Moran v. State

604 N.E.2d 1258, 1992 Ind. App. LEXIS 1974, 1992 WL 386195
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 23, 1992
Docket29A04-9203-CR-00074
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 604 N.E.2d 1258 (Moran v. State) 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
Moran v. State, 604 N.E.2d 1258, 1992 Ind. App. LEXIS 1974, 1992 WL 386195 (Ind. Ct. App. 1992).

Opinions

MILLER, Judge.

A month after Roy Thomas Moran (Tom), age 39, grounded his then eleven year old daughter, she complained to school officials that he-about four years previously while she was visiting him-had sexually touched her while she was showering. Her parents were divorced in 1981. After the victim's mother, who had been the custodial parent, died in an automobile accident in February, 1989, Tom moved into the former family residence and assumed custody of both the victim and her older brother. About twenty-two months after the victim complained, Tom was convicted at a bench trial of three counts of child molesting, a class C felony-fondling his daughter when she was about eight years old (she was almost thirteen at the time of the trial)-and was sentenced to three concurrent terms of six years incarceration. The trial court suspended three years of each count and placed Tom on probation for three years.

Tom asks us to reverse and vacate the trial court's decision because the trial court erroneously admitted evidence: (1) contrary to Modesitt v. State (1991), Ind., 578 N.E.2d 649, which overruled Patterson v. State (1975), 263 Ind. 55, 324 N.E.2d 482; and (2) of past conduct to show depraved sexual instinct. Tom also claims that the evidence was insufficient to support his convictions.

We find the trial court erred in admitting the evidence complained of, We reverse and remand for a new trial.

FACTS

The victim in this case was born on March 16, 1979. At trial, the victim, then in the seventh grade, testified that between her second grade and fourth grade year, her father (Tom) took showers with her and rubbed the exterior of her vagina with his fingers. The incidents lasted two to five (2 to 5) minutes and her father did not use a wash cloth or soap while touching her. The victim stated that the touching stopped when she told her father that she could take showers on her own. Tom admitted taking showers with her and washing her, but stated he had used a wash cloth and soap.

[1260]*1260The victim never told anyone, including her mother, about these events until January of 1990. On cross examination, she testified:

Q. Did at some point you got the idea that what had happened was bad or wrong?
A. Yes. Just because of programs that we have at school and stuff like that.
Q. So, was it true those programs at school that you decided that what had happened with your dad in the shower was not right?
A. Yes.
Q. How old were you when the programs started in school?
A. Probably about like the very end of my third grade and sometimes the beginning of my fourth grade, I remember having something else.
Q. And can you remember what they taught in those classes at school that made you think that what had happened was wrong?
A. There was a program called "Good Touch Bad Touch" about a big bear and a little bear. And they were talking about, they put on a play about this, the big bear touching the little bear and they talked to us about when, like, they taught us about good touches and bad touches and stuff like that.
Q. When, so based on what you had learned in school then, did you decide then that maybe your dad had done bad touches?
A. Yes.
Q. When he was doing those touches that you talked about, you, I think when [the prosecutor] talked to you, you said that he was standing behind you, is that right?
A. Yes.
Q. And it was that way every single time?
A. Most of the time, yes.
Q. And was all the time in the shower when he would come into the shower and you were in the shower, every time was he always behind you at all times?
A. I don't remember if it was all times, but I do remember that he was behind me and I suppose, yes it was all times.
Q. Did he poke you or do anything else to you when he was touching you?
A. No.
Q. Did you notice anything unusual about your dad during those times he was in the shower?
A. Nothing really unusual, no.

R. 155-157. During October of 1989, Tom's friend, Linda Carey, a single parent and mother of three, temporarily moved into Tom's home with her children while she was recovering from knee surgery. Her sixteen year old daughter shared a bedroom with the victim. Linda and her family moved out on January 21, 1990. The victim never mentioned any of the alleged acts, including the act charged in Count V (see n. 1), to either Linda or her daughter.

As can be expected, the victim was affected by her mother's death and the change in her living arrangements. She also stated that during the summer of 1989, her father had discussed selling the house and moving because there were too many memories associated with it and that she did not want to move. R. 121. About a year after her mother's death, during the 1989 Christmas holiday, the victim was "grounded" by Tom as discipline. The next month she complained to school officials that Tom had molested her. The school officials in turn contacted Child Protection Service. Criminal charges were filed in March, 1991.1

DISCUSSION

I. THE ADMISSION OF PATTERSON RULE EVIDENCE

Tom first claims that the trial court, during rebuttal, erroneously admitted hearsay, [1261]*1261a statement given by the victim to a caseworker (who was not at the trial) with the Hamilton County Department of Welfare. A transcript of the statement and an audio tape recording was admitted during the testimony of Suzie Watson, a supervisor with the Department. On September 26, 1991, our supreme court decided Modesitt, supra, which abolished the Patterson Rule. Tom's trial began on October 1, 1991. The record shows that the trial court was aware of Modesitt. Tom made a timely objection based upon Modesitt After hearing argument by counsel, the trial court overruled the objection stating:

[I]t would not have been admissible in the case in chief, because it would have been a hearsay statement and would not have fit under the exceptions. However, as rebuttal, the Court does note that there has been certainly clear reference to motive, perhaps to issues of fabrication, although maybe not so clear, but certainly under the motive issue and perhaps on the fabrication issue, it would fall into one of the exceptions which is it's a consistent statement or representing to be consistent with the prior testimony and is offered to rebut an expressed or implied charge against the declarant, or recent fabrication or improper influence or motive and it would appear that under Modesitt, it actually then would be admissible in rebuttal concerning that in this particular case. For those reasons, the Court will receive into evidence and overrule the objection....

R. 385-386.

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Moran v. State
604 N.E.2d 1258 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1992)

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Bluebook (online)
604 N.E.2d 1258, 1992 Ind. App. LEXIS 1974, 1992 WL 386195, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/moran-v-state-indctapp-1992.