State v. Alberts
| Decision Date | 06 October 2006 |
| Docket Number | No. 04-1949.,04-1949. |
| Citation | 722 N.W.2d 402 |
| Parties | STATE of Iowa, Appellee, v. Michael John ALBERTS, Appellant. |
| Court | Iowa Supreme Court |
Paul D. Miller of Miller Law Office, Iowa City, for appellant.
Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, Sheryl A. Soich, Assistant Attorney General, J. Patrick White, County Attorney, and Victoria Cole, Assistant County Attorney, for appellee.
Is skinny-dipping a form of sexual behavior? Michael John Alberts allegedly sexually assaulted R.M., his nephew's twenty-two-year-old girlfriend. Alberts was convicted of third-degree sexual abuse following a jury trial in Johnson County, Iowa. On appeal, Alberts alleged the prosecutor engaged in prosecutorial misconduct and complained numerous errors were made by the district court. Because we find the district court erred by failing to determine whether R.M. made a prior false allegation of sexual misconduct relating to a skinny-dipping incident, we reverse the district court judgment on this error and remand for further proceedings.
On the night of October 19, 2003, R.M. attended a bachelorette party at a Cedar Rapids bar named Borrowed Bucks. Alberts was also at the bar, and the two struck up a conversation. Alberts and R.M. knew each other through R.M.'s boyfriend, Jesse Goeller. Alberts is Jesse's forty-two-year-old uncle. R.M. attended a half dozen or so family gatherings with Jesse where Alberts was present.
Additionally, a few weeks prior to the bachelorette party, Jesse, R.M., and a friend of R.M. ran into Alberts at Borrowed Bucks. There, the four of them danced as a group and at times Alberts and R.M. danced together in a provocative manner. When the bar closed, R.M. and Jesse sat with Alberts in the cab of Alberts' semi-truck. R.M.'s friend waited in the car. R.M. and Alberts smoked marijuana. Before leaving, R.M. unhooked her bra under her shirt and hung it on Alberts' rearview mirror. R.M. left the cab and Jesse followed a couple minutes later after Alberts handed Jesse R.M.'s bra.
During the bachelorette party, R.M. drank several beers and a shot of tequila. At closing time, R.M. went with Alberts to his family's lake house instead of remaining with the bachelorette group. When they arrived at the lake house, R.M. ate some food, headed for the bathroom, and vomited. She then told Alberts she felt "like crap" and needed to "sleep this off." Alberts followed R.M. into one of the bedrooms and sat next to her on the bed. With Alberts still in the room, R.M. took off her skirt and climbed into bed.
Sometime later, R.M. woke to find Alberts sucking her breasts. According to R.M., she did not respond to his actions. Alberts then performed oral sex on her and had intercourse with her. R.M. claims she pretended to be asleep during the entire episode. Alberts thereafter left to sleep in another bedroom.
The next morning, Alberts drove R.M. to her home. R.M. showered as soon as she got there. Jesse, the boyfriend, who had been visiting friends in Ames, returned home early in the afternoon. After speaking with R.M. about the previous night's events, Jesse took R.M. to the hospital.
At the hospital, R.M. told the nurse she needed to report a rape. A sexual assault examination ensued. The nurse found semen inside her vagina, but did not observe any evidence of trauma or injury. Police officers spoke with R.M. at the hospital and told her she had the option to press charges, which she did three days later.
Before trial, the district court granted the State's motion in limine which prevented Alberts from presenting testimony about R.M.'s sexual history or a recent skinny-dipping episode with another man.
At trial, Alberts testified R.M. consented to the sexual encounter by kissing him and moving her hips during intercourse. His attorney argued R.M. only claimed it was non-consensual because she did not want to lose her relationship with Jesse. This argument was unsuccessful, and the jury convicted Alberts of third-degree sexual abuse.
Alberts argued a voluminous number of issues on appeal. He argued: (1) the district court erred by ruling that R.M.'s mental health records were not relevant or discoverable; (2) the district court improperly excluded expert testimony regarding the possible effect of R.M.'s mental health on her credibility; (3) the district court erred by excluding certain evidence regarding R.M.'s alleged prior false claim of sexual assault and flirtatious nature when drinking; (4) his trial counsel was ineffective when he did not attempt to introduce evidence of R.M.'s infidelity and promiscuity as impeachment evidence; (5) his trial counsel erred by failing to object to R.M.'s testimony that she feared for her life during the sexual assault; (6) his trial counsel failed to object to three instances of questioning by the prosecution and comments made during closing arguments which involved possible Graves violations; (7) his trial counsel failed to object to alleged prosecutorial misconduct; and (8) the district court erred in overruling the motion for new trial based on alleged misconduct by the prosecutor during direct examination of R.M.
The court of appeals addressed all issues and affirmed the decision of the district court. We granted further review.
Because Alberts had elicited statements from witnesses during depositions regarding R.M.'s flirtatious nature, her past sexual comments, and prior allegation of being trapped by a man during a skinny-dipping incident, the State filed a motion in limine asking the court to determine whether such evidence was admissible. The State contended such testimony was either inadmissible under the Iowa rape-shield law or irrelevant to the case at hand.
In the unreported pretrial hearing, the State pointed to several incidents involving R.M. it considered inadmissible and irrelevant. One specific instance was a Fourth of July party where Jesse's brother Josh discovered R.M. skinny-dipping with Chris Slach. In his deposition, Josh described how he saw R.M. with her arms around Slach in the Cedar River.1 Josh said he "busted them" because R.M. was supposed to be dating his brother. According to Josh, R.M. came out of the water crying. She told Josh R.M. later explained that nothing sexual had happened between the two. Slach was also prepared to testify it was R.M.'s idea to go skinny-dipping and there was no sexual contact between the two.
During argument on the motion in limine, Alberts contended this evidence was relevant because R.M.'s statement to Josh immediately after the skinny-dipping incident was similar to her response about her sexual encounter with Alberts. He claimed this evidence was important to his case because it supported his theory that R.M. accused men of improper sexual conduct in order to shift blame away from her supposed infidelity. He also claimed this incident was particularly relevant because it reflected on the credibility of the only other witness to the alleged rape—R.M.
Alberts argued the rape-shield law was not applicable to this situation because there was no sexual contact and therefore no "past sexual behavior." Alternatively, he argued that if this was sexual activity or sexual behavior, then it was admissible under the false-claim exception to the rape-shield law.
The district court sustained most of the State's motion in limine and specifically excluded any evidence pertaining to the skinny-dipping incident. The court also excluded any testimony which described R.M.'s character as flirtatious or promiscuous. However, the court allowed the jury to hear evidence that R.M. had engaged in "dirty dancing" with Alberts a few weeks before the alleged sexual abuse, smoked marijuana with him in the cab of his semi-truck, and removed her bra and hung it on his rear-view mirror.
The State does not contend Alberts failed to preserve this matter for our review. In its appellate brief, the State conceded the error was preserved "by motions and an offer of proof." However, because the issue was only addressed during the motion in limine, we find it proper to analyze whether it was properly preserved for our review.
The general rule regarding the preservation of alleged errors in rulings on motions in limine was stated in State v. Tangie, 616 N.W.2d 564, 568-69 (Iowa 2000):
Ordinarily, error claimed in a court's ruling on a motion in limine is waived unless a timely objection is made when the evidence is offered at trial. However,
(Citations omitted.)
The key to our analysis is to determine what the trial court ruling purported to do. State v. O'Connell, 275 N.W.2d 197, 202 (Iowa 1979). "A ruling only granting or denying protection from prejudicial references to challenged evidence cannot preserve the inadmissibility issue for appellate review." Id. However, "if the ruling reaches the ultimate issue and declares the evidence admissible or inadmissible, it is ordinarily a final ruling and need not be questioned again during trial." Id.
Before we analyze whether the court's ruling resolved the matter in such a way that it was beyond question that the challenged evidence would not be admitted during trial, we must consider the context of the court's ruling. The State filed a motion in limine asking for "a hearing outside the presence of the jury, accompanied by an offer of proof . . . to determine whether such testimony would be admissible." Alberts filed a response to the...
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