State v. Miller
| Decision Date | 09 September 1998 |
| Citation | 718 So.2d 960 |
| Parties | 98-0301 La |
| Court | Louisiana Supreme Court |
Marcie S. Dejean, Sean Jackson, Baton Rouge, for Applicant.
Richard P. Ieyoub, Atty. Gen., Douglas P. Moreau, Dist. Atty., Monisa L. Thompson, Jennifer L. Pate, Baton Rouge, for Respondent.
[98-0301 La. 1] VICTORY, Justice. *
We granted this writ to determine whether evidence of a prurient statement made by the defendant to a young girl is admissible as an "other crime or wrong" in his trial for molestation of a juvenile where the young girl is not the victim of the crimes charged and is not related to the defendant, and where the "wrong" is less serious than the offenses charged.
FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
Defendant is charged with two counts of molestation of a juvenile in violation of La. R.S. 14:81.2 C. 1 Specifically, the defendant is accused of molesting his two nieces while he baby-sat them at his residence between November 20, 1994 and December 25, 1994. One niece, who was 11 at the time, told her mother the [98-0301 La. 2] defendant entered his bedroom where she was watching television, started rubbing her back, and then placed his finger in her vagina. Despite her repeated efforts to get away from him, the molestation continued for ten to fifteen minutes and ended only when the defendant's wife came home. The other niece, who was eight at the time, told her mother she was watching television when the defendant rubbed her back and her buttocks.
A bill of information was filed, and the state notified defendant it intended to introduce evidence that in May of 1996 defendant was overheard telling his neighbor's eight-year-old daughter at a barbeque that he had seen her in his bedroom naked "with her legs open and her arms open." 2 Following a hearing, the trial court ruled the evidence was admissible to show "a predisposition to molest young girls and maybe that's [the defendant's] modus operandi of getting them in there, is to start, start talking to them about it."
The defendant's request for supervisory writs from the First Circuit was denied. State v. Miller, 97-0037 (La.App. 1 st Cir. 2/24/97). On June 30, 1997, this court granted the defendant's writ application and remanded the matter to the court of appeal for briefing, argument and opinion. State v. Miller, 97-0772 (La.6/30/97), 696 So.2d 997. The court of appeal affirmed the trial court's ruling, finding the statement may "establish a predisposition to molest young girls" and was admissible "to establish intent, preparation, plan, knowledge, and possibly opportunity and/or absence of mistake or accident." State v. Miller, 97-0037, p. 2 (La.App. 1st Cir. [98-0301 La. 3] 12/29/97), 704 So.2d 1279, 1281. We granted a writ to consider the corectness of this ruling. State v. Miller, 98-0301 (La.3/27/98), 716 So.2d 366.
DISCUSSION
General Rules for Admissibility
Article 404(B) of the Louisiana Code of Evidence provides the basic rule regarding the use of evidence of "other crimes, wrongs or acts" at trial. It states in pertinent part:
(1) Except as provided in Article 412 [], evidence of other crimes, wrongs, or acts is not admissible to prove the character of a person in order to show that he 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.
Several other statutory and jurisprudential rules also play a role in determining the admissibility of such evidence. First, one of the factors listed in Article 404(B) "must be at issue, have some independent relevance, or be an element of the crime charged in order for the evidence to be admissible." State v. Jackson, 625 So.2d 146, 149 (La.1993). Second, the state is required to prove the defendant committed these other acts by clear and convincing evidence. Id.; State v. Davis, 449 So.2d 466 (La.1984). Third, even if independently relevant, the evidence may be excluded if its probative value is substantially outweighed by the dangers of unfair prejudice, confusion of the issues, or misleading the jury, or by considerations of undue delay, or waste of time. La. C.E. art. 403. Finally, the requirements set forth in State v. Prieur, 277 So.2d 126 (La.1973) must be met. Thereunder, the state must, within a reasonable time before trial, provide written notice of its intent to use other acts or crimes evidence and describe these acts in sufficient detail. The state must show the evidence is neither repetitive nor cumulative, and is not being introduced to show the [98-0301 La. 4] defendant is of bad character. Further, the court must, at the request of the defendant, offer a limiting instruction to the jury at the time the evidence is introduced. The court must also charge the jury at the close of the trial that the other crimes evidence serves a limited purpose and that the defendant cannot be convicted for any crime other than the one charged or any offense responsive to it.
Child sexual abuse cases raise special concerns for the judicial system not present in other criminal cases. Frequently, in cases involving the sexual abuse of children, the offense takes place in secret, the victim is young, vulnerable, and reluctant to testify, and there is often no physical or other evidence the abuse took place. As a result, special laws and rules have been passed to address the unique concerns presented in these types of cases. 3 In further recognition of the need to treat child sexual abuse cases specially, some jurisdictions admit evidence of uncharged misconduct to show "lustful disposition" or "depraved sexual instinct" in cases involving sex crimes against children. 4 Other courts have allowed the [98-0301 La. 5] introduction of such evidence for purposes more traditionally associated with Article 404(B), e.g., to establish a plan, motive, scheme, or design or to show intent. 5 Indeed, Fed.R.Evid. 413 was recently amended to expressly allow the admission of other offenses of sexual assault by the defendant "for its bearing on any matter to which it is relevant." 6
Louisiana Jurisprudence
Louisiana has followed the national trend towards broader admissibility of other crimes evidence in cases involving alleged sexual abuse of minor children. Pugh, Handbook on Louisiana Evidence Law 1996, 284. This court first recognized the "lustful disposition" exception in State v. Cupit, where the defendant was charged [98-0301 La. 6] with assault with intent to commit rape of his young niece. 189 La. 509, 179 So. 837 (1938). The state presented evidence the defendant had raped another niece and had been charged with the rape of yet another niece. This court held the evidence was admissible in that the "prior offenses ... clearly tended to show the lustful disposition the defendant bore towards his nieces, and his unnatural desire to have sexual intercourse with them; all of his nieces being children of tender age." 189 La. at 516, 179 So. at 839.
In State v. Acliese, this court ruled the introduction of other acts of sexual abuse involving the same victim in order to show the defendant's lustful disposition towards that victim was permissible. 403 So.2d 665 (La.1981). In Acliese, we noted that "nearly all courts permit evidence of other sex offenses which involve the same person as the offense on trial, the theory being that the evidence shows the defendant's lustful attitude toward that person." Id. at 668 (quoting Underhill's Criminal Evidence, 6 th Edition, Vol. 1, Section 212 at p. 647). Although Acliese did not address the introduction of evidence of other crimes or wrongs committed against a victim other than the prosecutrix, the language used in Acliese strongly implied the admissibility of such evidence should be limited to other acts against the victims of the charged offenses. That this was the intent of the court appears to have been made clear in State v. Bailey, 588 So.2d 90 (La.1991) and State v. Jamison, 617 So.2d 480 (La.1993). In Bailey, the trial court had ruled the state would be allowed to present evidence of sexual abuse involving not only the three victims of the underlying offense but also testimony of two other girls who were not involved in the instant charges. This court granted the defendant's writ application and reversed that part of the trial court's ruling which allowed the testimony of the two girls, noting their [98-0301 La. 7] "testimony does not establish the defendant's particular motive for committing the charged crime against the prosecutrix" and "fails to establish a pattern of committing sexual offenses against the same prosecutrix." 588 So.2d at 90. Likewise, in State v. Jamison, this court ruled the trial court should not have admitted "other crimes" evidence of molestations of persons other than the victim of the charged offenses; however, the court allowed the admission of "other crimes" evidence involving defendant's daughter and stepdaughter, the victims of the charged offenses.
Our latest pronouncement on the issue of the admissibility of other crimes evidence in child sexual abuse cases was in the 1993 case of State v. Jackson, 625 So.2d 146 (1993). In Jackson, the defendant was charged with molesting his seven-and ten-year-old granddaughters in violation of La. R.S. 14:81.2. The victims alleged the defendant had kissed them and fondled their breasts and buttocks. The state sought to introduce the testimony of the defendant's adult daughters that the defendant had also sexually molested them 15 to 24 years earlier. The daughters testified at the Prieur hearing that the defendant intimately kissed them and touched their private parts, just as he had with the granddaughters in the instant case. In addition, one daughter testified the defendant had...
To continue reading
Request your trial
- State v. Garcia, 09-KA-1578
-
State v. G.R.H., No. 08-1549 (La. App. 6/3/2009)
...of lustful disposition was not admissible unless intent was at issue. In support of this argument, Defendant cites State v. Miller, 98-301 (La. 9/9/98), 718 So.2d 960.5 Defendant asserts that since his intent was not at issue, evidence of other crimes was not admissible. Defendant further a......
- State v. Garcia
-
Derouen v. State
...statement made to an eight year old girl who was not the victim of the alleged abuse and was not related to the defendant. State v. Miller, 718 So.2d 960 (La.1998). In Ex parte Register, 680 So.2d 225 (Ala.1994), the Alabama Supreme Court found no abuse of discretion by the trial court in a......