Court Opinion

ID: 9521914
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 02:15:07.433424+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:01:27.645877
License: Public Domain

SULLIVAN, Judge,
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
REFUSAL OF BATTERY INSTRUCTIONS
I concur in the holding of the majority which reverses for refusal of the court to give defendant’s tendered instructions concerning the included offense of battery. I do not, however, join in the conclusion of the majority that there was sufficient evidence for the jury to convict of child molesting, if that conclusion is made applicable to the convictions as to all five counts. My disagreement in this regard is hereinafter set forth in my discussion as to the sufficiency of the evidence.
EXPERT TESTIMONY
Our Supreme Court has not, as yet, adopted or rejected the admissibility test for expert testimony as set forth in Summers v. State (1986) 1st Dist.Ind.App., 495 N.E.2d 799, trans. denied. Reference to Summers in Wissman v. State (1989) Ind., 540 N.E.2d 1209 at 1213 appears to be dictum. Even if, however, the discussion in Wissman constitutes approval of the Summers test, that approval would seem to be limited to an expression that although a trial court will not be reversed for allowing expert evidence which is “not beyond the knowledge and expertise of the average juror”, neither will a court be reversed for excluding such evidence. Until such time as our Supreme Court has spoken more directly upon the subject, it is incumbent upon us to follow the traditional test of admissibility as enunciated in Grimes v. State (1983) Ind., 450 N.E.2d 512.
The majority holds that the proffered testimony of Dr. Loftus, a professor of psychology, with respect to memory malleability was inadmissible because it was neither material nor relevant. I disagree. The tendered testimony dealt primarily with the relative susceptibility of the human memory to be affected by subsequent occurrences. More particularly, her testimony would have concerned the psychological effects of leading questions with respect to the accuracy of one’s memory of past events. Susceptibility to post-event suggestion was also a subject of Dr. Lof-tus’s testimony. In this respect, Dr. Lof-tus would have testified that when two witnesses have engaged in conversations with each other or are interviewed together the danger of memory contamination is present. Additionally, Dr. Loftus would have testified that in duration estimation, such as here involved with respect to the duration of defendant’s various touchings, over-estimation is the rule rather than the exception. These matters are not, in my view, within the ordinary knowledge of the average juror.
The tenor of Dr. Loftus’s proffered testimony is precisely the type of information which should be made available to the jury so that the jurors might reasonably assess the credibility of children who are accusers in molestation cases. Stout v. State (1988) Ind., 528 N.E.2d 476; Head v. State (1988) Ind., 519 N.E.2d 151; Lawrence v. State (1984) Ind., 464 N.E.2d 923.
I am unable to conclude that the exclusion of the evidence was harmless error. *1222The State asserts that Pedrick did not challenge or contest the testimony of any of the children with respect to general occurrences about which they testified, but only as to the motivation and mental intent which accompanied the various touchings. I do not find that to be a totally accurate assessment of the defendant’s testimony. In this regard, his testimony was as follows:
“Q. You have heard all of the [children] here.
A. Yes indeed.
Q. You disagree with anything that those children said where you touched them?
A. No, I don’t disagree with them. I think they misunderstood me. I was just trying to be friends and I didn’t know that the world had changed and little girls were afraid to be touched now, and I think that is the thing that really bothers me more than anything about this because they are all nice little cute kids and I hate to have them think I am a dirty old man. I have never had this kind of reputation.
Q. So when the kids say you patted them and the girls said that you touched their breast, or you put your hands on their hips or tickled them.
A. Uh-huh.
Q. Did you?
A. Sure.
Q. Have you — were you criticized for touching — did any of the kids say anything to you?
A. No.
Q. Did any of them indicate to you that they didn’t like it?
A. No.
Q. Do you remember kids jerking away from you?
A. Not — no I don’t.
* * * * * *
Q. What happened in the principal’s office Charlie?
A. She told me that one of the little girls had said I touched her and that she was going to let me go, that I was going to be sent home.
Q. And do you remember what you said?
A. I said ‘Sure, I touched a lot of them. I might have touched her on the shoulder’ and she said ‘Well, she said that you touched her someplace else’.
Q. And what did you think at that moment?
A. I knew she was referring to a sexual touch.
Q. And what did you say, or what did you do?
A. I said ‘Hey, listen, I’ve got some problems but it certainly isn’t this’ and I laughed. It struck me funny because it was absurd.
Q. Is this funny?
A. No, it isn’t funny, but at the time I couldn’t believe it.
Q. Then you say you couldn’t believe it.
A. Uh-huh.
Q. What did you think after that?
A. She said to me ‘You will be hearing more about this’.
Q. And what did you think about that?
A. And I thought, that means some trouble.
Q. What did you do?
A. I went home.
Q. Did you deny touching them in a sexual way?
A. Yeah. When she said ‘They said you touched them someplace else’ and I said T certainly didn’t’. I knew she was talking about a sexual body part. She didn’t say what body part.”
Record at 741-743.
The jury’s assessment of the accuracy of the children’s memories might well have been affected, and appropriately so, by the expert opinions of Dr. Loftus.
INSTRUCTION CONCERNING CREDIBILITY OF CHILDREN
The trial court refused Pedrick’s tendered instruction which would have advised the jury that special care must be used in judging the credibility of children. There are two conflicting principles of law which clash in this regard. First is the general *1223proposition that a jury should not be instructed to give greater or lesser weight to the testimony of any particular witness. Buttram v. State (1978), 269 Ind. 598, 382 N.E.2d 166; Lewis v. State (1976) 264 Ind. 288, 342 N.E.2d 859. On the other hand lies the recognized principle that a special problem exists in accrediting or discounting child witnesses who are testifying concerning sexual encounters. Stout v. State, supra, 528 N.E.2d 476; Lawrence v. State, supra, 464 N.E.2d 923; Thomas v. State (1958) 238 Ind. 658, 154 N.E.2d 503. As reflected in the two cases last cited, the special problem alluded to was viewed as justifying testimony of expert witnesses.
Such analysis, however, does not necessarily carry with it a requirement for a jury instruction upon the subject. This is demonstrated by a recent decision of our Fifth District, Hoover v. State (1991) 5th Dist. Ind.App., 582 N.E.2d 403, adopted by our Supreme Court in Hoover v. State (1992) Ind., 589 N.E.2d 243. In Hoover, the Court of Appeals held it not error for the trial court to refuse an instruction which cautioned the jury with respect to the testimony of child molest victims.
Be that as it may, the exclusion of Dr. Loftus’s testimony virtually assured that the jury would be called upon to assess the testimony in a vacuum and without meaningful instruction or assistance. Had the testimony of Dr. Loftus been admitted, the absence of the instruction in question would be of much less impact. If such were the case, the general instruction as to the jury’s responsibility to assess the credibility of all witnesses would seemingly be adequate. The instruction given told the jury of the various factors bearing upon testimony assessment, including “the ability and opportunity to observe” as well as the “memory, manner and conduct of the witness_” Record at 97.
That Dr. Loftus was not permitted to give her testimony, coupled with the absence of a specific child-witness instruction, would seem to give the jury less than full assistance in their task of truth finding. I do not go so far, however, as to state that failure to give Pedrick’s tendered instruction is in and of itself reversible error. Hoover v. State, supra, 582 N.E.2d 403. Nevertheless, its absence contributes to what was probably an impediment to the fully informed consideration of the facts by the jury.
By reason of the foregoing analysis, all convictions should be reversed and the case remanded for further proceedings. In that regard, however, a new trial is not justified with respect to all counts.
SUFFICIENCY OF EVIDENCE
As earlier noted, there is evidence with respect to all five children involved in the charges, that a touching or touchings took place. With regard to K.C., A.C., and N.C., although the evidence is meager, it is arguably sufficient to give rise to an inference that those touchings fell within the definition either of the battery statute or the child molest statute. At least the evidence is prima facie adequate to justify retrial upon Counts I, V and VI.
With respect, however, to E.J. and M.M., the record is devoid of evidence from which the trier of fact might reasonably infer that the touchings were done either rudely or insolently or with intent to arouse or gratify. Markiton v. State (1957) 236 Ind. 237, 139 N.E.2d 917; DeBruhl v. State (1989) 2d Dist.Ind.App., 544 N.E.2d 542.
I would reverse all five convictions and remand with instructions to discharge the defendant upon Counts II and III and to grant a new trial with respect to Counts I, V and VI.