State v. Hopkins

• Decision Date: 16 July 1997
• Docket Number: No. 96-212-C,96-212-C
• Parties: STATE v. Charles A. HOPKINS. A..
• Court: Rhode Island Supreme Court

Page 183

698 A.2d 183

STATE v. Charles A. HOPKINS.

No. 96-212-C.A..

Supreme Court of Rhode Island.

July 16, 1997.

Aaron L. Weisman, Jane M. McSoley, Asst. Attorneys General, for Plaintiff.

Paula Lynch Hardiman, Paula Rosin, Asst. Public Defenders, for Defendant.

Before WEISBERGER, C.J., and LEDERBERG, BOURCIER and FLANDERS, JJ.

OPINION

FLANDERS, Justice.

The defendant, Charles A. Hopkins (Hopkins), urges us to overturn his conviction on five counts of sexually molesting his stepson when the boy was between nine and thirteen years old. To prove its case, the prosecution introduced not only the stepson's testimony but also evidence that Hopkins had allegedly sexually abused two other children when they were about the same age as the stepson: one James Snoke (Snoke), who was thirteen years old when Hopkins allegedly molested him, and one Charles Hopkins, Jr. (Hopkins, Jr.), Hopkins's biological son, who testified that Hopkins also sexually abused him when he was of similar age to the stepson.

Hopkins contends that this evidence of uncharged sexual misconduct should not have been allowed into evidence and that its admission requires us to reverse his convictions and remand for a new trial. The trial justice disagreed, and so do we.

I

Admission of Uncharged Acts of Alleged Sexual Abuse Committed by Defendant against Other Children

Rule 404(b) of the Rhode Island Rules of Evidence provides, in pertinent part, that

"[e]vidence of other crimes, wrongs, or acts is not admissible to prove the character of a person in order to show that the person acted in conformity therewith. It may, however, be admissible for other purposes, such as proof of motive, opportunity, intent, preparation, plan, knowledge, identity, absence of mistake or accident."

Under Rule 404(b), if the testimony of Snoke and Hopkins, Jr., was admissible for any relevant "other purpose" besides proving "the character of [Hopkins] in order to show that [Hopkins] acted in conformity therewith," then the trial justice did not err in allowing it to be introduced into evidence, provided he gave an instruction to the jury concerning the limited purposes for which this evidence may be considered. See State v. Lamphere, 658 A.2d 900, 904 (R.I.1995).

Here the prosecution offered the uncharged sexual-misconduct evidence ¹ to show (inter alia) that Hopkins's sexual molestation of his stepson was part of a common scheme or plan by Hopkins to molest young boys subject to his control and influence. All the acts of alleged molestation took place when the male victims were between the ages of seven or eight and thirteen years old and when they were either living with or working for Hopkins. Further they all involved similar incidents of alleged sexual touching, oral sex, and anal sex.

More specifically Snoke's testimony was admissible for the following purposes:

1. To show that Hopkins's sexual molestation of his stepson was part of a common scheme or plan of sexual misconduct that Hopkins carried out against boys of a similar age at a time when they too, like the stepson, were under Hopkins's thumb. ² In other words, this 404(b) evidence was relevant to show that when given the opportunity, Hopkins had a motive, an intent, and a plan to abuse children of like age in a like manner to that in which he abused his stepson when they were under his control or influence. Cf. State v. Lamoureux, 623 A.2d 9, 13 (R.I.1993) (affirming admission of evidence of the defendant's sexual assault of another female victim to be introduced to show a common design or plan and to negate the defense of consent); State v. Cardoza, 465 A.2d 200, 203 (R.I.1983) (the defendant's sexual abuse of a different stepdaughter five years before the charged offense properly allowed into evidence as "part of defendant's continuing behavioral pattern of sexually abusing his stepdaughters"); State v. Pignolet, 465 A.2d 176, 180 (R.I.1983) (affirming admission of evidence of the defendant's alleged sexual abuse of the complaining witness's sister because it "was part of an ongoing pattern of behavior that defendant exhibited toward both" victims).

2. To explain why the stepson belatedly decided to report Hopkins's alleged sexual abuse to the authorities after having failed to do so during or immediately after the period when he was being sexually abused by his stepfather. ³

3. To rebut the defense's suggestion that the stepson's accusations against Hopkins were the product of their stormy relationship and were merely a manifestation of the stepson's resentment toward Hopkins in his attempts to impose some measure of discipline on the boy during his formative years.

Admittedly the alleged sexual abuse that formed the basis of Snoke's and Hopkins Jr.'s testimony happened approximately ten years before Hopkins allegedly began molesting his stepson and some fourteen to eighteen years before trial. ⁴ But the trial justice was entitled to conclude that the alleged remoteness of this 404(b) evidence was outweighed (1) by its potential probative value concerning the similar age and relationship of the boys to Hopkins when they were allegedly victimized by him and (2) by the other indicia that Hopkins's sexual forays involving young boys under his dominion constituted "a modus operandi that bore [his] signature." Lamoureux, 623 A.2d at 13.

Admission of this type of 404(b) evidence is a decision that is committed to the exercise of the trial court's sound discretion. See State v. Brown, 626 A.2d 228, 233 (R.I.1993). To be sure, as the generality of the alleged class of victims and the breadth of the purported plan, scheme, or modus operandi increases, the probative force of this evidence to establish the non-character-related purposes for which it is offered tends to diminish while its effectiveness in showing that the defendant has acted in conformity with his deviant sexual character tends to increase. But this arguable defect in the probative value of such evidence goes to its weight and to the need for limiting instructions, not to its admissibility under Rule 404(b) when, as here, such evidence is reasonably necessary for the prosecution to prove its case and is not merely cumulative.

In deciding whether to allow the jury to hear this type of 404(b) evidence, the trial justice has to balance relevance against remoteness and the potential for improper prejudicial impact. In State v. Davis, 670 A.2d 786 (R.I.1996), we upheld the admission of sexual-misconduct evidence given by a third-party witness based on events that occurred nine years before trial. And in State v. Brigham, 638 A.2d 1043 (R.I.1994), and State v. Gomes, 690 A.2d 310 (R.I.1997), we affirmed the admission of sexual-misconduct evidence regarding acts that had been committed outside the statute of limitations. Thus the victim in Gomes was allowed to testify regarding uncharged acts of sexual abuse committed upon her by the defendant dating back some eleven years before she testified at trial, even though the prosecution of these actions was no longer possible due to an expired statute of limitations. Accordingly, given the probative value of this evidence in establishing the other purposes for which it was admitted and given the prosecution's reasonable need for such evidence to prove its case against Hopkins beyond a reasonable doubt, we believe the trial justice did not abuse his discretion in concluding that the incidents of sexual misconduct described in the testimony of Snoke and Hopkins, Jr., were not too remote.

In State v. Jalette, 119 R.I. 614, 627, 382 A.2d 526, 533 (1978), we recognized that "evidence that the accused committed nonremote similar sexual offenses with persons other than the victim may be admitted to prove the presence of the traditional exceptions to the general rule." Although "this type of evidence should be sparingly used by the prosecution and only when reasonably necessary," id., the trial justice was entitled to conclude that the uncharged acts of sexual misconduct that were offered via Snoke and Hopkins, Jr., were "reasonably necessary" to prove the prosecution's case, which largely turned on a credibility battle between Hopkins and his stepson. Without Snoke's testimony to explain and corroborate why the stepson came forward when he did, without Hopkins, Jr.'s testimony to show how the accused's behavior toward his stepson was part of Hopkins's larger pattern of sexually abusing minors under his control, and without both of these witnesses to rebut the defense's suggestion of spite or revenge as the reason the stepson allegedly fabricated his sexual-abuse accusations against Hopkins, the jury would never have understood the complete context of the stepson's testimony.

Before trial Hopkins filed a motion in limine to exclude this 404(b) evidence. The trial justice, however, denied this request and allowed the 404(b) evidence to be admitted for purposes other than showing that Hopkins was simply acting in conformity with his allegedly deviant sexual character when he supposedly molested his stepson. However, after the state completed its opening statement and before the jury heard any witnesses, the trial justice instructed it as follows:

"Ladies and gentlemen, the counsel for the State made reference that he intended to introduce testimony from individuals, you can describe it as other contacts, other individuals, people that may testify that the Defendant allegedly sexually molested them. We have a rule called 404(b). Evidence of other crimes, wrongs or acts is not admissible to prove the character of the person in order to show that the person acted in conformity with. That type of testimony, that portion of the rule would not be admissible. I ruled on a pretrial hearing that the State could introduce other acts of other individuals, and according to this, the balance of this rule, it may, this type of testimony may however be admissible for other purposes such as proof of motive,...