Court Opinion

ID: 9583587
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 22:40:15.23167+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:55:41.563551
License: Public Domain

SACKETT, Justice
(dissenting).
I dissent. The defendant appeals his conviction of involuntary 'manslaughter and second-degree sexual abuse. He raises a number of grounds for new trial. My review of the proceedings convinces me there were errors made at the trial court level that prejudiced the defendant’s right to a fair trial. I would reverse the defendant’s conviction and remand for a new trial.
This is a gut-wrenching case. An eighteen-month-old female child died allegedly from being shaken. She also had at some time been sexually abused. The night of her death she was in the care of the defendant. The child and her mother had lived with the defendant for a little more than a week. The couple started cohabiting shortly after they met. Their period of cohabitation started on November 9, 1989. The child died on November 18, 1989.
While the child died on the night the defendant took care of her, there is a dispute as to the time of the child’s injury. If certain evidence would be believed, the jury could have found the injury did not happen while the child was in the defendant’s care but could have been the result of conduct of another. There was no seminal fluid or semen or pubic hairs on the child or her clothing.
*245The child was taken to the hospital late at night, and the defendant was immediately questioned into the night for a two and one-half hour period. The officer questioning the defendant took notes of the interview, used the notes to prepare the statement the defendant signed early the next morning, and then the officer destroyed the notes.
Of the issues raised by the defendant, the ones I find most compelling are that the trial court erred in not allowing evidence of (1) the mother’s past reputation for violence toward her child, (2) the large number of people who had access to the child, (3) the number of child care providers the mother employed, (4) the child had experienced vaginal rashes and bleeding, and (5) a number of bruises had been observed on the child.
The defendant attempted through several witnesses to introduce evidence of (1) the mother’s reputation for violence, (2) observation of the mother’s violent behavior, (3) the large number of child care providers the mother employed, (4) that slapping noises and baby cries were heard from the mother’s apartment at times before the mother cohabited with the defendant, (5) on occasions prior to the defendant’s involvement with the child, the child had rashes and bleeding in her vaginal area and bruising, and (6) the mother had a number of parties in her residence.
This was an emotionally charged case because of the death of a young child. There were two issues for the jury to decide: (1) who caused the injuries that resulted in the child’s death, and (2) who sexually abused the child? By excluding the above evidence, the record basically left the jury no alternative but to find the defendant was the perpetrator.
The evidence is very relevant to show the mother or another person may have caused the injuries, and another person sexually abused the child. Part of the excluded evidence was that the blood and bleeding used to diagnose the injury had been observed on the child prior to defendant knowing her. The proffered evidence was clearly relevant.
Furthermore, I think it was error to refuse to give the spoilation instruction where the police officer intentionally destroyed the notes he took during the two-hour interview with the defendant.