Opinion ID: 1774407
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Order of events

Text: Fourth, Mr. Hernandez argues that the witness's testimony should not have been admitted pursuant to the pedophile exception because the testimony describes conduct that occurred subsequent to the offense for which Mr. Hernandez is charged and because the described conduct was not part of a continuing course of conduct perpetrated against the victim in this case. We have upheld the admissibility of sexual misconduct occurring subsequent to the charged conduct. See Douthitt v. State, 326 Ark. 794, 935 S.W.2d 241 (1996) (affirming the Trial Court's decision not to sever three counts of rape alleged to have occurred from 1989 through 1991 from the counts involving incest and first-degree violation of a minor alleged to have occurred in 1993 through March 1994 because the same evidence was admissible against the appellant in each count of sexual abuse). We have also admitted evidence of subsequent conduct in other cases to prove identity, intent, lack of mistake, and the circumstances connected with the crime. See Bragg v. State, 328 Ark. 613, 946 S.W.2d 654 (1997)(identity and intent or lack of absence or mistake); Collins v. State, 304 Ark. 587, 804 S.W.2d 680 (1991)(circumstances connected with the crime); Parker v. State, 300 Ark. 360, 779 S.W.2d 156 (1989)(intent and circumstances surrounding the crime); Thrash v. State, 291 Ark. 575, 726 S.W.2d 283 (1987)( modus operandi ). Mr. Hernandez cites United States v. Back, 588 F.2d 1283 (9th Cir.1979)(holding the district court erred in admitting a witness's testimony of a subsequent rape not because it occurred after the rape for which the appellant was charged but because it was introduced only to prove the criminal disposition of the appellant), and Warren v. State, 59 Ark.App. 155, 954 S.W.2d 298 (1997)(holding the Trial Court improperly admitted additional drug-related evidence seized in a search six months after the appellant was stopped for a traffic violation and arrested for possession of cocaine partially because the limited case law holding subsequent acts admissible under Rule 404(b) was factually distinguishable from the present case). The pedophile exception allows testimony to show that the perpetrator has a proclivity for the sexual abuse of children. Whether the witness testifies that he or she was abused before or after the conduct for which the defendant is charged, the testimony can show that the perpetrator has such a proclivity. Unlike the cases cited by Mr. Hernandez, we are not concerned here about a continuing course of conduct or a general criminal proclivity. The basis of the pedophile exception to Rule 404(b) is our acceptance of the notion that evidence of sexual acts with children may be shown as that evidence demonstrates a particular proclivity or instinct.