Court Opinion

ID: 9714048
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 05:29:29.70699+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:23.006487
License: Public Domain

SULLIVAN, Judge,
concurring.
I concur but write separately in order to state a degree of reservation with regard to the majority’s analysis of the foundational requirements for introduction of evidence of prior false allegations of rape.
I agree that in this case both prongs of the test, i.e., (1) that the person must have made a prior allegation, and (2) that the allegation was demonstrably false, were not met. The majority, however, appears to combine the two prongs into a single-faceted test.
Stewart v. State, (1988) Ind., 531 N.E.2d 1146, is cited in support of excluding such evidence when it had not been determined whether the accusation had in fact been made, and if so, whether it was false. Stewart did not say, however, that if the trial court determined, as here, that the witness did in fact make the accusation, such must be excluded.
Similarly, in Koo v. State, (1994) Ind.App., 640 N.E.2d 95, cited by the majority, the fact that the individual denied making the allegation and also denied that any rape took place should not be read as a holding that exclusion of a prior false accusation is mandated. Notwithstanding the denial by the alleged false accuser, the existence of the accusation and its falsity might be otherwise proved. In the case before us, the trial court, as was its prerogative, chose to believe the witnesses who stated that the victim had previously *504made accusations of rape on two separate occasions by two different persons. For our purposes, therefore, we may consider the fact of the accusations as established. In such instance, the question of admissibility, in my view, remains open. Given the fact of the accusation, admissibility depends upon the second facet of the test — whether the accusation is demonstrably false. For this reason, I conclude that the heart of this case is whether the accusation found to have been made was false.
While I agree that one of the salutary aspects of the Rape Shield Rule is to avoid “trying the prior allegation in the context of the present case” (Op. at 500), that very inquiry is implicit in the “demonstrably false” facet of the test. Therefore, it would appear that, difficult though it may be, the matter of truth or falsity of the prior rape accusation must be dealt with. In this context, I take issue with the majority’s strong suggestion that an acquittal of a prior rape accusation will not permit a conclusion that the accusation was false.
If an accusation of rape has been made, I can conceive of no more rational way to demonstrate falsity, insofar as human fact-finding capabilities are involved, than to consider an acquittal of those charges. To be sure, an acquittal may be premised upon a conclusion that the State has not proved the rape beyond a reasonable doubt, when in point of fact the rape did occur, as known only to the victim and the perpetrator. Nevertheless, we are not privileged to operate within such a world of abstract certainty. To hold otherwise would seem to render the “demonstrably false” prong of the test virtually meaningless. The fact-finding process is necessarily conducted by persons with human frailties — with the capacity to be wrong, as well as to be correct. We are compelled to determine the existence of facts, from evidence that is available to us, and we deal with probabilities rather than absolute certainties. For this reason, I would opine that an acquittal may be considered as strong evidence, though not conclusive, of the falsity of a prior rape accusation.
The evidence adduced from the two witnesses concerning the prior allegations was adequate to support the trial court’s factual determination that the accusations were in fact made. Evidence that the accusations were demonstrably false is lacking, however. Although the first prong of the test was met, the second prong was not.
For this reason, I concur in the holding that the court erred in admitting the evidence.