Opinion ID: 2221513
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Whether the evidence was relevant

Text: ¶ 63. Having determined that the other crimes evidence was offered for permissible purposes under Wis. Stat. § (Rule) 904.04(2), we next must examine whether the evidence was relevant under Wis. Stat. § (Rule) 904.01. Sullivan, 216 Wis. 2d at 772. The trial court did not explicitly articulate in what manner it believed evidence of the Cindy P. assault was relevant under § (Rule) 904.01. We therefore review the record independently to determine whether there is any reasonable basis for the trial court's implicit conclusion that the evidence was relevant. ¶ 64. Relevance under Wis. Stat. § (Rule) 904.01 has two components; the evidence must relate to some fact that is of consequence to the determination of the action, and it must have some tendency to make that fact more or less probable than it would be without the evidence. Wis. Stat. § (Rule) 904.01; Sullivan, 216 Wis. 2d at 772. ¶ 65. As already discussed, the defendant's motive for touching Tina H. was an element of the charged crime, and the Cindy P. assault related to that consequential fact. Under our prior cases, the fact that the defendant denied sexually assaulting Tina H. does not change this conclusion. The state must prove all the elements of a crime beyond a reasonable doubt, even if the defendant does not dispute all of the elements.... Evidence relevant to motive is therefore admissible, whether or not defendant disputes motive. Plymesser, 172 Wis. 2d at 594-95 (citing Friedrich, 135 Wis. 2d at 22, Fishnick, 127 Wis. 2d at 260-61; and Mink, 146 Wis. 2d at 15). See also State v. Hammer, 2000 WI 92, ¶ 25, 236 Wis. 2d 686, 613 N.W.2d 629 (If the state must prove an element of a crime, then evidence relevant to that element is admissible, even if a defendant does not dispute the element.). It was reasonable to anticipate that jurors would have difficulty believing that the defendant could have any motive to sexually assault his young niece. See Friedrich, 135 Wis. 2d at 27-28 (The average juror could well find it incomprehensible that one who stands before the court on trial could commit such an act.). This provides a reasonable basis for the trial court's implicit conclusion that evidence of the Cindy P. assault related to the defendant's motive, a fact of consequence to the determination of the action. ¶ 66. The record also supports the determination that evidence of the Cindy P. assault was relevant to another fact of consequencethe defendant's opportunity or plan to commit a sexual assault in such an unlikely place. At trial, the defense presented evidence suggesting that it was nearly impossible that he could have assaulted Tina H. in the camper with his family nearby. Evidence of the Cindy P. assault, which also took place under circumstances when there was a danger of discovery, related to the question of whether the defendant could have had the opportunity to commit an assault under unlikely circumstances. See Proper, 85 Wis. at 629 ([The defendant's] conduct on this occasion was corroborative of the evidence of the prosecutrix in respect to other indecent or criminal assaults, such as are charged in the information, and would tend to sustain and render more credible her evidence of other such occurrences.). ¶ 67. Having determined that the other crimes evidence related to facts of consequence to the case, we next must examine whether it has any tendency to make those facts more or less probable. The measure of probative value in assessing relevance is the similarity between the charged offense and the other act. Gray, 225 Wis. 2d at 58 (citing Sullivan, 216 Wis. 2d at 786). The defendant argues that even under the greater latitude rule, the Cindy P. assault was not relevant because it did not bear the substantial similarities to the charged crime that the other crimes evidence in Plymesser, Friedrich, Day, and Hendrickson bore to the charged crimes in those cases. The defendant contends that [t]he only similarity whatsoever between the [assault on Cindy P. and the alleged assault on Tina H.] is the involvement of minor children, and that the other alleged similarities between the Cindy P. and Tina H. assaults are illusory. (Defendant-Appellant's Brief at 35, 41.) ¶ 68. We cannot agree. To begin with, we note the obvious similarity that in both incidents, the defendant was sexually attracted to a child and acted on that sexual attraction by touching the child between her legs. Furthermore, both victims were assaulted when they were particularly vulnerable; Cindy P. was assaulted while she was alone at the drinking fountain, and Tina H. was assaulted while she was sleeping, after her uncle repeatedly gave her wine. Finally, both assaults occurred in locations in which there was a substantial risk of discovery. These similarities rendered evidence of the Cindy P. assault highly probative of the defendant's motive to assault Tina H. and of the defendant's opportunity and plan to commit the assault in the camper while his family slept nearby. ¶ 69. Indeed, the same degree of similarity was sufficient to satisfy this step of the analysis in Plymesser and Friedrich. ¶ 70. In Plymesser, the defendant was charged with sexually assaulting a thirteen-year-old girl, Kelly, in December 1989. Plymesser, 172 Wis. 2d at 586. Kelly testified that the defendant was a friend of her family and that the assault occurred while the defendant was driving Kelly to his home. Id. at 588. She testified that the defendant pulled the car over, kissed her, touched her breasts and vaginal area, and made her touch his penis. Id. at 588-89. The defendant admitted that he had been drinking on the night in question, but denied assaulting Kelly. Id. at 589. The trial court permitted the State to introduce evidence of the defendant's 1977 conviction for assaulting a seven-year-old girl. Id. at 589-90. The victim of the defendant's previous assault was also a daughter of the defendant's friends. Id. at 589. After first denying the assault, the defendant confessed that after drinking a lot of beer, he had put his mouth on the seven-year-old girl's vagina. Id. On appeal, this court determined that the evidence was relevant to establish the defendant's motive for the charged crime and to corroborate the victim's testimony. Id. at 595. ¶ 71. In Friedrich, the defendant was accused of sexually assaulting his fourteen-year-old niece while she was babysitting his children. Friedrich, 135 Wis. 2d at 7-8. The trial court permitted the State to present the testimony of two other girls who claimed that the defendant had sexually assaulted them. Id. at 17-18. One girl testified that five years earlier, when she was ten years old, the defendant pulled her pants down and touched her genital area after he picked her up from school. Id. at 17. The other girl testified that seven years before the trial, when she was thirteen years old, she was assaulted while babysitting the defendant's children. Id. at 17-18. While she was babysitting, she fell asleep; when she awoke, the defendant was sitting next to her. Id. at 17. She testified that he put his hand inside her pants and told her to move her legs. Id. at 17-18. This court concluded that the other crimes evidence was relevant because it tended to establish the existence of a scheme or plan, which related to the defendant's intent to commit the charged crime. Id. at 23-24. [5] ¶ 72. These cases demonstrate that defendant's past offense need not be identical to the charged offense in order to be probative. Remoteness in time and differences in age are considerations, but they are not determinative. Although there were differences between the Cindy P. and Tina H. assaults, the assaults shared many common featuresboth involved particularly vulnerable victims, took place in unlikely locations, and involved touching between the legs. Because of these similarities, and in view of the greater latitude rule as established in this court's precedents, the trial court could reasonably have concluded that the Cindy P. assault was probative of the defendant's motive, opportunity, and plan or scheme in the Tina H. assault.