Opinion ID: 2607539
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Evidence Admitted at Trial

Text: Defendants Grafton and Palomo were romantically involved and lived together during the pertinent time period. They socialized with the third defendant  Stoll  and his girlfriend, nondefendant Rochelle. Stoll lived with Rochelle in June and July 1983, and then moved into his own house on Center Street. Beginning in March 1984, the fourth defendant  Self  rented a small house behind the swimming pool on Stoll's property. Self knew the other defendants. Five children testified against Grafton: her two sons by an estranged husband, A. and D.; Stoll's son by an ex-wife, J.; Rochelle's son, Chris; and a neighbor boy who lived near Stoll's house on Center Street, Victor. Except for Victor, the same children also testified against Palomo. (The boys' ages at time of trial are stated below.) Stoll sometimes baby-sat Chris, A., and D. during the critical period. For context, we note that 17 of the 36 counts involved Stoll, who was found to have committed most of them without codefendant participation. Chris testified that he was twice sodomized by Stoll while the latter was living with Chris's mother, Rochelle. J. testified that he was sodomized and/or orally copulated by his father, Stoll, on six different occasions at the Center Street house. Testimony by Grafton's sons, A. and D., also implicated Stoll in a total of three acts of sodomy against these two boys at the same address. Stoll further was found guilty of two separate sexual encounters based upon testimony by neighbor children, Victor (fondling, oral copulation, and sodomy) and Eddie (fondling). (No other defendant was charged with crimes against Eddie.) We also note that Self was convicted of 10 counts, most of which he was found to have committed on his own. Two convictions were based upon testimony by J. and D., respectively, that Self performed acts of sodomy and oral copulation with them in Stoll's bedroom on Center Street. Self also was found guilty of five separate lewd encounters (digital anal penetration and/or fondling) with a girlfriend's grandson (Jerimy) at other locations. (No other defendant was charged with crimes against Jerimy.) Defendant Grafton suffered five convictions. One of them (count 9) allegedly was committed by her alone, against Stoll's son, J., who was six years old at trial. J. testified that once, he and Grafton were alone and naked in his father's bedroom on Center Street, and he rubbed Grafton's breast. Grafton also was convicted (count 24), along with Stoll, based on the following testimony by Victor, who was eight years old at trial: while playing with J., A., and another boy by the pool at Stoll's house, Victor went inside for a drink. Stoll grabbed Victor, threatened to kill him if he screamed, and took him into the bedroom. Stoll removed both his own and Victor's clothes. Grafton came into the room and took off her clothes. Stoll photographed Victor and Grafton, as well as three other boys. Victor touched Grafton's breasts, and orally copulated Stoll. Stoll then told Victor to go home. According to Victor, he returned home and went to sleep even though it was still daytime. At trial, Victor's mother, Mrs. M., confirmed that on two afternoons in May and/or June 1984, Victor came home upset after playing with friends, took a bath, and went to bed without eating dinner  an unusual pattern for him. Only one of defendant Palomo's four convictions (count 25) was found to have been committed without codefendant involvement. As to this count, Grafton's son A., who was nine years old at trial, testified that on one occasion, he and his brother D. were on the couch at home, preparing to go hunting. Palomo also was present. Palomo placed his hands inside A.'s pants, fiddled with A.'s penis, and rubbed A.'s rear end. All four defendants were found guilty of crimes committed against Chris, J., and A., at a group event. (Counts 1, 2, 3.) Although the information also alleged that defendants molested D. at the same time (count 4), the jury did not reach a verdict on that count, and it was ultimately dismissed by the People. (D. was seven, and Chris was eight years old, at time of trial.) No witness (Chris, J., A., or D.) gave the same account of the group event. They agreed that all defendants and several children were naked together at Stoll's house, but disagreed as to which children were present. Three witnesses (Chris, A., and J.) placed the event in the living room. Two witnesses (Chris and A.) said the children were given Kool-Aid or soda that made them dizzy. As to counts 1 and 3 against Chris and A., respectively, each of these boys testified about sex acts committed against him by one or more defendants. [2] Although J. could not remember whether any adults touch[ed] him that day as charged in count 2, Chris and A. testified that unspecified sex acts were committed against J. [3] When D. was asked at trial whether he (count 4), or any other child, was touched that day, he said no. In addition, three witnesses (J., A., and D.) testified that photographs of defendants and children were taken while they were engaged in sexual activity or, at least, while naked. However, these three boys disagreed as to the identity of the photographer, and the fourth boy  Chris  remembered no picture-taking at all. [4] Cross-examination of the same four witnesses revealed inconsistencies in each of their stories. For example, Chris gave conflicting testimony concerning the day on which counts 1 through 3 occurred (i.e., in August 1983, when his mother Rochelle went to Catalina, or on January 14, 1984, when she attended a darts trophy banquet). Chris also said that he told an unspecified lie at both the preliminary hearing and on direct examination at trial. Likewise, J., A., and D. admitted that they lied at the preliminary hearing when they denied knowing about nude photographs and/or sexual activity between children and adults. J. also disclosed that he had been untruthful at one point during direct examination at trial (i.e., in telling the prosecutor that he did not recall Palomo being in one of apparently two nude photography sessions). (1) (See fn. 5.) The details of the official investigation were elicited on direct and cross-examination of prosecution witnesses, Kern County Deputy Sheriff Ericsson, and child protective services worker, Velda Murillo. [5] Stoll's ex-wife informed the sheriff's department in mid-June 1984 that J. had mentioned sex acts with A., D., and a male adult. [6] In a home interview, J. told Murillo about sexual activity with A., D., and Self. When asked whether he had engaged in sex with Stoll, J. said, among other things, that he had been sodomized by his father about two weeks earlier. J. also described nude picture-taking sessions in which Grafton participated. When J. was asked whether he and Grafton had engaged in sexual conduct, his answer was inconsistent with his trial testimony on count 9, insofar as he told Murillo about a wider range of sexual conduct (i.e., he touched Grafton's breasts and genitals, she kissed his penis). Two days later, Ericsson and Murillo placed A. and D. into a county child protection facility. Acting as a team in which Murillo was the lead interviewer, the two investigators had three meetings with A. and two separate meetings with D. over a ten-day period. Most of them took place at the sheriff's office. Each brother was told about J.'s accusations, confirmed that they were true, and described sex acts with Stoll and Self. For the most part, D. gave evasive answers to questions about Grafton's participation in nude photography or sexual activity, telling investigators that Grafton knew about these events but hoped they would stop. In contrast, D. testified at trial on counts 1 through 3, that Grafton was one of the adults who participated in nude group picture-taking. In his first interview, A. also denied that Grafton had been involved in any nude picture-taking. However, when asked to discuss Grafton in the last interview, A. described the group event in terms similar to his trial testimony on counts 1 through 3. However, although he testified at trial that he vaginally penetrated Grafton, A. told investigators that he and Grafton had engaged in mutual genital-touching. A. also told investigators that Palomo had touched A.'s penis and rear end while the pair were sitting on the couch at home. Unlike his trial testimony on count 25, A. did not disclose that D. was present at the time. Based in large part on statements made by A., the investigating team interviewed Chris and Victor one time each. Each boy was asked if some people had been touching him. Chris described sexual encounters with Stoll and Self. Chris also gave investigators an account of the group sex event inconsistent with his trial testimony on counts 1 through 3, insofar as the pretrial version was more generalized as to sexual activity (i.e., the men sodomized the boys) than the trial version. Similar to his trial testimony, Victor told investigators during a home interview about two encounters  one in which he was sodomized by Stoll, and another involving both Stoll and Grafton. However, as to the second one, Victor described a broader range of sexual conduct with Grafton than the breast-touching described in his trial testimony on count 24 (i.e., telling investigators he kiss[ed] Grafton's breasts, and the two of them touched each other's genitals). Murillo testified that she had a master's degree in marriage, family, and child counseling, had worked six years with child protective services, and had interviewed over one thousand molestation victims. She explained that they often feel anxiety and guilt, and seldom volunteer details of their abuse. Ericsson testified that he had been with the sheriff's department for 15 years, but had received no formal or on-the-job training in child or sex abuse investigations before this case. According to Ericsson, he executed a search warrant at Stoll's house several hours after J.'s interview, but found no photographs. No medical exams were performed on the children, and their interviews were not tape-recorded. Grafton and Palomo each testified and denied the charges. [7] Grafton showed the jury a large scar on the side of her body that predated the charged crimes, but which Chris and Victor testified did not exist. Grafton further explained that she attended the same darts trophy banquet and Catalina trip attended by Rochelle, on the dates mentioned at trial by Rochelle's son, Chris. Grafton's testimony was corroborated by Rochelle, who was called as a witness during Grafton's case-in-chief. However, Rochelle (like Chris) indicated that there were other occasions on which both Stoll and Grafton had baby-sat Chris. During Stoll's case-in-chief, Dr. Roger M. Mitchell, a psychologist, testified at length as an expert on protocols commonly used by the psychological community for minimizing the traumatic effect of the investigation upon child sex abuse victims, and decreasing the likelihood that interviewees will distort facts. Such guidelines assertedly call for a comfortable environment (e.g., a therapist's office or the child's home), and a carefully balanced number of interviews (e.g., three or four) so that the interviewer can begin to see patterns without appearing too demanding or coercive. [8] Dr. Mitchell stated that it is somewhat appropriate to ask children leading questions, but did not define that concept.