Court Opinion

ID: 9571982
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 20:37:03.537442+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:31:17.171394
License: Public Domain

Benham, Justice,
dissenting.
I respectfully disagree with the majority’s determination that the Court of Appeals erred when it affirmed the trial court’s grant of the State’s motion in limine to exclude evidence about the victim’s relationship with her former boyfriend. I agree with the Court of Appeals’ assessment that the trial court did not abuse its discretion when it determined the evidence the defendant wished to present was not relevant. I take issue with the majority’s narrow construction of the coverage of the rape shield statute (OCGA § 24-2-3) and the result of the majority’s conclusion — it encourages a defendant accused of rape to cry, “Motive to lie” and thereby win judicial approval to bypass the rape shield statute whenever the victim is a partner in a meaningful relationship, has recently ended a meaningful relationship, or might wish to be in a meaningful relationship. Instead, I believe a rape defendant has a right to cross-examine a victim in order to expose a motive to fabricate a rape charge but that right is limited to relevant and probative evidence, and a rape victim’s relationship with one person is relevant and probative of the victim’s motive to lie about being raped by another only if the defendant can make a proffer of facts, not a statement of theory, from which the jury can immediately discern a motive to lie. Under that standard, the Court of Appeals did not err when it determined the trial *643court did not abuse its discretion when it prohibited the defendant from cross-examining the victim about her relationship with her former boyfriend.
1. The majority construes the rape shield statute as barring only “evidence regarding the sexual aspects of a prior relationship,” and concludes that cross-examination of the victim concerning the nonsexual nature of the victim’s former relationships does not fall within the statute’s coverage. I disagree with such a narrow reading of the coverage of the rape shield statute and take issue with the majority’s creation of an undefined vague guideline that I assume prohibits only evidence with a “sex” component. The rape shield statute “ ‘is a strong legislative attempt to protect the victim-prosecutrix in rape cases by the exclusion of evidence which might reflect on the character of the witness without contributing materially to the issue of the guilt or innocence of the accused.’ [Cit.]” Harris v. State, 257 Ga. 666, 667 (1) (a) (362 SE2d 211) (1987). OCGA § 24-2-3 (a) states that evidence of a rape victim’s “past sexual behavior” is not admissible as direct evidence or on cross-examination unless the trial court makes certain findings not applicable in the case at bar, and the statute contains a non-exhaustive list of what constitutes evidence of “past sexual behavior.”1 The examples set forth in the statute (e.g., mode of dress, marital history) make it clear that the statute prohibits more than evidence regarding the “sexual aspects” of a prior relationship. See Alford v. State, 243 Ga. App. 212 (5) (534 SE2d 81) (2000) (trial court properly barred introduction of evidence about victim’s attire at the time of the attack); Burley v. State, 190 Ga. App. 75 (2) (378 SE2d 328) (1989) (trial court properly barred introduction of evidence about victim’s marital history). I cannot endorse the needless judicial creation of an undefined exception to the rape shield statute.
2. While the scope of evidence excluded by the rape shield statute is, in my view, broader than the scope espoused by the majority, I recognize that the evidentiary safeguards provided by the statute must yield, in the proper circumstances, to a defendant’s constitutional right to confront the witnesses against him by means of cross-examination. This case, however, does not present the proper circumstances.
The Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution, as *644incorporated in the Fourteenth Amendment, guarantees a person accused of a crime the right to confront the witnesses against him. However, the Confrontation Clause does not prohibit the imposition of limits on cross-examination. In Delaware v. Van Arsdall, 475 U. S. 673, 679 (106 SC 1431, 89 LE2d 674) (1986), the U. S. Supreme Court made it clear that trial judges
retain wide latitude insofar as the Confrontation Clause is concerned to impose reasonable limits on such cross-examination based on concerns about, among other things, harassment, prejudice, confusion of the issues, the witness’ safety, or interrogation that is repetitive or only marginally relevant.
See also Hines v. State, 249 Ga. 257 (2) (290 SE2d 911) (1982). In Olden v. Kentucky, 488 U. S. 227 (109 SC 480, 102 LE2d 513) (1988), the case relied upon by appellant, the U. S. Supreme Court held that the constitutional right of confrontation was violated when a rape defendant was not permitted to impeach the complaining witness by eliciting on cross-examination facts showing that she had a motive to lie about the rape because she was living with and having an extramarital affair with the male witness who saw her exit the defendant’s car and to whom she immediately stated she had been raped.2 The Court described the excluded cross-examination as having “such strong potential to demonstrate the fálsity of [the complaining witness’s] testimony [,]” and stated, “It is plain to us that a reasonable jury might have received a significantly different impression of the witness’ credibility had defense counsel been permitted to pursue his proposed line of cross-examination.” (Punctuation omitted.) Id., 488 U. S. at 232. Thus, it was not merely the presentation of a theory that the complaining witness had a motive to lie that made the proffered testimony relevant, but the presentation of facts from which the jury could immediately discern a motive to lie which made the proffered evidence probative and triggered the right of confrontation. See Lewis v. State, 591 S2d 922 (Fla. 1991), where the Supreme Court of Florida ruled that a rape defendant’s constitutional right of confrontation was violated when he was not permitted to elicit testimony that the complaining witness, his stepdaughter, had engaged in sexual activity with her boyfriend, had lied about the sexual activity to her mother, and was scheduled to undergo a gynecological exam a *645week after she accused her stepfather of conduct that would explain the anticipated results of the physical examination. Compare State v. Adderly, 803 S2d 760 (Fla. App. 2001), where the Florida Court of Appeals ruled that the defendant’s right of confrontation did not authorize the presentation of evidence that the victim had accused him of oral sodomy because she wanted to tell her mother of her sexual activity with her boyfriend and told her mother of the defendant’s oral sodomy upon her in order to prevent the mother from becoming angry about her sexual activity with her boyfriend.
Decided June 2, 2003.
Gary P. Bunch, for appellant.
Peter J. Skandalakis, District Attorney, Anne C. Allen, Assistant District Attorney, for appellee.
In the case at bar, the jury was made aware through the complaining witness’s testimony on direct examination that she had broken up with a boyfriend the day before her encounter with the defendant and that she encountered the defendant while on her way to the former boyfriend’s home to retrieve personal items and return items belonging to the former boyfriend. On cross-examination, appellant did not wish to present facts from which the jury could discern that the complaining witness was lying about being raped. Instead, appellant wished to theorize that the complaining witness was going to her former boyfriend’s home at a time when she knew he was not there in order to return a jacket that could only be returned that day, and had to lie to a woman at the house about being raped in order to have an explanation for the former boyfriend about some stains on the jacket. I agree with the Court of Appeals that the proffer made by appellant was too attenuated to be relevant and probative, and that the trial court did not abuse its discretion when it refused to allow the theory to be presented to the jury. Accordingly, I believe the judgment of the Court of Appeals affirming appellant’s conviction should be affirmed.
I am authorized to state that Justice Hunstein joins this dissent.

 Evidence of the past sexual behavior of the complaining witness is admissible if the trial court finds after conducting an in camera hearing that the past sexual behavior directly involved the defendant and the proffered evidence supports an inference that the defendant could have reasonably believed the complaining witness consented to the intercourse alleged to be rape. OCGA § 24-2-3 (b). Evidence of “past sexual behavior” “includes, but is not limited to, evidence of the complaining witness’s marital history, mode of dress, general reputation for promiscuity, nonchastity, or sexual mores contrary to community standards.” OCGA § 24-2-3 (a).

 There was no question concerning the applicability of Kentucky’s rape shield statute since the Kentucky Court of Appeals had held that evidence that the complaining witness and the male corroborating witness were living together at the time of trial was not barred by the rape shield law.