crimes evidence and the charged crime may render the other crimes evidence highly probative, outweighing the danger of prejudice. ¶ 76. As discussed, the Cindy P. and Tina H. incidents bore marked similarities. Both assaults involved particularly vulnerable victims, took place under circumstances in which there was a risk of discovery, and involved touching young girls between the legs. Consistent with Plymesser and Friedrich, the trial court could reasonably have determined that these similarities made the other crimes evidence highly probative of the defendant's motive, opportunity, plan or scheme to commit the charged crime. ¶ 77. In addition, unlike the other crimes at issue in Friedrich, the Cindy P. assault was a charged, convicted crime, to which the defendant had pled guilty. The high degree of reliability of the evidence of the Cindy P. assault increased its probative value. See Friedrich, 135 Wis. 2d at 55-56 and n.12 (Heffernan, C.J., dissenting) (suggesting that when prior acts resulted in an arrest, charge, or conviction, reliability may outweigh considerations of remoteness in time). ¶ 78. The defendant argues that because the State's case was so dependent on Tina H.'s credibility and because the prosecutor referred to the Cindy P. assault in both the opening statement and closing arguments, the danger of prejudice outweighed the probative value of the evidence. However, the trial court took steps to limit the danger of unfair prejudice posed by the evidence. The evidence was introduced in the form of a stipulation rather than through testimony, minimizing the danger of arousing the jury's sympathies or horror at the Cindy P. assault. Also, the elimination of any reference to the fact that the Cindy P. assault occurred in a church prevented the risk that jurors would be unfairly prejudiced by that fact. Furthermore, the court read a cautionary instruction to the jury immediately after the introduction of the Cindy P. evidence and once again after the closing arguments. Cautionary instructions help to limit the danger of unfair prejudice that might result from other crimes evidence. Plymesser, 172 Wis. 2d at 596-97 (citing Fishnick, 127 Wis. 2d at 262; Mink, 146 Wis. 2d at 17). [6] ¶ 79. In view of our precedents, we conclude that the trial court reasonably could have determined that the probative value of the Cindy P. evidence was not substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice under Wis. Stat. § (Rule) 904.03. [7] ¶ 80. In conclusion, we hold that under the three-step analytical framework set forth in Sullivan, and consistent with the greater latitude rule, the trial court's decision to admit evidence of the defendant's prior conviction for sexual assault did not constitute an erroneous exercise of discretion.