Court Opinion

ID: 9559646
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 17:32:51.273123+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:11:27.522648
License: Public Domain

*198Mowbray, C. J.,
dissenting:
Respectfully, I dissent.
The decision whether to order a psychiatric examination of a sexual assault victim “is a matter left to the sound discretion of the trial court.” Washington v. State, 96 Nev. 305, 307, 608 P.2d 1101, 1102 (1980) (citations omitted). I see no reason to depart from this policy, especially when the victim is a child of tender years. Here, after determining that multiple psychiatric examinations might adversely affect the young victim, the trial judge wisely refused to permit an additional psychiatric examination. The majority wrongly disagrees with the learned judge’s decision.
The issue presented, pursuant to our decision in Washington, is whether Mr. Lickey demonstrated a compelling reason for an additional psychiatric examination. He did not. Compelling reasons do not exist “unless there is little or no corroboration of the victim’s allegations and the defense has questioned the effect of the victim’s emotional or mental condition upon her veracity.” Washington, 96 Nev. at 307, 608 P.2d at 1102. In Washington, the victim’s testimony was corroborated and the defendant engaged in extensive cross-examination. As a result, we held that the defendant failed to demonstrate a compelling reason for a psychiatric examination and that, therefore, the trial court did not abuse its discretion by refusing to order such an examination.
In the case before us, the young victim’s testimony was corroborated by several witnesses:
1. Dr. Kathie Coopersmith, an Ely pediatrician, examined the victim on October 5, 1988. Dr. Coopersmith testified that the victim had sustained trauma to her vagina consistent with penetration by a finger and/or a foreign object. Moreover, Dr. Coopersmith determined that the injuries had occurred within the previous two weeks.
2. The victim was also examined by Kathleen Peele, a pediatric nurse and clinic director for the Washoe County Child Sexual Abuse Investigative Team, on October 26, 1988. In conjunction with her testimony, Ms. Peele presented photographs of the victim’s vaginal area which illustrated injuries consistent with those found by Dr. Coopersmith. Ms. Peele also testified that the injuries sustained by the victim were consistent with vaginal penetration by a finger and/or foreign object.
3. Detective Martin Sorenson of the White Pine County Sheriff’s Office testified that he had videotaped an interview with the victim on October 5, 1988, approximately six months before the trial, during which she recalled the four incidents of abuse giving rise to this prosecution. The vie-*199tim’s statements at that time were consistent with her subsequent testimony at trial. The videotaped interview was played for the jury.
4. Dr. Joann Behrman-Lippert, Ph.D., an expert in child abuse, interviewed the victim six times. Videotapes were made of the interviews on October 12 and 13, 1988, which were also played for the jury. Dr. Behrman-Lippert opined that the victim had in fact been sexually abused.
Finally, the victim’s testimony was corroborated by Mr. Lickey’s neighbor, who testified that the victim told her that Mr. Lickey had penetrated her vagina with silverware.
The record also shows that Mr. Lickey’s counsel extensively cross-examined the victim. Yet, despite being subjected to cross-examination during both the preliminary hearing and the trial, the young victim’s testimony was remarkably consistent. Because of this substantial corroborating evidence and extensive cross-examination, I cannot agree that the decision in this case should differ from the one reached in Washington.
In Colley v. State, 98 Nev. 14, 639 P.2d 530 (1982), cert. denied, 479 U.S. 839 (1986), we again held that the denial of a defense motion for a psychiatric examination of a victim was not an abuse of discretion, reasoning that the victim’s testimony was amply corroborated and her emotional state was not subject to serious attack. Id. at 17, 639 P.2d at 532 (citing Washington v. State, 96 Nev. 305, 608 P.2d 1101 (1980)). The majority states that Colley is not controlling. I disagree.
In Colley, we held that even where the testimony of a prosecution witness was not substantially corroborated, the trial court could properly refuse to subject the witness to a psychiatric examination where “the jury was able to observe and evaluate [the victim’s] emotional condition during her testimony on cross-examination.” Colley, 98 Nev. at 17, 639 P.2d at 532. In the case at bar, the victim’s testimony was substantially corroborated, and the jury was likewise able to observe and evaluate her testimony on cross-examination. Therefore, I see no reason to depart from our general policy of leaving this issue in the able hands of the trial judge.
The majority relies upon State v. Zeh, 509 N.E.2d 414 (Ohio 1987), and Cox v. State, 805 P.2d 374 (Alaska App. 1991). Both cases, however, are readily distinguished from the matter before us today, and neither case provides the defense with the right to a second psychiatric examination of a minor child performed by an expert of the defendant’s choosing.
The decision in Zeh, which required an independent psychiatric examination of a victim-witness, was expressly limited to those circumstances where the victim’s mental impairment is an *200essential issue.1 It did not involve submitting a child-victim to a psychiatric examination. In Cox, a child abuse conviction was reversed solely because a clinical psychologist testified as to the child-victim’s veracity in rebuttal for the state and the defense was denied surrebuttal. The corroborating evidence in Cox did not approach the magnitude of that before us today. Moreover, the majority incorrectly states that Dr. Behrman-Lippert testified as to the victim’s veracity. The fact that such testimony did not occur further distinguishes this case from Cox.
This young victim has bravely endured an investigation, a preliminary hearing and a jury trial. After carefully considering the due process issue addressed by the majority, I am convinced that common sense and reasonableness should prevail. Mr. Lickey received a fair trial and was convicted because of the overwhelming evidence presented against him, not because he was denied a second psychiatric evaluation. I cannot endorse sending this case back to the trial court when the evidence speaks so loudly to the guilt of the accused.

 In Zeh, a defendant was on trial for violating an Ohio statute prohibiting an unmarried person from engaging in sexual conduct with a partner whose “ability to appraise the nature of or control his or her own conduct is substantially impaired.” Zeh, 509 N.E.2d at 417 (quoting Ohio Rev. Code Ann. § 2907.03 (Anderson 1987)). The victim was a male adult afflicted with slight mental retardation. The Ohio Court of Appeals has since held that Zeh does not apply to juvenile rape situations unless a “defendant is charged with substantially impairing his victim’s judgment or control through drugs or narcotics.” In re Johnson, 573 N.E.2d 184 (Ohio Ct. App. 1989) (emphasis added).