State v. Matthews

• Decision Date: 16 November 1993
• Docket Number: No. 19693,19693
• Citation: 864 P.2d 644,124 Idaho 806
• Parties: STATE of Idaho, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Terrence James MATTHEWS, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: Idaho Court of Appeals

Page 644

864 P.2d 644

124 Idaho 806

STATE of Idaho, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Terrence James MATTHEWS, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 19693.

Court of Appeals of Idaho Nov. 16, 1993.

[124 Idaho 808] David Lee Posey, Payette, argued for defendant-appellant.

Larry EchoHawk, Atty. Gen. and L. Lamont Anderson, Deputy Atty. Gen., argued, Boise, for plaintiff-respondent.

WALTERS, Chief Judge.

Terrence James Matthews appeals from the judgments convicting him of two counts of lewd conduct with a minor, I.C. § 18-1508, and two counts of sexual abuse of a child, I.C. § 18-1506. He also challenges the order sentencing him to an aggregate term of fifteen years with a minimum period of confinement of five years. For the reasons explained below, we affirm.

I. FACTS

The charges in this case stem from allegations that Matthews had sexual contact with children, "C.M.," an eight-year old girl, and "L.O.," a girl who at the time was ten. The two girls babysat for Matthews' younger children at his residence during the summer of 1989. C.M. claimed that on two occasions upon his return home, Matthews had put his hand down her underwear and inserted his finger into her vagina. During the second of those encounters, Matthews also unzipped his trousers and grabbed C.M.'s hand, forcing it down his pants. L.O. reported that in the summer of 1989, Matthews put his hand down the back of her pants and touched her "bottom" while she and C.M. were babysitting. L.O. recounted another, similar incident which occurred the following spring. Neither girl disclosed the events until several months later when C.M., prompted by a dream, disclosed the incidents to her parents. Upon her disclosure, C.M.'s father called L.O.'s mother, who then confronted L.O. about Matthews' conduct.

Based upon the girls' statements, the state filed an Information charging Matthews with two counts of lewd conduct with a minor, allegedly committed against C.M.; and two counts of sexual abuse of a child, allegedly committed against L.O. Matthews was found guilty on all four counts following a trial before a jury. The district court imposed four identical, concurrent sentences of fifteen years, with a minimum period of five years' incarceration. This appeal followed.

II. ISSUES

Matthews challenges several of the court's evidentiary rulings, asserting that the court erred in (A) admitting evidence of Matthews' prior sexual misconduct with another child; (B) failing to give a timely instruction limiting the use of evidence of Matthews also asserts that the trial court erroneously denied his motion for a judgment of acquittal; that the court erred in permitting his attorney to continue to represent him after learning of the attorney's potential conflict of interest; and that the district court abused its discretion when it sentenced him to a fixed term of five years and refused to grant probation. We address these issues in turn.

[124 Idaho 809] the prior acts; (C) admitting expert testimony from Carol Sorini on the subject of common behavior among child-abuse victims; (D) refusing to grant the requested sanction of excluding evidence, where the state had failed to timely respond to a discovery request; and (E) permitting Marie Bledsoe, L.O.'s counselor, to opine that the alleged victim had in fact been sexually abused.

III. EVIDENTIARY RULINGS

A. The trial court did not erroneously admit evidence of prior uncharged misconduct.

Matthews challenges the district court's decision to admit evidence of prior uncharged misconduct. The state offered testimony of a third girl, "A.A.", who claimed that in the fall of 1986, when she was eleven years old, Matthews twice had reached into her sleeping bag, put his hand down her underwear and inserted his finger into her vagina. Over Matthews' objection, the court admitted the testimony for the limited purpose of establishing Matthews' criminal intent.

Generally, evidence of other crimes, wrongs or acts is inadmissible to show a defendant's criminal propensity or guilt of the crime charged. I.R.E. 404(b); State v. Pizzuto, 119 Idaho 742, 810 P.2d 680 (1991), cert. denied, 503 U.S. 908, 112 S.Ct. 1268, 117 L.Ed.2d 495 (1992), and overruled on other grounds by State v. Card, 121 Idaho 425, 825 P.2d 1081 (1991); State v. Needs, 99 Idaho 883, 591 P.2d 130 (1979). However, such evidence may be admitted if offered for some purpose, other than propensity, relevant to a material issue in the case, such as the defendant's knowledge, identity, plan, preparation, opportunity, motive, intent and the absence of mistake or accident. See I.R.E. 404(b); Pizzuto, 119 Idaho at 750-51, 810 P.2d at 688-89. Though relevant, the evidence still may be excluded if the trial court concludes that the threat of unfair prejudice substantially outweighs its probative value. I.R.E. 403; Pizzuto, 119 Idaho at 751, 810 P.2d at 688-89. Thus, in order to admit evidence of other crimes, wrongs or acts, the trial court must first determine that the evidence is relevant to a material issue, other than propensity. If the evidence is deemed relevant, the court must, in the exercise of its discretion, determine whether the probative value of the evidence is substantially outweighed by the danger of causing unfair prejudice to the defendant. I.R.E. 403; State v. Moore, 120 Idaho 743, 819 P.2d 1143 (1991); Pizzuto, 119 Idaho at 751, 810 P.2d at 688-89.

Whether evidence is relevant presents an issue of law. See I.R.E. 401 and 402; State v. Raudebaugh, 124 Idaho 758, 864 P.2d 596 (1993), petition for review pending; State v. Maylett, 108 Idaho 671, 674, 701 P.2d 291, 294 (Ct.App.1985) (Burnett, J., concurring). Thus, in considering a trial court's decision to admit evidence of prior misconduct, the appellate court exercises free review of the trial judge's determination that the evidence was admissible under I.R.E. 404(b).

However, the lower court's conclusion that the probative value of the evidence is not outweighed by its unfair prejudice--the second part of the analysis under I.R.E. 403-is reviewed under an abuse of discretion standard. State v. Rhoades, 119 Idaho 594, 809 P.2d 455 (1991); State v. Medrano, 123 Idaho 114, 844 P.2d 1364 (Ct.App.1992). Under that standard, the appellate court inquires (1) whether the district court rightly perceived the issue as one of discretion; (2) whether the court acted within the outer boundaries of such discretion and consistently with any legal standards applicable to specific choices; and (3) whether the court reached its decision by an exercise of reason. State v In the instant case, A.A.'s testimony was relevant to proving intent and therefore admissible as an exception to the prohibition of "bad acts" evidence provided by I.R.E. 404(b). The record reflects that Matthews' intent was a central issue at trial, particularly in defending against counts three and four of the Information which charged Matthews with sexually abusing L.O. by touching her buttocks. At trial Matthews testified that he "didn't touch [L.O.] intentionally in the pants," but that he may have accidently touched her while "snuggling."

[124 Idaho 810] Hedger, 115 Idaho 598, 768 P.2d 1331 (1989).

Matthews argues that the district court nonetheless erred in failing to apply I.R.E. 403 in deciding whether the testimony ought to be excluded. The record on this point, however, suggests the opposite to be the case. Before ruling to admit the evidence, the district judge observed:

[T]he court has to do two things, first of all determine whether it is relevant for those purposes.... And the second thing that the Court has to do is then to determine whether the probative value of that outweighs the anticipated unfair prejudice, the danger of unfair prejudice that would result by the introduction of that evidence.

Thus, it is clear the trial court understood that it was required to exercise its discretion and the legal standards applicable to that exercise of discretion. Although the record does not contain specific findings showing the relative weights which the court assigned to the probative and prejudicial aspects of A.A.'s testimony, it does reflect that the court found the proffered testimony to be of "high probative value" on the issue of Matthews' specific intent. It further shows that the court viewed the uncharged misconduct as "not too remote in time" to be of value to the jury. Contrary to Matthews' suggestion, the fact that the court made no express statements concerning the obvious prejudicial impact of A.A.'s testimony does not demonstrate that the court failed to perform its requisite "weighing" function. See State v. Zimmerman, 121 Idaho 971, 829 P.2d 861 (1992).

Based upon the foregoing, we conclude that Matthews has failed to show that the district court erred in admitting A.A.'s testimony. Accordingly, that decision will not be disturbed on appeal.

B. Matthews has not demonstrated that the court's failure to give a timely limiting instruction constituted reversible error.

Matthews further contends that, even if the evidence was admissible, the court's failure to adequately instruct the jury on its limited use constituted reversible error. The Idaho Rules of Evidence provide that "[w]hen evidence which is admissible ... for one purpose but not admissible ... for another purpose is admitted, the court, upon request, shall restrict the evidence to its proper scope and instruct the jury accordingly." I.R.E. 105. The record in this case shows that after deciding to admit A.A.'s testimony, the court indicated to counsel that it would instruct the jury on the limited purpose of the evidence. However, the court inadvertently failed to give any cautionary instruction at the time A.A. took the witness stand, and did not attempt to admonish the jury until A.A. had almost completed her testimony. At that time, the court advised the jury that the testimony was being "offered only for a limited purpose and you can only consider it for a limited...