Court Opinion

ID: 9481763
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 08:31:22.595164+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:48:34.074269
License: Public Domain

*550SEYMOUR, Circuit Judge,
concurring.
While I otherwise join the majority opinion, I write separately because I believe a remand for balancing under Rule 403 to determine the admissibility of the birth control pill evidence is unnecessary.
Defendant argues that the district court’s application of Rule 412 to the evidence he wished to present was wrong as a matter of law because Rule 412 applies only to crimes listed under Chapter 109A of Title 18. Although I agree with the majority that Rule 412 on its face is not applicable to the crime for which defendant was charged, I believe its application under the circumstances of this case does not require a reversal.
Defendant sought to have the evidence of birth control pills admitted “for the purposes of: (a) impeachment; (b) motive and intent regarding consent.” Rec., vol. IV, doc. 63, at 7. Before Rule 412 was enacted, courts often would allow evidence of a rape victim’s past sexual behavior for these purposes under Rule 404(a)(2). Rule 404(a)(2) permits a defendant to use evidence of an alleged victim’s “character traits” to prove that person acted in conformity with those traits during the events that led up to the crime charged. See, e.g., United States v. Schatzle, 901 F.2d 252, 256 (2nd Cir.1990); see generally 2 J. Weinstein & M. Berger, Weinstein’s Evidence § 404[06], at 404-48 (1990). The admissibility of character evidence is governed by the balancing test of Rule 403. See Booth v. Maryland, 482 U.S. 496, 507 n. 10, 107 S.Ct. 2529, 2535 n. 10, 96 L.Ed.2d 440 (1987).
Cognizant of the potential prejudicial dangers flowing from this type of evidence, courts balancing its probative value against its prejudicial effect prior to the enactment of Rule 404(a)(2) generally allowed the introduction of evidence regarding a victim’s character traits only in eases where the defendant pled self-defense claiming that the victim was the aggressor. See 22 Wright & Graham, Federal Practice and Procedure § 5237, at 399 (1978); 2 Weinstein & Berger, supra, § 404[06] and cases cited therein. However, as Professor Wright points out, sexist attitudes by those same courts predisposed them to allow information concerning a sexual assault victim’s past sexual behavior as evidence of her character. Evidence of this “character trait” was offered to prove consent to the crime alleged or an inclination to make false accusations of sexual assault. See 22 Wright & Graham, supra, § 5238, at 412-13; see also Virgin Islands v. Jacobs, 634 F.Supp. 933, 936 (D.V.I.1986) (describing past practice of courts with respect to evidence of rape victim’s character).
The theory of relevance with respect to the issue of consent was stated this way by one court:
“This class of evidence is admissible for the purpose of tending to show the non-probability of resistance upon the part of the prosecutrix; for it is certainly more probable that a woman who has done these things voluntarily in the past would be much more likely to consent than one whose past reputation was without blemish, and whose personal conduct could not truthfully be assailed.”
People v. Johnson, 106 Cal. 289, 39 P. 622, 623 (1895); see Gish v. Wisner, 288 F. 562, 563 (5th Cir.1923) (“the rule is established by the great weight of authority that the general reputation for chastity of the complaining witness, who claims to be the victim, is material as bearing upon the vital question of her consent or nonconsent”). With respect to credibility, Wigmore believed science had established that women who had engaged in consensual sexual relations prior to the sexual assault were more inclined to make false accusations of rape, and he advocated psychiatric examinations of all complainants in sex crimes cases. See 22 Wright & Graham, supra, § 5238, at 414. Unfortunately, the arguments made in the present case illustrate that these myths remain alive today.
Rule 412(a) codifies Congress’ enlightened determination that evidence of a victim’s past sexual behavior is irrelevant to the credibility of her testimony, and that her prior sexual activity with third parties has no bearing on the issue of whether she *551consented to the sexual violence charged.1 See Jacobs, 634 F.Supp. at 936-37; United States v. Saunders, 736 F.Supp. 698, 701 (W.D.Va.1990); 2 Weinstein & Berger, supra, § 412[01], at 412-12. By so concluding, Congress performed its own balancing test and adopted a per se rule that evidence of a victim’s past sexual behavior with third parties is never more probative than prejudicial on the issue of consent. Rule 412 thus mandates the exclusion of evidence of such past sexual behavior and deprives the district court of its discretion to admit this type of evidence based upon its evaluation that the probative value exceeds the prejudicial effect. Cf. United States v. Shaw, 824 F.2d 601, 606-07 (8th Cir.1987) (In enacting Rule 412, Congress balanced competing interests previously left for consideration of trial judge under Rule 403), cert. denied, 484 U.S. 1068, 108 S.Ct. 1033, 98 L.Ed.2d 997 (1988).
Nonetheless, the majority would remand the case and have the district court perform its own probative value/prejudicial effect evaluation and supplement the record with specific findings on the issues relevant to the determination of whether the evidence of the birth control pills was substantially more prejudicial than probative. While an articulation of competing considerations in Rule 403 determinations is helpful for purposes of appellate review, it has never been a mandatory component of the invocation of the rule. See S.A. Saltzburg & K.R. Redden, Federal Rules of Evidence Manual 141-42 (4th ed.1986). Often, the district court merely states that it concludes the evidence is substantially more prejudicial than probative, leaving us with no more than a recitation of the rule’s language. See, e.g., United States v. Mangiameli, 668 F.2d 1172, 1176 (10th Cir.), cert. denied, 456 U.S. 918, 102 S.Ct. 1776, 72 L.Ed.2d 179 (1982). On review of such a case, we must make our own appraisal of the issues involved in determining whether the district court abused its discretion in making the ruling. Indeed, we have on occasion reviewed the record to make the determination on appeal that the probative value of the proffered evidence was substantially outweighed by its probative value even though the district court did not indicate its reliance on Rule 403. See United States v. Biswell, 700 F.2d 1310, 1319 (10th Cir.1983).
In the Rule 404(b) context, where we have specifically required the district court to articulate on the record the grounds upon which evidence is admitted or excluded, we have recognized circumstances where the lack of compliance does not warrant remand. If “the factors upon which the probative value/prejudice evaluation were made are readily apparent from the record, and there is no substantial uncertainty about the correctness of the ruling,” we have affirmed the district court’s Rule 404(b) ruling, holding that the failure to make specific findings was harmless error. United States v. Orr, 864 F.2d 1505, 1511 (10th Cir.1988) (quoting United States v. Zabaneh, 837 F.2d 1249, 1262 (5th Cir.1988)); see United States v. Williams, 923 F.2d 1397, 1401 (10th Cir.1990), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 111 S.Ct. 2033, 114 L.Ed.2d 118 (1991); United States v. Doran, 882 F.2d 1511, 1523-24 (10th Cir.1989); United States v. Porter, 881 F.2d 878, 885 (10th Cir.1989), cert. denied, — U.S.-, 110 S.Ct. 348, 107 L.Ed.2d 336 (1989); United States v. Manner, 887 F.2d 317, 323 (D.C.Cir.1989), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 110 S.Ct. 879, 107 L.Ed.2d 962 (1990); United States v. Acosta-Cazares, 878 F.2d 945, 950-51 (6th Cir.1989), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 110 S.Ct. 255, 107 L.Ed.2d 204 (1989).
Here, defendant contends only that the exclusion of the evidence prevented him “from developing his theory as to the complainant’s motive for consenting to his advances.” Appellant’s Brief at 37. Evidently this theory was that the complainant consented to defendant’s advances as a means of retribution against her parents. Defendant was allowed to put on evidence that an “event” occurred that caused the complainant’s parents to tell her to see her boyfriend less frequently. Testimony indi*552cated that her parents did this because they believed she and her boyfriend were becoming too serious. The complainant indicated that she saw less of her boyfriend after this “event,” although she continued to see him. Thus, defendant was allowed to present the theory that the complainant agreed to accompany him and to have sex with him as retribution for her parent’s interference in her relationship with her boyfriend. I fail to see what the birth control pills add to this theory — unless it is to suggest that because the complainant had been sexually active with someone else in the past, it was more likely that she consented to defendant’s advances and less likely that she was overcome by force.2 This is precisely the type of reasoning that Rule 412 was designed to dissuade.
Moreover, the policy reasons underlying Rule 412 apply fully in this case notwithstanding that defendant was charged with kidnapping. The indictment alleged that defendant kidnapped the complainant for the purposes of sexually abusing her. Whether defendant sexually abused the complainant was thus clearly put in issue by the charge against him. In a somewhat similar case, State v. Redford, 242 Kan. 658, 750 P.2d 1013, 1024 (1988), the defendant was charged with kidnapping, rape, and sodomy. He attempted to introduce evidence of the complainant’s prior sexual behavior to show that she had not been kidnapped but had gone with him voluntarily. The Kansas Supreme Court rejected this argument, stating:
“It would be naive to pretend the jury would consider evidence of [the complainant’s] prior sexual activities only for the purpose of determining if she had been kidnapped and not to determine if she had been raped and sodomized. The enactment of [the Kansas rape shield statute] was prompted in part by the realization that the admission of evidence of prior sexual activity destroys the victim’s testimony. It would violate public policy to permit [the defendant] to present evidence of the victim’s prior sexual activity merely because he was charged with other crimes in addition to rape and sodomy.”
Id. In the instant case, the charge of kidnapping is inextricably intertwined with the allegations of sexual abuse. There is thus no reason why the policy considerations underlying Rule 412 would not apply in these circumstances.
Because it is readily apparent to me that Rule 412 constitutes a congressional mandate that evidence of a complainant’s prior sexual behavior with third parties is more prejudicial than probative when offered to impeach her or to prove consent to sexual intercourse, I would hold that the district court properly excluded the evidence. Thus, I find it unnecessary to remand on this issue for a balancing under Rule 403. Cf. Eichel v. New York Central R.R. Co., 375 U.S. 253, 255, 84 S.Ct. 316, 317, 11 L.Ed.2d 307 (1963) (fact that admission of evidence would violate spirit of federal statute is reason for concluding that prejudice outweighed probative value).

. Evidence of a victim’s prior sexual behavior with the accused is admissible on the issue of consent under certain circumstances. See Rule 412(b)(2)(B).

. Evidence of the birth control pills under these circumstances constitutes "evidence of the victim’s past sexual behavior.” Fed.R.Evid. 412. See Wright & Graham § 5384 at 545 (" 'Sexual behavior’ clearly encompasses any conduct involving or directly related to sexual intercourse or analogous acts, e.g., ... the use of contraceptives.’’). Clearly, the inference arising from the possession of the birth control pills was that the victim was sexually active. Cf. United States v. Kasto, 584 F.2d 268, 272 (8th Cir.1978) (Rule 403 balancing precluded defendant from introducing evidence that complainant was using IUD). It appears that most state courts addressing this issue have concluded that evidence of birth control constitutes evidence of sexual behavior. See, e.g., Thomas v. State, 301 Md. 294, 483 A.2d 6 (1984), cert. denied Thomas v. Maryland, 470 U.S. 1088, 105 S.Ct. 1856, 85 L.Ed.2d 153 (1985); Commonwealth v. Chretien, 383 Mass. 123, 417 N.E.2d 1203 (1981); North Carolina v. Galloway, 304 N.C. 485, 284 S.E.2d 509 (1981).