Opinion ID: 2673870
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Accusation

Text: At the time of the underlying events, Tymond Preston was eighteen years old. Preston has an IQ of sixty-five, which the Supreme Court recognizes as within the range of intellectual disability.1 See Atkins v. Virginia, 536 U.S. 304, 309 n.5 (2002) (describing an IQ below seventy-five as within the range of mental retardation).2 He attended special education classes beginning in elementary school, and did so until he dropped out of high school. Preston’s mother said that a doctor told her that Preston had a “small brain, like a fiveyear-old.” Psychological evaluations conducted during the course of this litigation show that Preston has “exceptionally limited linguistic ability,” and “significant problems with verbal communication and comprehension.”3 The district 1 Disability advocates now use the term “intellectual disability” rather than “mental retardation.” Congress has adopted the term “intellectual disability” for use in federal statutes. See Rosa’s Law, Pub. L. No. 111256, 124 Stat. 2643 (Oct. 5, 2010). We therefore use the term “intellectual disability,” except where the earlier locution “mental retardation” is used in the cited authority. 2 The Supreme Court is currently reviewing the constitutionality of Florida’s scheme for identifying individuals with intellectual disabilities in capital cases, which mandates that a person must have an IQ below seventy to be classified as intellectually disabled. See Hall v. Florida, 134 S. Ct. 471 (2013). 3 Preston underwent two psychological evaluations. First, he was examined for his competency to stand trial by Dr. Daniel C. Cady, who provided a report, admitted as an exhibit at trial. The defense retained Dr. 6 UNITED STATES V. PRESTON court found that he had “deficits in general linguistic and academic skills and low IQ.” Before the offense addressed in this appeal, Preston had been arrested twice for minor juvenile offenses but had never been convicted of any offense or adjudicated delinquent. Preston lived with his mother and father on the Navajo Nation. An extended family of relatives, including his paternal aunt, resided next door. The neighboring households had a long-standing feud. As recounted by its participants, the feud took some unusual turns. For example, Preston told investigators that the neighbors had used “witchcraft” to paralyze his father for three months. Some time on Wednesday, September 23, 2009, Preston’s eight-year-old neighbor — a child in the household with whom Preston’s family was feuding, and the grandchild of Preston’s aunt — entered and later left Preston’s house. That evening, the child reportedly told his grandparents and uncle that Preston “‘put his pee-pee in [my] butt,’” and that “his butt was hurting.” The grandparents called the police. When asked about this assertion the next day by Carli Moncher, a forensic interviewer for the Safe Child Center at Flagstaff Medical Center, the child spun a lengthy, fantastical, largely incomprehensible narrative. The tale, in brief, was: Preston had come to his house the day before and threatened to kill him with a knife; the child locked Preston John DiBacco, who examined Preston and testified regarding his confession. Dr. DiBacco has a Ph.D. in psychology from Vanderbilt University, is an adjunct professor of clinical psychology at Arizona State University, and is the senior consultant to Maricopa County’s Child Protective Services department. UNITED STATES V. PRESTON 7 in his bedroom, and Preston escaped by going out the window; the child called 911, climbed on top of a shack, jumped off of it, and ran away; Preston followed the child’s tracks and found him hiding in the bushes; the child ran home and hid while watching a movie with his sister; he and his sister climbed out the window and then down a cliff on a ladder, while Preston jumped over the cliff in a “monster truck”; the child then got into a fight with Preston and kicked him “in the balls,” and Preston “fell out the window”; Preston came to his school in the monster truck, and the police followed, chasing Preston in cars and helicopters and shining a yellow light at Preston and his house; the child and his sister climbed onto the shack and jumped off; Preston jumped over and broke his leg; Preston then came to his house and was “trying to fuck [his sister’s] butt,” at which point the child tried to beat up Preston, hitting him in the head and face; the rape was eventually forestalled when the child’s kittens began scratching Preston; and the child then also “took a lot” of knives and threw them at some robbers, hitting one “right . . . in the heart,” and killing him. As the district court observed after hearing this story, “[m]any of these details are obviously not factual.” As to the alleged sexual contact, the boy stated that Preston pulled the child’s underwear down, “put his penis in my butt,” and touched the boy’s “balls” and “butt” with his mouth. He also stated that Preston told him to “suck his balls,” and when the child did, “white stuff got on my shirt” and “on my lips.” The boy described the shirt he was wearing as red, and said it was at his home in a bag. He further alleged Preston had tried to “cut . . . my balls” and that “next he cut his balls.” He also said that Preston had started the attack by dragging him by his shirt and choking him. 8 UNITED STATES V. PRESTON On the same day he gave this account to Moncher, the boy was interviewed by a nurse practitioner. The nurse asked him, “Did [Preston] put something on his dick?” and the child responded, “He just put on the dick wearing,” which the parties assume refers to a condom. When asked what happened to the “dick wearing,” the child said that “[i]t got white stuff on it,” and that Preston “threw it away.” Most of the child’s allegations of sexual abuse were not corroborated by physical evidence. Although swabs were taken from various parts of the child’s body, including his lips, anus, and genitals, the forensic examiner found no evidence of semen on the child. The child had a “normal genital and anal exam,” and no signs of injuries, bruises, or trauma of any kind, although he complained of pain during the anal exam. No red shirt was found. Skin cells were found on the child’s underwear4 with DNA from multiple contributors, including at least one male and potentially a female; Preston, the child’s grandmother and at least one more relative could not be excluded as the source of some of the DNA.5