Opinion ID: 1785338
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Evidentiary rulings and discovery violation

Text: Prior to marrying the sister of the victim in this case, Mr. Munson was married to another woman who had a daughter who thus became Mr. Munson's stepdaughter. He argues that the Trial Court erred in denying his motion to suppress the testimony of the former stepdaughter who testified that she was sexually assaulted and physically abused by Mr. Munson. At a pretrial hearing, the Trial Court, citing the pedophile exception, denied Mr. Munson's motion to suppress testimony related to the alleged prior sexual assault. At trial, Mr. Munson renewed his motion to suppress the testimony of the former step-child, and the Trial Court reaffirmed its earlier ruling on the admissibility of the testimony. The former stepchild, who was fourteen years old at the time of trial, testified that on March 7, 1993, when she was ten years old Mr. Munson sexually assaulted her by inserting his finger into her vagina. At the time that incident occurred, Mr. Munson was married to the child's mother. The child testified that she did not tell her mother about the incident until two days after it occurred because she did not want Mr. Munson to hurt her. She testified that she thought that he would hurt her because he had slapped her and her brothers on prior occasions. The deputy prosecutor asked: He had slapped you on other occasions, is that what you mean? Other than the time in the bedroom... was there ever any other times that the defendant did anything to you? She responded in the affirmative, and the deputy prosecutor asked her to tell the jury about the incident. At that point, Mr. Munson objected on the grounds that allegations of other instances should have been discovered to him if such incidents were to be the subject of examination. The State responded that the defense was made aware of the witness and could have interviewed her. The Trial Court overruled the objection. The child then testified that, on another occasion when she and Mr. Munson were alone in a boat, he sexually assaulted her by inserting his penis into her vagina. She further testified that she did not tell anyone about this incident until she told the deputy prosecutor two days before trial. At the bench, the deputy prosecutor told the Trial Court that the second incident was not initially disclosed to defense counsel in discovery but that defense counsel was informed of it once the prosecutor learned of it.