State v. Wilding

• Court: Rhode Island Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: BOURCIER, Justice.
• Citation: State v. Wilding, 740 A.2d 1235 (R.I. 1999)
• Decision Date: 09 November 1999
• Docket Number: No. 97-100-C.A.,97-100-C.A.
• Parties: STATE v. Frederick WILDING.

740 A.2d 1235

STATE v. Frederick WILDING.

No. 97-100-C.A.

Supreme Court of Rhode Island.

November 9, 1999.

Present WEISBERGER, C.J., and LEDERBERG, BOURCIER, FLANDERS, and GOLDBERG, JJ.

Annie Goldberg, Aaron L. Weisman, Providence, for Plaintiff.

Janice M. Weisfeld, Paula Rosin, Providence, for Defendant.

OPINION

BOURCIER, Justice.

Cassandra Quattrocchi (Cassandra) was born on October 7, 1986. On November 2, 1986, she was severely beaten about the head, sustained severe brain injury, and died on November 10, 1986. Her total lifetime was thirty-four days; total weight, some seven pounds; total height, twenty-one and one-quarter inches.

Frederick Wilding (Wilding), Cassandra's biological father, was indicted for, and charged with her murder. Following this, his second, conviction for murder in the second degree by a Superior Court trial jury, he appeals to this Court, seeking reversal of his conviction and a second new trial.

Wilding asserts on appeal that the trial justice erred (1) by refusing to permit the introduction of certain psychological-counseling records during the cross-examination of the victim's mother, which he claims suggested that the mother engaged in a pattern of child abuse directed at her current children, thereby denying him his constitutional right to present a defense and confront his accuser, (2) by refusing to instruct the jury on a charge of involuntary manslaughter caused by criminal negligence, (3) by refusing to allow defense counsel to cross-examine a witness concerning that witness's previous involvement with the Department for Children, Youth and Families (DCYF) and (4) by allowing a witness to testify to hearing a sound that the witness characterized as a baby's screech.

I Facts and Travel

Cassandra was the biological daughter of Julie Quattrocchi (Julie) and Wilding. At the time of Cassandra's birth on October 7, 1986, Julie and Wilding were living together in West Warwick, but shortly thereafter they moved to Pelham Street in the city of Providence into an apartment owned by Wilding's stepfather. While living there on November 2, 1986, Julie and a friend, Beverly Vanasse (Beverly), decided to attend a bingo game in North Providence and left Wilding to babysit for Cassandra in Beverly's apartment. Julie and Beverly left for the bingo game at approximately 5:30 p.m. Before leaving, Julie changed Cassandra and dressed her in sleepwear. Beverly then fed Cassandra and, after doing so, handed her to Wilding, who was sitting at the kitchen table. At that time Julie observed no marks or bruises on the baby's head or face, and she described Cassandra as having taken her feeding without any difficulty.

At approximately 6:30 p.m., after Julie and Beverly had left the apartment, Rhonda Oatley (Rhonda), a neighbor of Beverly's, visited Beverly's apartment. When she arrived there, Wilding complained to her that although Cassandra had not cried prior to Julie's leaving the apartment, after Julie had left, Cassandra had been constantly crying. Rhonda then volunteered to change Cassandra's diaper, which she did, and then fed her some baby formula from a nursing bottle in order to comfort her. Rhonda at that time observed no marks or bruises on the infant.

Julie and Beverly returned from the bingo game at about 10:30 p.m. When they arrived at the apartment, the front door was locked and they had to knock on the window to gain Wilding's attention. When Wilding opened the door, he stepped in front of Julie, stopped her, and said, "[C]an I have my fucking coat. Somebody over my stepfather's beat the baby." Hearing this, Beverly ran into the apartment parlor, followed by Julie, where they found Cassandra lying on a couch, barely breathing, and observed bruises and black and blue marks on the right side of the infant's face. Beverly picked up Cassandra, who was cold and limp, and she and Julie told Wilding, who was still in the apartment, that they were taking Cassandra to the hospital. He tried to dissuade them from doing so, but they persisted and left the apartment with Cassandra for the hospital. Wilding reluctantly accompanied them and sat in the rear seat of the automobile. On the way to the Rhode Island Hospital, Wilding told Julie and Beverly not to tell the hospital officials that he had been caring for Cassandra, fearing "he would be blamed for what happened."

At the hospital Cassandra was initially seen by Karen Rednor, M.D. (Dr. Rednor), a pediatrician assigned to the emergency room. Doctor Rednor later testified that when she first saw Cassandra, the baby was barely breathing and had bruises around her right eye and cheek area and on her forehead. When the baby's head was shaved, the doctor observed a purplish-reddish mark that seemed to be in the shape of a hand. The doctor testified that the bruises and other symptoms were indicative of severe external and internal traumatic head injury. She expressed the opinion during her testimony at trial that the injuries to the baby occurred on the same night of her admission to the hospital. Despite treatment, Cassandra died eight days later on November 10, 1986.

William Sturner, M.D. (Dr. Sturner), a former Chief Medical Examiner for the State, performed an autopsy upon Cassandra. At trial Dr. Sturner testified that the injuries that had caused Cassandra's death seemed consistent with the infant's having been struck by a human hand. He opined that the infant's death was a homicide.

The Providence police initially charged Wilding with child abuse. After the death of Cassandra, he was indicted and charged with murder in the first degree. On January 26, 1990, after a Superior Court jury trial, Wilding was found guilty of murder in the second degree. Thereafter, he was sentenced to a term of sixty years' imprisonment at the Adult Correctional Institutions, thirty-five years to be served and with the remaining twenty-five years to be suspended. He was also placed on probation for twenty-five years, commencing upon his prison release. On appeal this Supreme Court set aside that conviction and ordered a new trial. State v. Wilding, 638 A.2d 519 (R.I.1994) (Wilding I). On May 4, 1995, following his second jury trial, Wilding was again convicted of second-degree murder. He was sentenced this time to a term of sixty years' imprisonment, of which forty years was to be served with twenty years suspended, and with probation for twenty years to commence upon his release from prison.

Wilding raises a number of issues in support of this, his second, appeal. Additional facts as may be necessary in order to deal with those issues will be provided.

II The Psychological-Counseling Records

Julie, in late 1993, some six years after Cassandra's death, sought psychological counseling from the Providence Center. The Providence Center records reveal that Julie's treatments extended over nineteen counseling sessions, ending in May of 1994. Those records describe Julie as a mother who experienced severe depression after the death of Cassandra and who thereafter struggled with parenting her later-born children. The records also describe Julie as a mother who had displayed periodic episodes of violence directed at her later-born children. Wilding attempted to introduce those records during the cross-examination of Julie. The trial justice sustained the state's objection to their admission, concluding that "such testimony is too remote in time to be relevant to what did or did not happen back in 1986" and also that this testimony would not qualify as impeaching testimony.

On appeal Wilding argues that the trial justice's refusal to allow his counsel to inquire into Julie's psychological records constituted a violation of his constitutional right to present a defense as guaranteed by the Federal and the State Constitutions. Wilding argues that the introduction of these records on cross-examination would have bolstered his defense theory that it was Julie, not he, who was responsible for Cassandra's death. Our review of the trial record leads to the conclusion that the trial justice did not err in restricting defense counsel's inquiry regarding Julie's Providence Center counseling records.

It is well settled that questions pertaining to the relevancy of evidence are left to the sound discretion of the trial justice. State v. Tempest, 651 A.2d 1198, 1215 (R.I.1995). This Court will defer to a trial justice's determination of relevancy, absent a showing that the trial justice has clearly abused his or her discretion. State v. Cote, 691 A.2d 537, 543 (R.I.1997) (citing Tempest, 651 A.2d at 1216).

On the record before us, we observe that Julie's counseling sessions occurred some six to seven years after Cassandra's death. The fact that Julie became severely depressed and may have had abusive episodes directed toward her later-born children, years after the death of Cassandra, could not be significantly probative of the probability of her ever having abused Cassandra. All the trial evidence indicated the contrary. The question in issue during the trial was whether Wilding had inflicted the blows that had caused Cassandra's death and not whether Julie had inflicted those blows. State v. Filuminia, 668 A.2d 336, 339 (R.I.1995). "The propensity of another person to commit similar acts in regard to other individuals would not in any way tend to exculpate the defendant in respect to his charges." Id.

We also note, pursuant to Rule 608(b) of the Rhode Island Rules of Evidence, that

"[s]pecific instances of the conduct of a witness, for the purpose of attacking or supporting the witness' credibility, other than conviction of crime as provided in Rule 609, or, in the discretion of the trial judge, evidence of prior similar false accusations, may not be proved by extrinsic evidence. They may, however, in the discretion of the court, if probative of truthfulness or untruthfulness, be inquired into on cross-examination of the witness (1) concerning the...