Sampson v. State

Citation38 N.E.3d 985
Decision Date30 July 2015
Docket NumberNo. 87S01–1410–CR–684.,87S01–1410–CR–684.
PartiesCraig SAMPSON, Appellant (Defendant below), v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee (Plaintiff below).
CourtSupreme Court of Indiana

Michael C. Keating, Keating & LaPlante, LLP, Evansville, IN, Attorney for Appellant.

Gregory F. Zoeller, Attorney General of Indiana, Ryan D. Johanningsmeier, Deputy Attorney General, Eric P. Babbs, Deputy Attorney General, Indianapolis, IN, Attorneys for Appellee.

On Petition To Transfer from the Indiana Court of Appeals, No. 87A01–1312–CR–534.

RUCKER

, Justice.

Craig Sampson appeals his conviction for child molesting contending it must be vacated and this cause remanded for a new trial because, among other things, improper vouching testimony was allowed into evidence. We affirm the judgment of the trial court.

Facts and Procedural History

S.B. and her family were members of the Tennyson Free Methodist Church in Warrick County where S.B.'s father served as pastor. Craig Sampson—a family friend—was also a member of the church. Over the years that Sampson attended the church, it was not uncommon for S.B. to sit near him during church services, [s]ometimes next to him and sometimes on his lap.” Tr. at 35

. S.B.'s entire family sometimes visited the Sampson home and there were also times on the weekends when S.B. visited the home with only Sampson and his wife present. S.B. considered Sampson a “friend” and they would do “a lot of things together.” Tr. at 35.

In the spring or summer of 2008 or 2009, when S.B. would have been nine or ten years of age, she visited Sampson's home after church. While Sampson's wife took a nap, fifty-two to fifty-three-year-old Sampson watched television and S.B. sat at a computer playing games. At some point Sampson asked S.B. to get up from the computer so that he could sit down. S.B. then sat on Sampson's lap and asked Sampson to scratch her back in a spot that itched. According to S.B., Sampson began rubbing her back under her shirt and then “slowly moved to the front of [her] body, into [her] pants.” Tr. at 49

. S.B. testified that Sampson rubbed her stomach and then moved his hands inside her pants and under her underwear. When Sampson touched S.B. in her vaginal area she felt a “tingling sensation.” Tr. at 54. At that point S.B. asked Sampson to stop, and [h]e slowly took his hand out.” Tr. at 54. Sampson told S.B. not to tell her parents or he would be in trouble.

S.B. did not tell anyone about the incident until two or three years later. Specifically, during the summer of 2011 S.B. attended a week-long church camp during which she was in a group that discussed sexual purity. Among other things attendees were advised [i]f someone were to touch you that doesn't make you feel comfortable then you need to tell someone because it's illegal.” Tr. at 56

. S.B. then told her parents about the incident involving Sampson who in turn contacted the authorities. An investigation ensued. After obtaining preliminary information an officer from the Warrick County Sheriff's Office referred S.B. and her parents to “Holly's House” in Evansville, which was described as a “child and adult advocacy center ... an interview location and a resource location for alleged victims and of [sic] victims of intimate crimes.” Tr. at 111. Jenny Wood, the former associate director and child forensic interviewer at Holly's House conducted a forensic interview1 of S.B., during which S.B. recounted the incident with Sampson.

On January 21, 2012 the State charged Sampson with child molesting as a class C felony. A jury trial began on November 26, 2012 but ended when the trial court declared a mistrial after the jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict. A second jury trial began on October 21, 2013. Over Sampson's objection Wood was allowed to provide testimony concerning Child Sexual Abuse Accommodation Syndrome.2 Without objection, Wood also testified she was trained to detect signs of coaching during a forensic interview and that she did not observe any signs that S.B. had been coached. S.B. also testified; and over Sampson's objection she responded to the State's inquiry of how the incident with Sampson affected her, which Sampson characterized as impermissible victim impact testimony. The jury returned a verdict against Sampson of guilty as charged. The trial court thereafter sentenced him to four years imprisonment, with one year executed at the Warrick County Security Center and three years suspended to probation.

Sampson appealed contending: (1) the trial court erred in admitting evidence concerning Child Sexual Abuse Accommodation Syndrome; (2) admission of testimony that the interviewer did not observe signs of coaching was fundamental error; and (3) the trial court erred in allowing alleged victim impact testimony. In a memorandum decision the Court of Appeals affirmed the judgment of the trial court concluding that with respect to issues one and three error if any was harmless. And as for issue two there was no error, let alone fundamental error. See Sampson v. State, No. 87A01–1312–CR–534, 2014 WL 4064580 (Ind.Ct.App. Aug. 18, 2014)

, vacated, We previously granted transfer to explore issue number two. In all other respects we summarily affirm the decision of the Court of Appeals. See Ind. App. R. 58(A)(2). Additional facts are set forth below.

Discussion

During direct examination the exchange between the State and witness Jenny Wood was as follows:

Q. What does the term coaching mean to you?
A. Coaching is a term used in forensic interviewing where someone has told a child what to say and typically it's somebody close to the child and it's usually an untrue statement.
Q. Have you been trained in looking for signs of coaching?
A. Yes.
Q. Okay and have you ever conducted an interview where you believed that a person had been coached?
A. Yes.
Q. What are some signs that if observed might lead you to believe that a witness or a child had been coached?
A. Typically individuals who have been coached can't recall details because they have not been told details when they were coached to tell a statement. They may have not be [sic] able to answer questions that go beyond what their statement-the statement that they know about, such as where did it happen, was there anybody with you, so more detail oriented questions, somebody who had been victimized could typically answer but since they were coached they could not because that information was not shared with them.
Q. During your interview with [S.B.], did you observe any signs that she had been coached?
A. No.

Tr. at 124–25.

Sampson did not object to this line of questioning. On appeal he complains, [t]estimony that the alleged victim showed no evidence of coaching constituted improper vouching for the alleged victim's credibility.” Pet. to Trans. at 2. According to Sampson such testimony violates Ind. Evidence Rule 704(b)3

and contravenes this Court's opinion in Hoglund v. State, 962 N.E.2d 1230 (Ind.2012).

In Hoglund, the defendant was convicted of sexually molesting his daughter, A.H., until she was nearly eight years old. At trial the State presented the testimony of three expert witnesses. “In varying degrees of specificity, each witness essentially testified that A.H. was ‘not prone to exaggerate or fantasize’ concerning sexual matters.” Id. at 1232

. We concluded that the trial court erred in allowing the testimony of these three expert witnesses because “indirect vouching testimony is little different than testimony that the child witness is telling the truth. As such it is at odds with Evidence Rule 704(b).” Id. at 1237 (footnote omitted). We “decline[d] to carve out an exception to the rule for sex abuse cases.” Id. (footnote omitted). And we reiterated the longstanding rule that “no witness, whether lay or expert, is competent to testify that another witness is or is not telling the truth.” Id. at 1238 (alteration omitted) (quotations omitted).

A few months after Hoglund was decided, a panel of the Court of Appeals reviewed a conviction for sexual molestation in Kindred v. State, 973 N.E.2d 1245 (Ind.Ct.App.2012)

, trans. denied. In that case, Jerry Kindred was convicted of molesting A.G., the granddaughter of his live-in girlfriend. At trial, the State presented a caseworker who had conducted an interview of the alleged victim. The caseworker testified that he did not believe A.G. had been coached.” Id. at 1251. Among other things, Kindred argued on appeal that this testimony was the functional equivalent of vouching for the alleged victim's credibility and essentially telling the jury that she was telling the truth. The Court of Appeals agreed and ultimately reversed Kindred's conviction and remanded the cause for a new trial. Noting that Hoglund did not expressly address testimony about coaching, the Court of Appeals declared:

We read Hoglund to suggest that testimony about whether a child has been coached amounts to the same improper commentary on the child's truthfulness as testimony about whether a child is prone to exaggerate or fantasize about sexual matters. We hold that general testimony about the signs of coaching, as well as the presence or absence of those signs in the child victim at issue, preserves the ultimate credibility determination for the jury and therefore does not constitute vouching. By contrast, where a witness opines as to whether the child victim was coached —offering an ultimate opinion, as [the expert] did here—the witness invades the province of the jury and vouches for the child.
Id. at 1258

(emphasis added).

Shortly thereafter another panel of the Court of Appeals decided Archer v. State, 996 N.E.2d 341 (Ind.Ct.App.2013)

, trans. denied. In that case, Jeffrey Archer was convicted of molesting his step-granddaughter. Among other things, Archer contended the forensic interviewer improperly vouched for the child's credibility when she testified she did not observe any indicators that the victim had been coached. The Court of Appeals disagreed and affirmed his convictions....

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