State v. Geyman

• Decision Date: 09 December 1986
• Docket Number: No. 85-638,85-638
• Citation: 43 St.Rep. 2125,729 P.2d 475,224 Mont. 194
• Parties: , 55 USLW 2358 STATE of Montana, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Keith R. GEYMAN, Defendant and Appellant.
• Court: Montana Supreme Court

Page 475

729 P.2d 475

224 Mont. 194, 55 USLW 2358

STATE of Montana, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Keith R. GEYMAN, Defendant and Appellant.

No. 85-638.

Supreme Court of Montana.

Submitted on Briefs Nov. 7, 1986.

Decided Dec. 9, 1986.

Keith R. Geyman, pro se.

Mike Greely, Atty. Gen., Joe R. Roberts, Asst. Atty. Gen., Jay Erickson, Legal Intern, Helena, Robert L. Deschamps, III, Co. Atty., Missoula, for plaintiff and respondent.

GULBRANDSON, Justice.

Keith Geyman appeals a Missoula County District Court jury verdict convicting him of deviate sexual conduct. The court sentenced Geyman to forty years with ten years suspended and no possibility of parole.

The issues on appeal are whether there was sufficient evidence to support the conviction and whether expert testimony concerning the credibility of a child alleged to have been the victim of a sexual assault should be admitted into evidence.

We affirm.

On September 20, 1984, defendant Geyman accompanied his girlfriend and three of her sons, including nine-year-old Shane, on a trip from Missoula to Kalispell, Montana. At this point Geyman had been living in Missoula with his girlfriend for about a month. Before leaving Missoula, Geyman consumed several beers and some speed. The girlfriend and two of her sons remained in Kalispell while Geyman and Shane, the third son, returned to Missoula late that evening. Shane testified that on the trip home Geyman stopped the car three or four times and on each occasion asked him to perform oral sex. Shane refused the requests and testified that Geyman then performed oral sex on him. Geyman purchased more beer upon arrival in Missoula and then drove to the apartment with Shane. A short time later, Geyman entered Shane's bedroom and performed anal sex on the boy which continued the remainder of the night and early morning. Shane testified that Geyman slapped him numerous times during the assault and told him not to tell anyone. Shane left the apartment at around 8:00 a.m. and walked to the apartment of his mother's friend who testified that Shane appeared tired, had circles under his bloodshot eyes, had very flushed cheeks, and acted very nervous. Shane went to school that day and stayed at the friend's apartment until his mother returned from Kalispell shortly after midnight.

On October 14, 1984, or just over three weeks after the incident, Shane told his mother about Geyman's attacks, whereupon the mother contacted law enforcement authorities. After an interview with the authorities, Shane was examined by a pediatrician, two clinical psychologists and a children's psychiatrist, all of whom testified at trial.

The test as to the sufficiency of the evidence was stated in State v. Wilson (Mont.1981), 631 P.2d 1273, 1278-1279, 38 St.Rep. 1040, 1047, quoting Jackson v. Virginia (1979), 443 U.S. 307, 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 2789, 61 L.Ed.2d 560, 573:

[T]he relevant question is whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. [Emphasis in original.]

Shane testified that Geyman repeatedly performed anal sex on him and slapped him several times during the assault. Shane's testimony was corroborated by his mother's friend with whom he had stayed earlier. She observed that Shane was nervous, exhausted and complained of Geyman slapping him and not allowing him to sleep. She testified that Shane refused to travel back to Kalispell with Geyman to pick up his mother. The mother testified that her son's room was in unusual disarray the day after the incident and that he is now afraid to sleep alone. Shane told a law enforcement officer that Geyman had told him not to tell anybody. In addition, the officer went to interview Geyman and before being informed of the nature of the interview, Geyman stated that he did not rape Shane.

Dr. Jenni, a clinical psychologist, testified that Shane related his testimony with anatomically correct dolls, was extremely embarrassed, tense, and had extreme difficulty describing the defendant's repeated attacks. Dr. Walters, also a clinical psychologist, testified that Shane was acutely anxious, frightened, and very uncomfortable as he explained the attack.

The evidence supporting the conviction is compelling and is sufficient to sustain the jury verdict. The testimony of the victim and his witnesses was substantially consistent and any rational trier of fact could find that the essential elements of deviate sexual conduct have been met.

The issue of whether expert testimony concerning the credibility of a child alleged to have been the victim of a sexual assault should be admitted into evidence is a case of first impression for this Court. We have dealt with the expert testimony issue as to adult sexual assault victims in two recent cases. In State v. Liddell (Mont.1984), 685 P.2d 918, 41 St.Rep. 1293, involving sexual intercourse without consent, we held that expert testimony on rape trauma syndrome would be helpful to the jury in deciding the issue of consent. This Court said:

We believe that skilled direct and cross-examination of an expert in this area can assist the jury in determining whether, in fact, the victim consented to the act.

Liddell, 685 P.2d at 923.

In State v. Brodniak (Mont.1986), 718 P.2d 322, 329, 43 St.Rep. 755, 763, we held that expert testimony in support of the rape victim's testimony was improper comment on the victim's credibility and therefore an invasion of the province of the jury:

Clearly [the expert's] testimony with regard to malingering and the statistical percentage of false accusations was improper comment on the credibility of [the complaining witness] in light of the above cited authority and should not have been admitted in this case.

The Court in Brodniak distinguished Liddell saying that rape trauma syndrome is a proper subject for expert testimony in a sexual intercourse without consent case. "Where all that is disputed is the consent element such evidence is relevant to the question of whether there was consent to engage in a sexual act which all parties agreed occurred." Brodniak, 718 P.2d at 326.

Since the admissibility of similar expert testimony in a case involving the sexual assault of a child is a novel issue for this Court, we feel it is proper to analyze the interpretations of other jurisdictions.

Two Minnesota cases are especially relevant to the case before us. In State v. Saldana (Minn.1982), 324 N.W.2d 227, the situation involved expert testimony as to the typical post-rape behavior of most victims as compared to the behavior of the victim in this case. Based on her findings, the expert stated that she believed the complainant was the victim of sexual assault and rape. The court said that permitting the expert to suggest that because the complainant exhibits some of the symptoms of rape trauma syndrome, the complainant was therefore raped, unfairly prejudices the accused by creating an aura of special reliability and trustworthiness. Saldana, 324 N.W.2d at 230. The court believed that rape trauma syndrome was not a fact-finding tool and that the jury was capable of considering the evidence and determining whether a rape had occurred. However, the court did say that under the right set of facts, such testimony should be admitted.

Expert testimony concerning the credibility of a witness should be received only in "unusual cases." [Citations omitted.] An example of such an unusual case is a sexual assault case where the alleged victim is a child or mentally retarded. [Emphasis added.]

Saldana, 324 N.W.2d at 231.

Two years later, the Minnesota court once again considered a rape case involving expert testimony on rape trauma syndrome. State v. Myers (Minn.1984), 359 N.W.2d 604. However, the victim in this case was a seven-year-old child, not an adult. The court held that it was within the trial court's discretion to admit testimony describing the psychological and emotional characteristics typically observed in sexually abused children and those observed in the complainant and giving other background data providing a relevant insight into the conduct of the child complainant which the jury could not otherwise bring to its evaluation of the child's credibility.

In approving the expert testimony, the court made the following remarks:

With respect to most crimes the credibility of a witness is peculiarly within the competence of the jury, whose common experience affords sufficient basis for the assessment of credibility. In most cases, even though an expert's testimony may arguably provide the jury with potentially useful information, the possibility that the jury may be unduly influenced by an expert's opinion mitigates against admission. Nor should the credibility of witnesses in criminal trials turn on the outcome of a battle among experts. The nature, however, of the sexual abuse of children places lay jurors at a disadvantage. Incest is prohibited in all or almost all cultures, and the common experience of the jury may represent a less than adequate foundation for assessing the credibility of a young child who complains of sexual abuse. If the...