Opinion ID: 1157479
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Other Acts of Child Abuse

Text: Conceding that section 18-6-401(3), C.R. S.1973 (1978 Repl. Vol. 8), renders unavailable the marital privilege in child abuse prosecutions, see, e. g., Jordan v. People, 161 Colo. 54, 419 P.2d 656 (1966), cert. denied, 386 U.S. 992, 87 S.Ct. 1308, 18 L.Ed.2d 338 (1967), the defendant nevertheless argues that the privilege applies to this case because his wife's testimony concerning marital disturbances was unrelated to the issue of child abuse. We find this argument analytically unsound. If the wife's testimony was not probative of the charge, then such testimony should have been excluded not on grounds of privilege, but due to its irrelevancy or prejudiciality. Generally, evidence of other criminal acts is inadmissible because of its prejudicial effect. E. g., People v. Honey, 198 Colo. 64, 596 P.2d 751 (1979); Stull v. People, 140 Colo. 278, 344 P.2d 455 (1959). However, a limited and well defined exception is recognized in those situations where a similar act tends to establish the defendant's criminal culpability for the crime charged by showing that it was part of a continuing scheme and hence not the result of accident or legal justification. People v. Taggart, supra, Colo., 621 P.2d at 1384; see also, e. g., People v. Hosier, 186 Colo. 116, 525 P.2d 1161 (1974); 1 C. Torcia, Wharton's Criminal Evidence § 249 (13th ed. 1972). Prior to the admission of the similar offense evidence the prosecution presented evidence of two statements made by the defendant to medical attendants at Fort Carson Hospital on March 19 and April 27, when the child was taken there in a severely injured condition. The defendant's March 19 statement attributed the child's injuries to a near automobile collision on that date. On April 27 he told the emergency room personnel that the child's present condition was caused by her falling or thrashing about in her crib, while also denying any intervening trauma between the March 19 and April 27 injuries. The defendant's statements concerning the child's injuries, both of which were properly admitted during the prosecution's case in chief, raised the issue whether the child's death was attributable, on the one hand, to an accident as claimed by the defendant or to the act of child abuse as charged in the indictment. The propriety of admitting evidence relating to the March 19 and April 19 domestic disputes and the child's injuries resulting therefrom hinges on whether there was sufficient evidence to permit a reasonable inference that these incidents involved acts of child abuse by the defendant. The following factors, none of which is conclusive of the issue, provided sufficient foundation for the admission of the March 19 incident: the nature of the injuries present on that occasion, including multiple contusions and abrasions to the face and fingernail imprints on the child's temple; the ongoing domestic strife between the defendant and his wife on that day; the occurrence of the injuries while the child was in the exclusive custody of the defendant; and the wife's pretrial admissions that she and the defendant mutually agreed to falsely attribute the child's injuries to an automobile mishap. Similarly, there was an adequate foundation for admitting the April 19 incident as a prior act of child abuse. That incident also arose out of a domestic quarrel and, according to the wife's statement overheard by her landlady, the wife was present in the apartment when the bruises were inflicted by the defendant on the child's arms. Considering the proximity in time and similarity of circumstances between the prior incidents and the April 27 offense, as well as the logical nexus between these recent similar offenses and the issue of the defendant's mens rea for the crime charged, we conclude that the trial court did not err in admitting the challenged evidence. See People v. Taggart, supra .