Marq Hall v. State of Indiana

15 N.E.3d 1107, 2014 Ind. App. LEXIS 429, 2014 WL 4371429
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedSeptember 4, 2014
Docket49A05-1312-CR-614
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 15 N.E.3d 1107 (Marq Hall v. State of Indiana) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Marq Hall v. State of Indiana, 15 N.E.3d 1107, 2014 Ind. App. LEXIS 429, 2014 WL 4371429 (Ind. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinions

OPINION

NAJAM, Judge.

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

Marq Hall appeals his conviction for child molesting, as a Class A felony, following a jury trial. He presents three issues for our review, which we consolidate and restate as:

1. Whether the trial court abused its discretion when it excluded certain impeachment evidence at trial.
2. Whether the trial court abused its discretion when it denied his motion to compel discovery.

We reverse and remand for a new trial.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

In September 2012, Hall and A.D. were living together in Indianapolis, and AD.’s twelve-year-old daughter, M.T., lived with them. Hall and M.T. generally got along, but M.T. had reported to others that she “hated” Hall. Tr. at 98. On September 19, Hall and A.D. were in the midst of breaking up, but Hall had not yet moved out. M.T. stayed home from school that day, and A.D. went to work. Hall was home with M.T., and at some point in the afternoon, Hall told M.T. to “go do [her] position” on his bed.1 Id. at 51. Hall then entered the bedroom, approached M.T., and rubbed his penis on the crotch area of M.T.’s gym shorts. Hall told M.T. to pull down her pants, but she refused to do so. Hall then pulled down M.T.’s shorts and underwear and forced her to have sexual intercourse.2 Hall made a “sexual comment” to M.T., and M.T. said to Hall, ‘You’re mom’s boyfriend. You’re mom’s boyfriend.” Id. at 61-62. Hall “eventually ... stopped.” Id. at 62. Afterwards, M.T. “felt a wet spot” on her leg, but she “wasn’t sure what it was.” Id. Hall left the bedroom and took a shower. M.T. wiped the wet spot on her leg with some toilet paper, got dressed, including underwear, the black shorts she had been wearing earlier that morning, and sweatpants over the shorts, and she left the apartment.

M.T. went to the office of the apartment complex where she lived and used the telephone there to call Ebony Buckner, A.D.’s best friend. M.T. told Ebony about the rape, and Ebony called A.D. to tell her that she “needed to leave work ... because something happened to M.T.” Id. at 152. When A.D. asked for details, Ebony said that Hall had “[done] something to M.T.” Id. at 154. M.T. then called Ebony’s sister Ivory Buckner, who subsequently met M.T. at the apartment complex office. As A.D. was driving home, she called Hall and told him what Ebony had told her. Hall denied having done anything to M.T., but he told A.D. that he had been sleeping when “he woke up and M.T. had her arm around him touching him.” Id. at 155. Their conversation ended at that point. When A.D. arrived at her apartment complex, she saw Hall driving away.

A.D. found M.T. and Ivory at the apartment complex office, and A.D. took M.T. to [1110]*1110the hospital. Caroline Fisher, a sexual assault nurse, interviewed and examined M.T., and Nurse Fisher observed three acute lacerations on M.T.’s genitalia3 that were consistent with sexual intercourse. Nurse Fisher observed that the lacerations appeared to be “fresh,” but she could not determine when they had been inflicted or how they had been inflicted. Id. at 299. Subsequent testing of samples taken during Nurse Fisher’s examination of M.T. revealed none of Hall’s DNA anywhere on M.T.’s body or in a vaginal wash. And forensic testing revealed none of Hall’s DNA on M.T.’s underwear, which she had put on immediately after the rape. But a trace amount of seminal material matching Hall’s DNA was found on a cutting of fabric from the crotch of the shorts M.T. was wearing over her underwear after the rape.4

The State charged Hall with child molesting, as a Class A felony, and child molesting, as a Class C felony. During the discovery phase of the proceedings, defense counsel took A.D.’s deposition and asked her to elaborate “on a previous statement that [M.T.] had been through [a similar] kind of situation before, and then specifically asked “what had happened?’” Appellant’s App. at 109. A.D. refused to answer, stating that it was “ ‘none of [defense counsel’s] business.’ ” Id. A.D. testified only, “[t]hat’s something that happened prior with another child. There was [sic] no charges filed or anything, so that has nothing to do with this.” Id. at 113. Defense counsel certified the question and subsequently moved the trial court to compel A.D. to answer the question.

In his motion to compel, defense counsel stated in relevant part that he

would show this Honorable Court that the information requested relates to evidence that the alleged victim may have previously accused another and then recanted, which by itself is highly relevant in a case involving an accusation of improper sexual conduct. Moreover, the defendant would show the Court that the credibility — or lack thereof — of the complaining witness is of paramount importance to the defendant’s theory of defense, and as such, the information sought by the question the deponent refused to answer is critical to the defendant’s ability to put forth an effective defense, as is his right.

Id. at 110. After the trial court failed to rule on the motion to compel, defense counsel filed a renewed motion to compel discovery, which the trial court denied.

During trial, outside the presence of the jury, defense counsel made an offer of proof that M.T. had previously made a false accusation of sexual misconduct. After an extensive colloquy, the trial court excluded the proffered evidence. The trial court also excluded from the evidence a phone call between A.D. and Hall, where [1111]*1111Hall had asked A.D. for information he could use to impeach M.T. During that call, A.D. told Hall about specific instances where M.T. hád lied, including an incident in Kentucky where M.T. “said some boy did something to her,” but it turned out to have been consensual. Def.’s Ex. C. And A.D. told Hall that' it was “the same f* * *in’ situation” as M.T.’s claims against Hall. Id.

The jury found Hall guilty as charged. The trial court entered judgment of conviction for child molesting, as a Class A felony, and sentenced Hall to thirty-five years, with twenty-five years executed. This appeal ensued.

DISCUSSION AND DECISION

Issue One: Exclusion of Evidence

Hall contends that the trial court abused its discretion when it excluded certain evidence at trial. Our standard of review of a trial court’s admission of evidence is an abuse of discretion. Speybroeck v. State, 875 N.E.2d 813, 818 (Ind.Ct.App.2007). A trial court abuses its discretion if its decision is clearly against the logic and effect of the facts and circumstances before the court or if the court misapplies the law. See id.

Phone Call

Hall first contends that the trial court abused its discretion when it excluded from the evidence the transcript of a phone call between A.D. and Hall, where A.D. had provided Hall with information he could use to impeach M.T. The phone call included the following relevant excerpt:

Hall: I’m sittin’ here talkin’ to my peoples and stuff, and I’m tryin’ to, like write everything down that you was say-in’ to get my little portfolio strong.

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Related

James E. Rogers v. State of Indiana
60 N.E.3d 256 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 2016)
Marq Hall v. State of Indiana
36 N.E.3d 459 (Indiana Supreme Court, 2015)
Anthony D. Goffinet v. State of Indiana
Indiana Court of Appeals, 2014

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
15 N.E.3d 1107, 2014 Ind. App. LEXIS 429, 2014 WL 4371429, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/marq-hall-v-state-of-indiana-indctapp-2014.