Opinion ID: 1984141
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 12

Heading: Kuzia's reported appearance of nudity on roof of 97 Williams Street

Text: Kuzia's reported appearance of nudity at 97 Williams Street was learned by defense counsel after an investigator of the Public Defender's Office contacted the owner of the property at 97 Williams Street where Kuzia was living at the time of the assault (September 1982). There is no affidavit signed by Mrs. Marjorie Hardy, owner of 97 Williams Street. All of the information supplied to Elaine Hanlon, the public defender's investigator, was made on the phone because Mr. Hardy, who allegedly saw Kuzia sunbathing on the roof, was ill and could not be interviewed. In another interview conducted by Janet Huling, an investigator retained by Jacques after the trial, Mrs. Hardy was quoted that she was told by her late husband that he observed Kuzia naked on the tin roof of their home when he went to check the window before a thunderstorm. Mrs. Huling's statement concerning her interview with Mrs. Hardy also included a comment by Mrs. Hardy that she told the police of the rooftop incident, but in the report prepared by the public defender's investigator to Casparian prior to the trial, Hardy was reported as not being certain that she related her husband's observation to the investigating officer from the Lincoln Police Department. In the statement prepared by Miss Hanlon, the public defender's investigator, she was reported to have said Kuzia ran out on the rooftop with no clothes on. In the statement to Mrs. Huling, Mrs. Hardy was reported to have said that her husband had observed her naked on the tin roof of their home when he went to check the window before a thunderstorm but no mention of her running was noted. One can only speculate that if this incident actually took place that Kuzia may have been sunbathing without clothes on and a pending thunderstorm may have caused her to leave the roof suddenly. However, in any event neither did Mrs. Hardy or Mr. Hardy sign an affidavit to indicate that this was a personal observation based on his or her own observation. Clearly, the information constituted hearsay in the most flagrant form and the fact that Mr. Casparian in his affidavit (see State's Exhibit E Full) stated that the information provided by Mrs. Hardy would not have assisted him at the trial considering the rules of evidence could not be more correct. Certainly such evidence was not admissible at the time of the trial, and nothing has developed to permit its use at a new trial. Even if the observation of Mr. Hardy was permitted to be heard by the jury at a new trial, which is most unlikely, the fact that Kuzia was seen in some state of undress on the rooftop of the landlord's building is of no consequence nor contradictory to her claim that she was shy and had no intention of undressing in front of Jacques. Mrs. Hardy's statement does not indicate the height of the building and whether it can be seen from other buildings, what in fact Kuzia was wearing, whether she was standing up or lying down, whether she was alone or how often her husband watched her and the time of day it occurred. Without these additional facts, her appearance on the rooftop is not inconsistent with her testimony at trial that she was shy about taking her clothes off in front of a male. In any event neither Mrs. Hardy or Miss Huling could have testified about this alleged incident because neither one had witnessed the event. The person who had allegedly witnessed the event, Mr. Hardy, has since died. Clearly, this alleged incident cannot constitute the basis for finding it as newly discovered evidence which could materially affect the outcome of any new trial.