Opinion ID: 2270644
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Refusal to Instruct on Sexual Abuse in the Second-Degree Was Improper.

Text: After oral amendment of the indictment during trial, Clark was charged with committing the first-degree sexual abuse of both L.H. and E.H. between 1999 and May 2002. Clark argues that based on these charges, he was entitled to an additional jury instruction on second-degree sexual abuse as to L.H. because L.H. turned twelve in November 2001, approximately seven months before May 2002, when the time period alleged in the indictment expired. Since the line dividing the offense of first-degree sexual abuse from second-degree sexual abuse is whether the victim is under twelve years old, [3] we agree with Clark. A court is required to instruct a jury on all offenses that are supported by the evidence. [4] L.H. understandably could not pinpoint the date(s) when Clark abused him. [5] So the indictment covered the broad time period from when L.H. moved to Bullitt County in September 1999 until May 2002, which L.H.'s mother testified was the last time the family had contact with Clark. The obvious problem with the time frame included in the indictment is that it includes several months when L.H. was twelve, even though the charged crime can only be committed against a child who is less than twelve. The Commonwealth conceded at oral argument that it erred by not seeking to amend the indictment to limit the charge to that period of time before L.H. turned twelve. The Commonwealth's inexplicable failure to do so led to a situation in which the victim was unable to testify conclusively about when the abuse occurred, leaving the jury to speculate as to whether the abuse described by L.H. happened before L.H. turned twelve, after he turned twelve, or both. This problem is magnified by the fact that L.H. testified to having been repeatedly abused by Clark, yet the indictment charged Clark with a single count of abuse of L.H. Thus, if the jury believed beyond a reasonable doubt that Clark sexually abused L.H., it was forced to speculate both as to which instance of abuse was covered by the indictment and as to whether that particular act of abuse occurred before or after L.H.'s twelfth birthday. A lesser-included offense is an offense that includes the same or fewer elements than the primary offense. [6] And second-degree sexual abuse is not a classic lesser-included offense of first-degree sexual abuse because the age of the victim at the time of the abuse is usually clear. But in those rare instances where the age of the victim at the time of the abuse is in question, sexual abuse in the second degree can be deemed a lesser-included offense of sexual abuse in the first-degree. So a trial court must instruct on both offenses, thereby leaving it to the jury to decide which offense, if any, better fits the testimony. [7] This is the precise scenario present in this case because L.H.'s testimony was so vague that the jury could have believed beyond a reasonable doubt that Clark sexually abused him before L.H. turned twelve, after he turned twelve, or both. Since there was evidence to support a finding of either first or second-degree sexual abuse, it was incumbent upon the trial court to instruct the jury on both charges. Our review of the record also reveals that the trial court's refusal to instruct the jury on second-degree sexual abuse caused the instruction on first-degree sexual abuse as to L.H. to be seriously flawed. That instruction stated that the jury could find Clark guilty of first-degree sexual abuse of L.H. only if it believed beyond a reasonable doubt: A. That in this county, beginning in 1999 and continuing through and including the month of May[ ] 2002, and before the finding of the Indictment herein, he subjected [L.H.] to sexual contact, AND B. That at the time of such contact, [L.H.] was less than twelve (12) years of age. So in order to convict Clark of first-degree sexual abuse, the jury had to find beyond a' reasonable doubt that: (a) Clark subjected L.H. to sexual contact between 1999 and including the month of May[] 2002 (emphasis added) and that such sexual contact occurred (b) while L.H. was less than twelve years old. [8] Those two discrete findings are inherently inconsistent since it is uncontested that L.H. turned twelve several months before May 2002. The jury simply could not have found beyond a reasonable doubt that Clark subjected L.H. to sexual contact through and including the month of May[ ] 2002 while also finding beyond a reasonable doubt that L.H. was less than twelve years of age when that sexual contact occurred. L.H. was not less than twelve years of age by May 2002. Since a juror could have had a reasonable doubt that Clark sexually abused L.H. before L.H.'s twelfth birthday, yet have been convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that Clark sexually abused L.H. after L.H.'s twelfth birthday, the failure to instruct the jury on second-degree sexual abuse cannot be deemed a mere harmless error. [9] In summary, we acknowledge that in most situations, an instruction on second-degree sexual abuse is not a lesser-included offense when the primary charge is first-degree sexual abuse. And the trial court in this case acted properly in refusing to instruct the jury on second-degree abuse as to Clark's alleged conduct toward E.H. since E.H. turned twelve in October 2002, several months after the expiration of the time period set forth in the indictment. But in a situation like the charge involving L.H., where the date(s) of the abuse are not described with particularity in either the indictment or the testimony such that a reasonable juror could have concluded that the victim was either eleven or twelve when the abuse occurred, a trial court errs by failing to instruct a jury on both first and second-degree sexual abuse. Thus, Clark's conviction for sexual abuse in the first degree of L.H. must be reversed.