Court Opinion

ID: 9758757
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 23:44:09.241002+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T10:00:19.675188
License: Public Domain

WIEAND, Judge,
concurring and dissenting:
Darrell LaRue Black was tried by jury and was found guilty of statutory rape and related offenses arising from an alleged act of sexual intercourse with his thirteen year old daughter. In an effort to expose bias and a motive for testifying falsely, the defense offered to show that Black had been responsible for interrupting an illicit and ongoing, incestuous relationship between the witness and her brother. From this the defense intended to argue that the witness was motivated by revenge and by a desire to be rid of her father so that her brother, who had left the home, could return. The trial court excluded evidence of the sexual relationship between the witness and her brother for two reasons. The first reason given by the court was the Rape Shield Law,1 which renders inadmissible instances of an alleged victim’s prior sexual conduct. The second reason given by the court was that the probative value of the witness’ prior sexual conduct with her brother was “outweighed by the potential for prejudice and collateral distraction which this sort of inflammatory material would inject into the trial.” Trial court opinion at p. 3. The majority holds that the Rape Shield Law cannot validly be used to prevent introduction of the alleged victim’s past sexual history to show bias. It remands, however, for an in camera hearing to determine whether the relevancy of this evidence is outweighed by the prejudice it will cause to the witness. I am of the opinion that a remand for an in camera hearing is unnecessary — the trial court has already determined that the probative value of the evidence is outweighed by its prejudice — and that this Court should review the evidentiary ruling of the trial court on the basis of the existing record. Therefore, I dissent. Having reviewed the record, I would find that exclusion of this *560evidence was an abuse of discretion and would remand for a new trial.
I agree fully with the majority that there will be occasions when an accused’s right to confront his accuser will require that he be permitted to show the sexual history of the accuser in order to expose bias or a motive to testify falsely. In such cases, the Pennsylvania Rape Shield Law cannot validly be asserted to deny the accused’s right to a fair trial. See: Davis v. Alaska, 415 U.S. 308, 94 S.Ct. 1105, 39 L.Ed.2d 347 (1974). See also: State v. Jalo, 27 Or.App. 845, 557 P.2d 1359 (1976). Thus, rape shield laws in other states expressly permit evidence of past sexual conduct in order to show bias or motive to fabricate on the part of the complaining witness. See: Marion v. State, 267 Ark. 345, 590 S.W.2d 288 (1979); State v. Clarke, 343 N.W.2d 158 (Iowa 1984); Commonwealth v. Frey, 390 Mass. 245, 454 N.E.2d 478 (1983); State v. Hill, 309 Minn. 206, 244 N.W.2d 728 (1976).
It is an accepted method of attacking the credibility of an accuser to expose bias or a motive to testify falsely. Commonwealth v. Cheatham, 429 Pa. 198, 203, 239 A.2d 293, 296 (1968). “The law recognizes that a witness’s self-interest or feelings toward the defendant can slant testimony.” Tanford and Bocchino, Rape Victim Shield Laws And The Sixth Amendment, 128 U.Pa.L.Rev. 544, 582 (1980). In the instant case, the evidence of the sexual relationship between the Commonwealth’s witness and her brother, as the majority has aptly observed, was clearly relevant to show the animosity borne by the witness for her father who arguably had been responsible for terminating that incestuous relationship.
If the accusing witness’ relationship with her brother was probative óf a bias against the accused or of a motive to falsify, however, I am unable to fathom by what legerdemain the accused could properly be denied the right to introduce evidence of it. How can evidence of bias and motive to testify falsely be so prejudicial to the accusing witness that it cannot be introduced by the accused? Can *561the possible adverse effect upon a witness be grounds for excluding highly probative evidence which tends to prove that the accusation is false?
To speak in terms of prejudice to the witness is, in fact, to miss the point. When we speak of the prejudicial effect of evidence, we concede its relevance but ask, “is its value worth what it costs?” McCormick, Handbook of the Law of Evidence, § 185 (2d ed. 1972). Thus, a court may exclude relevant evidence because of the danger that it will unduly arouse the jury’s prejudice, hostility, or sympathy and thereby encourage a verdict based on emotion rather than calm reflection. See: Commonwealth v. Majorana, 503 Pa. 602, 610, 470 A.2d 80, 84 (1983); Commonwealth v. Green, 290 Pa.Super. 76, 84-85, 434 A.2d 137, 141 (1981); Commonwealth v. Reynolds, 256 Pa.Super. 259, 273-274, 389 A.2d 1113, 1120 (1978); Commonwealth v. Honeycutt, 227 Pa.Super. 265, 270, 323 A.2d 775, 778 (1974). A court may also exclude relevant evidence because it will create a collateral issue likely to distract the jury unduly. See: McCaffrey v. Schwartz, 285 Pa. 561, 572-573, 132 A. 810, 814 (1926); Commonwealth v. Lee, 262 Pa.Super. 280, 293, 396 A.2d 755, 761 (1978), overruled on other grounds, Commonwealth v. Thompkins, 311 Pa.Super. 357, 457 A.2d 925 (1983). A trial judge may also exclude evidence because of the danger of unfair surprise to an opponent. McCormick, supra at § 185. Finally, a court may exclude evidence which is cumulative or which will, together with counter proof, consume an inordinate amount of time. See: Commonwealth v. Nesbitt, 276 Pa.Super. 1, 7, 419 A.2d 64, 67 (1980). This balancing test is equally applicable to determine the admissibility of otherwise relevant evidence of a witness’ prior sexual history. Whether the evidence should be admitted or excluded must rest in the exercise of a sound discretion by the trial court. Commonwealth v. Lee, supra; Commonwealth v. Reynolds, supra 256 Pa.Super. at 273, 389 A.2d at 1120; Commonwealth v. Honey-cutt, supra.
*562The defense in the instant case was able to show, both by cross-examination of the prosecuting witness and by independent defense evidence, that the witness’ brother, DeRel, had left home following an argument with appellant in March, 1980 and that thereafter the police had been told of possible child abuse by appellant on or about March 24, 1980. Appellant was arrested early in April, 1980; and thereafter, the witness’ brother called his mother to request permission to return home. The defense was also permitted to show that on an earlier occasion the witness had falsely accused her brother of having sexual relations with her following an argument. Finally, the defense showed that the witness had made prior inconsistent statements accusing appellant of engaging in sex with her on other occasions. Nevertheless, the court refused to allow evidence that the thirteen year old daughter had a sexually oriented motive for making false accusations against her father. Appellant was not allowed to show that the alleged victim of his sexual advances had a personal interest in forcing him from the home so that her brother could return to resume an incestuous relationship. This, in my best judgment, was a manifest abuse of discretion which requires a new trial. See: Commonwealth v. Dawson, 486 Pa. 321, 405 A.2d 1230 (1979); Commonwealth v. Cheatham, supra. See also: Commonwealth v. Hayward, 437 Pa. 215, 263 A.2d 330 (1970).
It must be conceded, of course, that evidence of this nature possesses an inherent danger that a jury will be distracted from the issue of the accused’s guilt or innocence and decide the case on the basis of the accusing witness’ prior sexual acts. The danger is no greater, however, than the danger that a jury, having heard evidence of an accused’s prior convictions, will convict merely because the accused is a criminal. Evidence of prior convictions of offenses which are crimen falsi is universally admitted to attack the credibility of a witness even though the witness may also be a defendant. It is inconceivable that a court would grant an alleged rape victim greater protection *563against prejudicial testimony than one who is accused of serious crime. See: Tanford and Bocchino, supra at 574-575.
The evidence in the instant case was neither remote nor insignificant. The offense charged was a heinous one which, by its very nature, is repulsive to most persons in contemporary society. It constituted child abuse, an offense against which community feelings run high. However, it was also an offense that would not have been committed in public or in front of witnesses. If the offense occurred, it would have occurred in the privacy of a bedroom. Thus, it was not susceptible of proof by disinterested witnesses. The only direct evidence of that which actually transpired in the bedroom had to come from interested parties, viz, the accuser and the accused. To exclude evidence that the accuser may have been motivated by animosity toward her accused father because he had interrupted an incestuous relationship which she had been carrying on with her brother and that she may also have been motivated by a desire to compel her father’s removal from the home so that the brother could return and the incestuous relationship be resumed is, indeed, to deprive the accused of a fair trial by denying him the right to confront his accuser.
The majority and I are agreed that the Pennsylvania Rape Shield Law cannot validly be asserted to exclude this relevant evidence. However, I am unable to comprehend how such evidence can then be excluded on grounds that it may be “prejudicial.” To remand for an in camera hearing to determine prejudice, in view of the determination already made by the trial court, is a useless act. I would hold that the trial court’s determination that the evidence was excludable because it was prejudicial constituted an abuse of discretion. I would remand for a new trial.
CIRILLO and MONTEMURO, JJ., join concurring and dissenting opinion by WIEAND, J.

. 18 Pa.C.S. § 3104.