Dyer v. Commonwealth

816 S.W.2d 647, 1991 Ky. LEXIS 150, 1991 WL 189187
CourtKentucky Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 26, 1991
Docket90-SC-248-MR
StatusPublished
Cited by47 cases

This text of 816 S.W.2d 647 (Dyer v. Commonwealth) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Kentucky Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dyer v. Commonwealth, 816 S.W.2d 647, 1991 Ky. LEXIS 150, 1991 WL 189187 (Ky. 1991).

Opinions

LEIBSON, Justice.

The appellant was indicted and convicted of Sodomy in the First Degree committed on a boy under 12 years of age. He was sentenced to twenty years in the penitentiary, and he appeals as a matter of right, claiming three errors:

1) The evidence was insufficient;

2) Error in admitting an exhibit, consisting of miscellaneous pictures, reading materials and personal memorabilia, seized from an apartment the appellant shared with a female companion, which lacked relevancy other than to bolster the prosecution’s unsubstantiated claim that he fit the profile of a “pedophile”; and

3) Error in the prosecutor’s repeated reference to the appellant as a “pedophile” when there was no evidence to support this charge.

We conclude there was evidence sufficient to support a conviction, but we reverse on points two and three stated above, for reasons that follow.

In April of 1989, Officer Gerald Curtis of the Maysville Police Department received a call from a social worker about a report of child molestation by the appellant. The alleged victim was a ten-year old boy. Curtis viewed the social worker’s tape recorded interview with the boy in which he stated, inter alia, that the appellant showed him pictures of naked boys and girls from a “Playboy” magazine, and Curtis then obtained a search warrant for “magazines containing photographs of an obscene and sexual nature.”

The police went to the apartment occupied by the appellant and his girlfriend and there seized various items from different locations within it which included in and under a bedroom bookcase and from within various boxes unidentified as to source or ownership. At trial a portion of this material was identified by the investigating officer, and then introduced as a group as “Exhibit 1.”

Exhibit 1 included: some old posters of former teenage idols, an article on adolescent sexual behavior on a page torn from “Hustler” magazine and another page from the same magazine with pictures on it of a naked man and two women with their sex organs exposed, a pamphlet entitled “First Hand” graphically illustrating and describing hard-core homosexual activity, miscellaneous pictures of boys cut out from various newspapers and other publications such as [649]*649a mail order catalogue, and some nondescript notes from an individual named “Don.” It appears the pages and photographs torn or cut out of the magazines was done, at least in part, by the police during the process of gathering this material.

At trial the boy testified that appellant performed acts of oral sex on him, and, on occasion, appellant masturbated at the same time. He also explained that appellant was a neighbor who had befriended him, and he would often go to the appellant’s house to watch TV. Appellant had taken him to the library, horseback riding, and to play tennis. Sometimes appellant’s girlfriend went with them. The boy testified the appellant showed him pictures of “naked” girls and boys in “a ‘Playboy’ book,” but the boy was not asked to identify any of the material in “Exhibit 1” as having been shown to him. Commonwealth’s “Exhibit 1” was introduced solely through the testimony of Officer Curtis. When offered, the prosecutor advised the judge:

“He [the boy] just described what type of pictures he was shown, Judge. I don’t think the boy can identify any particular pictures.”

The investigating officer could not identify which among the materials seized belonged to the appellant, and which to his girlfriend. When the court commented as to one of the pictures, “This is just a picture of a ball club, isn’t it?”, the prosecutor responded, “He [the appellant] certainly could explain [it] to the jury if he testifies.”

Both the appellant and his girlfriend did testify. The appellant denied that any sexual acts occurred between him and the boy. He testified he let the boy watch TV because the boy’s TV at home was broken. He had taken him to the library, to play tennis, horseback riding, and even, on one occasion, on a visit to the home of the appellant’s grandmother in Ohio. He stated that the boy was angry because he did not buy new Reebok tennis shoes for him for Christmas, which he promised to buy if the boy’s grades at school improved. Since they did not improve, the appellant did not buy the shoes.

Appellant’s neighbor testified he saw the boy and another youth named Jonathan attempting to break into appellant’s apartment with a knife at the back door the day after Christmas. The boy’s mother testified that she brought her son to appellant’s house so he could apologize for the attempted break-in. The boy’s mother also testified she was having problems with the boy’s lying and had talked to the social worker about having him see a counselor for it.

The appellant identified some of the posters as belonging to his sister from years back when she was a teenager, and when the girlfriend testified she said some of the material seized was hers. During his testimony the appellant denied cutting out any of the obscene articles and pictures seized by the police, and said they were probably 10-15 years old. The obscene articles themselves were undated, except the pages from “Hustler” magazine were a “December” issue. Appellant identified “Don” as a fellow from the neighborhood who left these notes in an attempt to be friendly. Appellant said he stopped being friendly with Don when he suspected Don might be “gay.”

Originally appellant leased the apartment where the search was conducted, but at the time of the search the apartment had been leased in the girlfriend’s name, and the appellant was in the process of moving out. Appellant’s girlfriend identified some of the posters and other materials seized as belonging to her. Officer Curtis admitted he could not say whose magazines they seized and he did not know who cut out the articles.

The Commonwealth undertook to prove the appellant was a pedophile as central to its case. In his opening statement the prosecutor said “I think we’ll persuade beyond any doubt that this defendant is a pedophile.” This word has never been precisely defined for purposes of this case, nor [650]*650has there been any clear explanation of what it is supposed to prove in this case.1

Officer Curtis, when undertaking to describe what was found as a result of the search of the apartment, said, inter alia, “and also there’s an article that, from a magazine that the author attempts to defend pedophallia [sic?].” Later on, at the end of his direct examination, the prosecutor asked Officer Curtis:

“Q. 26. You’ve used the word, pedophile. Tell the jury what pedophile means.
A. Pediphee (sic?) is the adult engaging in sexual activity with children.
Q. 27. Have you had any training regarding pedophiles?
A. Yes, sir.”

The prosecutor then asked Officer Curtis: “Basically, would you describe to the jury the behavior of a pedophile?” Whereupon defense counsel objected and the prosecutor did not pursue the matter further.

On cross-examination the officer was asked by defense counsel:

“Q. You only seized anything you thought might depict something as I believe the search warrant said, of a pornographic nature.
A.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
816 S.W.2d 647, 1991 Ky. LEXIS 150, 1991 WL 189187, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dyer-v-commonwealth-ky-1991.