Opinion ID: 1455971
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: recantation hearing

Text: On December 23, 1992, Petitioner's new counsel filed a motion to vacate judgment as to count II under CrR 7.8(b)(2) and (5), [51] basing his motion upon the ground that T.S. consistently recanted her testimony. The trial judge, the Honorable Jerome M. Johnson, heard testimony on the motion on March 23, 1993. T.S. was then seven years old, having been five years old when she testified in the 1991 trial. At the hearing on the motion, the child, T.S., testified she did not remember being in court before. She said she remembered telling people Michael sexually molested her but said she was talking about her cousin. On direct examination by Petitioner's counsel, she repeatedly denied that Petitioner had ever molested her. [52] She explained that: [M]y grandma thought that I was talking about my mom's boyfriend. And then I didn't want to make my grandma mad, that I lied. Then I thought if I told her that lie that she wouldn't love me.[ [53] ] The child, T.S., also testified she told her aunt, her mother, her mother's friends and her therapist, Ms. Janet Keen, that Petitioner did not molest her. [54] During cross-examination, T.S. initially indicated she did not remember the judge or the prosecutor, but then acknowledged seeing the prosecutor in the hallway before the hearing and saying she remembered him then. [55] The child's mother, Ms. Macon [formerly Ms. Short], and Ms. Lisa Grenier, one of her baby-sitters, also testified at the hearing. Both women said T.S. told them she had lied when she accused Petitioner of touching her. Ms. Macon [formerly Ms. Short] indicated T.S. had been saying this to her [f]rom the very beginning and Ms. Macon [formerly Ms. Short] said she testified to that effect at trial. [56] Ms. Macon [formerly Ms. Short] also said T.S. had complained that her private parts hurt within a month before the hearing. She said a doctor diagnosed T.S.' vaginal redness and irritation as the result of poor hygiene. She said the condition occurred frequently. Ms. Bonney McCormick, a court appointed special advocate (CASA), was the final witness testifying at the hearing. She was asked to investigate Petitioner's case when Ms. Nancy S. Scribner and her husband sought court-ordered visitation with T.S. Ms. McCormick talked with the Scribners, T.S., Ms. Macon [formerly Ms. Short], Ms. Keen, and the CPS caseworkers. She also reviewed medical records and school records. Ms. McCormick testified that Ms. Keen described T.S. as a very malleable young woman who says what she thinks people want to hear, that it happens in a number of instances, not only in this particular instance. [57] Ms. McCormick agreed with Ms. Keen's assessment and found T.S. very eager to please. [58] The trial court denied Petitioner's motion to vacate judgment as to count II and entered the following Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law on May 6, 1993: