Opinion ID: 795481
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Admission of Testimony from the First Victim

Text: 10 We may affirm on any ground supported by the record[.] United States v. Wintermute, 443 F.3d 993, 1000 (8th Cir.2006). Accordingly, we need not address the admissibility of the challenged testimony under Rule 404(b), as suggested by Benais. Rather, we may address the admissibility of the testimony under Rule 413. 11 Rule 413(a) provides, In a criminal case in which the defendant is accused of an offense of sexual assault, evidence of the defendant's commission of another offense or offenses of sexual assault is admissible, and may be considered for its bearing on any matter to which it is relevant. Here, the first victim testified that Benais had sex with her in the car after they left the party but before he drove off with the second victim. This testimony qualifies as Rule 413(a) evidence because it is evidence that Benais committed another offense of sexual assault. 12 Rule 413(b) states, the Government shall disclose the evidence to the defendant, including statements of witnesses or a summary of the substance of any testimony that is expected to be offered, at least fifteen days before the scheduled date of trial[.] This subsection of the Rule clearly requires disclosure of the evidence itself. Benais argues that the fifteen-day-notice requirement also imposes on the Government a separate obligation to specifically disclose or declare the intention to rely upon Rule 413 for admissibility. There is no such requirement in the Rule, and we reject this argument. 13 We have stated that evidence found admissible under Rule 413 or its close analog, Rule 414 (Evidence of Similar Crimes in Child Molestation Cases), may still be subject to exclusion under Rule 403 if its probative value is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice. United States v. LeCompte, 131 F.3d 767, 769 (8th Cir.1997). We have held, however, that Rule 403 must be applied in this context in a manner that permits Rules 413 and 414 to have their intended effect, namely, to permit the jury to consider a defendant's prior bad acts in the area of sexual abuse or child molestation for the purpose of showing propensity. See id. at 770 (This danger [that jury will use bad acts to find propensity] is one that all propensity evidence in such trials presents. It is for this reason that the evidence was previously excluded, and it is precisely such holdings that Congress intended to overrule.); United States v. Medicine Horn, 447 F.3d 620, 623 (8th Cir.2006) (allowing Rule 413 evidence over a Rule 403 objection and stating, the inflammatory potential inherent in the sexual nature of prior sexual offenses cannot be considered in evaluating the admissibility of evidence under Rule 413). 14 Applying Rule 403, we believe that the first victim's testimony carries probative value that is not substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice. Here, the rape of the first victim was very close in time and occurred under circumstances similar to the rape of the second victim. LeCompte, 131 F.3d at 769-70; see also Medicine Horn, 447 F.3d at 623 (holding Rule 413 evidence admissible over a Rule 403 objection where the prior sexual assaults were similar in many respects to the crime charged, including the facts that the victims were teenage girls assaulted after leaving a party where they had been drinking alcohol). The evidence was probative and the only prejudice was that prejudice made admissible by Rule 413. There was no unfair prejudice as required for exclusion under Rule 403. 15