Opinion ID: 2360954
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Allegations of sexual abuse

Text: [¶ 8] Ardolino contends that it was an abuse of the trial court's discretion to admit evidence, over his objection, that he had manipulated Daniel and Matthew to lodge false claims of sexual abuse against their mother and grandfather. Although Ardolino's objection to the evidence at the time of the trial was on the ground that it was irrelevant, he now argues that it was improper character evidence in violation of M.R.Evid. 404(b) and that, pursuant to M.R. Evid. 403, the evidence should have been excluded because its probative value was substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice to him. [4] We disagree. [¶ 9] M.R.Evid. 404(b) provides: Evidence of other crimes, wrongs, or acts is not admissible to prove the character of a person in order to show that he acted in conformity therewith. We have previously stated that evidence of other acts is admissible when offered to prove something other than that the defendant was acting in conformity with a character trait elucidated by such and when not deemed more prejudicial than probative by the trial [court]. State v. Lindsey, 447 A.2d 794, 795 (Me.1982). See, e.g., State v. Huntley, 681 A.2d 10, 13 (Me.1996) (uncharged sexual acts admissible to show motive, opportunity, intent, preparation, plan, knowledge, identity, or absence of mistake or accident); State v. Valentine, 443 A.2d 573, 578 (Me.1982) (evidence of prior beating of murder victim by defendant admissible to show intent); State v. Silva, 153 Me. 89, 98, 134 A.2d 628, 632 (1957) (evidence of old abnormal injuries admissible to rebut defendant's claim of accident). See also Field & Murray, Maine Evidence § 404.4 at 128 (4th ed. 1997) (The list of purposes for which prior acts evidence may be admitted is not exhaustive, nor is it conclusive. The factors in each case are so varied that no verbal formula can be applied with precision.); McCormick, 1 McCormick on Evidence § 190 at 799-800 (4th ed.1992) (evidence of other crimes admissible to complete the story of the crime on trial by placing it in the context of nearby and nearly contemporaneous happenings .... [t]o prove the existence of a larger plan, scheme, or conspiracy, of which the crime on trial is a part.). [¶ 10] M.R.Evid. 403 provides, in pertinent part, that relevant evidence may be excluded if its probative value is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice .... As we have previously stated, prejudice, in this context, means more than simply damage to the opponent's cause. A party's case is always damaged by evidence that the facts are contrary to his contention; but that cannot be ground for exclusion. What is meant here is an undue tendency to move the tribunal to decide on an improper basis, commonly, though not always, an emotional one. State v. Forbes, 445 A.2d 8, 12 (Me.1982) (quoting State v. Hurd, 360 A.2d 525, 527 n.5 (Me.1976)). We review for an abuse of the court's discretion both its admission of evidence of prior bad acts, State v. Connors, 679 A.2d 1072, 1074 (Me.1996), and its admission of prejudicial relevant evidence. State v. Robbins, 666 A.2d 85, 87 (Me.1995). [5] [¶ 11] Here, the evidence discloses that within three weeks following the parents' separation, Ardolino forced Daniel and Matthew to copy in their own handwriting his written allegations that they had been sexually molested by their mother and grandfather. He then notified the Department of Human Services that this molestation had just been disclosed to him. He arranged for the children to be interviewed by the Department. In his presence, he had the children make the disclosure to a physician and arranged to have the children interviewed by a Maine State Police detective. He also notified the New York Police Department, where the grandfather resided, and removed the children from school to take them to New York to be interviewed by a detective in that department. Throughout this period he was repeatedly physically and verbally abusing the children. [¶ 12] On June 21, 1993, Ardolino was personally notified by the State Police that the children's mother would not be criminally charged with sexually abusing the children and that Ardolino might be charged with filing a false public report. He was particularly physically and verbally abusive toward Matthew from that time until the time of Matthew's death. [¶ 13] Daniel testified the allegations were false, that the children had agreed to the false accusations because we were afraid, that he had been able to keep the story straight when speaking to various persons because he studied the written statements, and that the allegations had been made to get back at his mother. The record also discloses evidence that Ardolino instructed Daniel to state that Matthew had fallen from the tree house the day prior to his death, and Daniel related this story to several investigating officers on the morning of Matthew's death. An investigation of the tree, the tree house, the surrounding area and of Matthew's clothing disclosed no physical evidence to support the story. Daniel testified he told the story because he was afraid and because everything that Dad had told me to do before had always turned out okay, so I figured it would turn out okay. [¶ 14] The court limited the scope of the evidence relating to the sexual abuse allegations, excluding the content of the allegations and the children's written statements. During the course of the trial and in its final instructions to the jury, the court gave an instruction as to the limited purpose of the evidence. As determined by the trial court, the evidence was probative of Ardolino's plan to harm his wife by his manipulation and control of the children and his angry state of mind immediately preceding Matthew's death on learning the plan had failed. The overall pattern of Ardolino's conduct and the familial relationship existing between Ardolino, his two children, and his wife, close in time to Matthew's death, provided evidence of Ardolino's state of mind and motive to behave as the State alleged he did. The evidence of Daniel's participation in lodging the sexual abuse allegations also served to put in context Daniel's different versions of Matthew's death and assisted the jury in determining Daniel's credibility. On the record before us, we conclude the trial court did not err or abuse its discretion by admitting the challenged evidence.