Newsome v. State

782 P.2d 689, 1989 Alas. App. LEXIS 98, 1989 WL 138332
CourtCourt of Appeals of Alaska
DecidedNovember 17, 1989
DocketA-2540
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 782 P.2d 689 (Newsome v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Alaska primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Newsome v. State, 782 P.2d 689, 1989 Alas. App. LEXIS 98, 1989 WL 138332 (Ala. Ct. App. 1989).

Opinion

OPINION

COATS, Judge.

Ronnie James Newsome was convicted, following a jury trial, of two counts of sexual abuse of a minor in the second degree and four counts of sexual abuse of a minor in the third degree. AS 11.41.-436(a)(1); AS 11.41.438. Newsome was also convicted of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and of furnishing alcohol to a minor. AS 11.51.130(a)(1) and AS 04.16.050; AS 04.16.051 and AS 04.16.-180(a).

Newsome’s convictions for sexual abuse were based mostly on the testimony of the victim, D.E., a fourteen-year-old friend of Newsome’s daughter, J.N. D.E. testified that Newsome sexually abused her on two occasions during the night of March 24th to 25th, 1988, when D.E. was spending the night with J.N. The convictions for contributing to the delinquency of a minor and furnishing alcohol to a minor were based *690 on evidence that Newsome had purchased and served whiskey to D.E. (as well as J.N.) earlier in the evening of the 24th of March. Newsome does not contest the convictions for contributing to the delinquency of a minor and for furnishing alcohol to a minor.

Newsome contests his convictions for sexual abuse on the ground that the trial court denied his motion for a psychiatric examination of D.E. We discussed the authority of the trial court to order a psychiatric examination of a witness in Pickens v. State, 675 P.2d 665, 668-70 (Alaska App.1984). In Pickens we adopted the test set forth in Ballard v. Superior Court, 64 Cal.2d 159, 49 Cal.Rptr. 302, 410 P.2d 838 (Cal.1966). In Ballard the court stated:

We ... believe that the trial judge should be authorized to order the prose-cutrix to submit to a psychiatric examination if the circumstances indicate a necessity for an examination. Such necessity would generally arise only if little or no corroboration supported the charge and if the defense raised the issue of the effect of the complaining witness’ mental or emotional condition upon her veracity.

Id. 49 Cal.Rptr. at 313, 410 P.2d at 849. In Pickens, we concluded that:

While persons accused of sexual assault are entitled to disclosure of relevant evidence concerning the complaining victims, care must be taken to assure that requests for psychiatric evaluation will in fact yield relevant evidence and that such requests have not been submitted to harass and embarrass the victim, in the hope of discouraging effective prosecution.

675 P.2d at 669 (footnote omitted). In Pickens we noted that the Supreme Court of Alaska has a history of being sensitive to privacy interests of witnesses generally and is “reluctant to permit inquiry into a witness’s mental health history absent a clear indication of relevance.” Id. at 669. In resolving Pickens we stated that:

We think that, at the very least, it would have been incumbent upon Pickens to make a specific showing of good cause to believe, first, that [the victim’s] ability to perceive events accurately or to relate those events truthfully was substantially impaired and, second, that this impairment was of such a nature that a psychological evaluation would be likely to confirm its existence or to provide material information as to its scope.

Id.

In the trial court, Newsome supported his motion requesting the court to order a psychiatric examination of D.E. with an offer of proof that D.E. had falsely claimed that she was pregnant and that she had falsely claimed to have had an abortion. 1 In the trial court, Newsome indicated that he could introduce the testimony of two of D.E.’s schoolmates that, three weeks before the alleged abuse by New-some, D.E. claimed that she was pregnant and then, later, claimed that she had had an abortion. 2 We fail to see how this offer of proof would obligate the trial court to exercise its discretion to order a psychiatric examination. For purposes of this appeal, we will assume that, three weeks before the alleged sexual abuse by Newsome, D.E. made false statements that she was pregnant and, later, a false statement that she had had an abortion. D.E.’s false statements did not relate to Newsome’s case in the sense that she was claiming she had become pregnant by Newsome. Her false statements appear to have arisen out of the fact that she was having sexual intercourse with her boyfriend. At trial Newsome had the normal means available to him of attacking D.E.’s credibility. He could cross-examine D.E. and call witnesses to testify as to their opinion of D.E.’s *691 character for truthfulness or untruthfulness. A.R.E. 608(a). 3 Newsome vigorously cross-examined D.E. and called witnesses who testified to her poor reputation for truthfulness.

Newsome also never established with any specificity what he believed a psychiatric examination would accomplish. We have consistently emphasized that the defendant is not entitled to have a psychiatric examination of an opposing witness to engage in a fishing expedition for relevant material. In order to show that a psychiatric examination is necessary, the defendant must make “a strong showing of materiality.” Moor v. State, 709 P.2d 498, 508 (Alaska App.1985). Newsome simply made no showing that D.E.’s false statements were related in any way to a condition upon which a psychiatrist could shed light. It appears that Newsome wanted a psychiatric examination in order to show that D.E. was not a credible witness. However, in Rodriquez v. State, 741 P.2d 1200, 1204 (Alaska App.1987), we noted that “[tjesti-mony by an expert witness that purports to establish by scientific principles that another witness is telling the truth treads on dangerous legal ground.” See Nelson v. State, 782 P.2d 290, 297-298 (Alaska App. 1989); Anderson v. State, 749 P.2d 369 (Alaska App.1988). A psychiatrist is not a “human polygraph,” and a defendant who wishes to establish a foundation for a court-ordered psychiatric examination of a complaining witness must establish good cause to believe that the psychiatric examination will, in fact, “yield relevant evidence.” Pickens, 675 P.2d at 669. We accordingly conclude that the trial court did not err in denying Newsome’s motion to have the court order a psychological examination of D.E.

Newsome next contends that his conviction on multiple counts violated his double jeopardy rights. Under the federal and state constitutions, a defendant may only be convicted once for a single criminal offense. U.S. Const. amend. V; Alaska Const, art. 1, § 9; Whitton v. State,

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
782 P.2d 689, 1989 Alas. App. LEXIS 98, 1989 WL 138332, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/newsome-v-state-alaskactapp-1989.