Opinion ID: 2318093
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The First Day of Trial

Text: After the prosecutor and defense counsel made their opening statements, the trial judge excused the jury for lunch. After the lunch break, but before the jury reentered the courtroom, the following exchange occurred: Prosecutor: Your Honor, as I spoke to the Court earlier, I think the interpreter is just here in case she gets stuck and needs help, but it's not going to be a word-for-word interpretation at this point. The Court: That's fine. We're just going to have her sit here, and if she needs help, she can turn to the interpreter. Prosecutor: Do we need to swear her in front of the jury at that point? The Court: I don't swear interpreters.. . . Also before the jury reentered the courtroom, the trial judge engaged in a colloquy with the State's first witness, S.C. After that colloquy, the trial judge instructed S.C. as follows: All right. Let's bring the jury in. You can sit right there when the jury comes in. And when we do the oath, just sit right where you are and put your hand on that Bible in front of you. The trial judge also permitted S.C. to hold a teddy bear while she testified. S.C. testified on direct examination as follows: Q: Did you ever go to your Aunt Janet's house? A: Yes. Q: And who lived there? A: Her husband.    Q: Did anything happen to you while you were there? A: Yes. Q: What happened? A: My aunty's husband did something wrong to me, and I didn't like it.    Q: Did your mom take you to [the CAC] to be interviewed by a lady named Miss Diane. A: Yes. Q: Do you remember that interview? A: Yes. Q: Did you tell the truth during that interview? A: Yes. Q: And nobody forced you to say anything at that interview? A: No. Q: And what did you talk about during that interview? A: What my aunt's husband did to me. Q: Can you tell us a little bit about that right now, what he did? A: I don't want to say it. Q: Are you scared? A: Yes. Immediately after that testimony, the prosecutor moved to introduce the video of the CAC interview pursuant to title 11, section 3507 of the Delaware Code, but the trial judge agreed with defense counsel that the prosecutor was required to further develop S.C.'s testimony to sufficiently touch on the events that S.C. had perceived. S.C. continued to testify as follows: Q: [During the CAC interview,] did you talk about your uncle touching you at that point? A: Yes.    Q: Where did he touch you? A: My private part. Q: And you told Miss Diane about that? A: Yes. Q: And do you remember telling her what he touched your private with? A: Yes. Q: And what was that? A: I don't want to say it. Q: It's okay, [S.C]. A: I don't really want to say it.    Q: [S.C.], has it been a while since you've seen your aunt's husband? A: Yes.    Q: [S.C.], could you take a look in the courtroom today and see if you see your Aunt Janet's husband from that time. A: I don't want to. Q: Are you scared? A: Yes. The trial judge stated: I believe a sufficient foundation has been laid. The trial judge then allowed the prosecutor to play the video of the CAC interview, which included a more detailed description of the alleged events, including an account of Gomez kissing S.C.'s private part. It appears that S.C. testified without the aid of the interpreter. S.C.'s mother also testified on the first day of Gomez's trial. The record reflects that S.C.'s mother began to testify without the interpreter's aid, but the trial judge stated: [S]ince we're going to use the interpreter, we're going to ask that you let the question be asked, wait until the interpreter interprets for you, and then you can respond, even if you happen to know what the question is. S.C.'s mother then continued to testify. At the conclusion of defense counsel's cross examination of S.C.'s mother, the following exchange occurred (emphasis added): Q: [W]as [your sister's] divorce from Sergio Gomez very bitter and acrimonious? A: I don't think so, no. She's not the type of person who likes to fight. She's very calm. She likes things to be right. So she told him that she was leaving him because he had committed a crime, and with not just my daughter, but also my niece. Q: Did Janet ever talk to you about her custody situation with her husband Sergio? A: She only said that she was asking for custody because he could hurt the children and she was scared for them. Q: My question is she talked to you about the custody issue? A: There was no problem. She only told me that she wanted the custody of the children so that she could protect them. Defense counsel then stated: I have no other questions. At a sidebar conference immediately thereafter, defense counsel stated: There was evidence about the prior conviction. The trial judge replied: We'll get to that when we don't have the jury sitting here in front of us. At that time, it was approximately 4:40 p.m. The trial judge excused the jury for the day. The following discussion then occurred: The Court: During the testimony of the mother, there was a reference to another child. And wethose who are in the courtroom now, the jury has left, we know thatI'm surmising that she's talking about a prior incident that the Court had ruled that it was not going to let in unless Mr. Sergio Gomez testified. So I don't know if there isI don't have an application before me. I don't know if you want to make one. But the record should reflect that the incident occurred. Defense counsel: I waited until the jury was gone as opposed to approaching sidebar when it occurred. It's highly prejudicial, Your Honor.    . . . I'm going to move for a mistrial based upon the nature of the allegation in this case and the answer as given by the State's witness, which was non-responsive.    Prosecutor: . . . I think either a curative instruction could take care of this or frankly, I don't see it as inflammatory to an individual who doesn't know about the prior event or the prior conviction. The Court: Well, it's near the end of the day. I will take the evening to think about it. It is concerning to me, but I'm not confident yet that it rises to the level of a mistrial.