Court Opinion

ID: 9533749
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 04:34:18.975375+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:29:09.772321
License: Public Domain

Steffen, J.,
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
I concur in result with my brethren on the fellatio count but dissent as to the count involving cunnilingus.
I agree that the district court committed reversible error in excluding reference to a prior incident involving the same child-victim. The purposes of the “rape victim shield law” (NRS 50.090) would not have been frustrated by the terse admission of facts concerning the earlier experience since the child, then age four, was clearly a victim whose reputation would have been unaffected by such a disclosure. The admission of the prior occurrence would permit the defendant to disabuse jurors who might conclude that the child’s familiarity with fellatio could not have existed absent the actuality of the ordeal described at trial by *165the child. Evidence of the prior incident would not relate to the sexual conduct of the child, but rather her experience as a tender-aged victim of a sexual assault.
The error upon which we must reverse the fellatio conviction does not, in my opinion, similarly affect the cunnilingus count. The majority emphasizes that the trial court should allow inquiry into the prior incident only to the extent of “specific instances of the complainant’s sexual conduct.” (Emphasis added.) It is especially significant that there is no evidence in the record that the prior violation of the child included an act of cunnilingus. Moreover, there is an equal absence of evidence that the child was even questioned about cunnilingus in connection with the prior incident. We are thus faced with a reversal by this Court of the felony count of cunnilingus based upon a non-event, i. e., the introduction of the then four-year-old victim to cunnilingus as a result of the prior incident.
The majority relies on State v. Howard, 426 A.2d 457 (N.H. 1981), as authority for reversal of defendant’s conviction on both counts. Unfortunately, State v. Howard does not support the reversal of the cunnilingus conviction. The Supreme Court of New Hampshire, as quoted by the majority, states that “a defendant must be afforded the opportunity to show, by specific incidents of sexual conduct, that the prosecutrix has the experience and ability to contrive a statutory rape charge against him.” (Emphasis added.) Aside from the fact that State v. Howard involved a twelve-year-old complainant with an allegedly extensive prior history of consensual sexual conduct as opposed to the six-year-old prosecutrix in the instant case whose only “history” was as a four-year-old victim of sexual assault, it must be emphasized that there is no showing that the child-victim in this case had “the experience and ability” to contrive a charge of cunnilingus against the defendant stemming from the prior incident.
Another consequence of the majority ruling is that it actually violates the spirit of the rape shield law by accommodating a general attack on the credibility of the child-victim. In effect, the majority holds that the child’s prior experience as a four-year-old victim of sexual assault in the form of fellatio may be admitted as a basis for inferring that she contrived a charge of cunnilingus against Summitt. We are thus propelled into the concept that sexual history in general, as opposed to specific instances of sexual experience in particular, may be introduced to attack the credibility of a prosecutrix. It is clear that such a proposition substantially expands both the holding and the ratio decidendi of State v. Howard, supra. It also appears, given the tender age of the prosecutrix in the instant case, that the proposition created by this decision would apply in virtually all instances involving a *166child-victim whose sexual “history” is limited to an experience of sexual assault occurring at age four or above. I am simply unable to reconcile the majority ruling “with the necessity of accommodating the competing interests of complaining witnesses and defendants” by construing and applying the rape shield law “so as to uphold the constitutional rights of defendants, while creating the least possible interference with the legislative purpose reflected in the statutes.” I therefore conclude that the majority position is in conflict with the basic purpose and spirit of Nevada’s rape shield statute.
There is an additional reason why I believe this Court should be particularly sensitive to the peculiar circumstances of the instant case in relation to the rape shield law. Specifically, Nevada’s rape shield statute, NRS 50.090, applies to victims who have a prior history of sexual conduct. The word “conduct” imports active behavior, and does not comprehend mere experience forced on a tender-aged child by means of a felonious sexual assault. I would therefore conclude that the beneficial concerns and purposes of the rape shield legislation would have even stronger application to a child-victim of sexual assault who has no history of personal sexual conduct. It is one thing to permit the introduction of specific instances of actual sexual experiences forced upon a child as a victim in order to disabuse jurors of the inference that a child’s knowledge of such experiences must have necessarily resulted from the alleged acts of the defendant. It is quite another proposition to permit the introduction of evidence of one type of sexual assault previously suffered by the child-victim as a basis for inferring an ability on the part of the child-victim to contrive a different sexual crime against the defendant. The former proposition achieves fairness to the defendant and respect for the youthful victim; the latter provides an advantage to the defendant which is unfair to the state and which diminishes or eliminates the intended statutory protection and respect for the prosecutrix.
My position in dissent is reinforced by the failure of defense counsel to preserve as an issue on appeal the refusal of the district court to admit evidence of the prior incident as it relates to the cunnilingus conviction. Such “failure” was both understandable and justifiable since there was no evidence upon which to create such an issue.1 Furthermore, in defendant’s motion for a nev/ trial the instant issue was directed to the fellatio count. I therefore *167conclude that this Court should defer to the time-honored rule that an issue not raised in the trial court will not be entertained on appeal. Merica v. State, 87 Nev. 457, 488 P.2d 1161 (1971); Kelly v. State, 76 Nev. 65, 348 P.2d 966 (1960). Actually, in reversing the cunnilingus conviction, this Court not only disregards the rule precluding the consideration of issues raised initially on appeal — it extends itself to create, sua sponte, a non-constitutional issue upon which relief is granted without benefit of legal precedent or authority.
These types of cases are extremely difficult. I am keenly aware of the concern of my brethren in the majority for both the rights of the defendant and the ordeal of the young prosecutrix upon retrial. Moreover, I respect the sense of the majority that I am drawing too thin a line in my dissenting position. I must nevertheless conclude, for reasons noted above, that defendant’s conviction on the cunnilingus count should be affirmed. Accordingly, I respectfully dissent.

Defense counsel did, however, properly object to the trial court’s refusal to allow evidence of the prior incident as it related to the fellatio count. In that regard, counsel unsuccessfully proifered the following instruction to the jury:
“It is improper for you to infer that . . . [the child-victim] would have *167known of the act of fellatio: that being the insertion of the penis into the mouth, only if the actions she testified to had in fact occurred.”
Additionally, in arguing to the court below, defense counsel said:
“But the fact is that there are normal people in this community, normal people that get called as jurors that sit up there and in their growing up experiences at six years old, did not know of these type [sic] of sexual acts, and maybe cunnilingus was not mentioned in that prior act, but fellatio definitely was, and fellatio is an issue in this case.”