Riffel v. State

549 N.E.2d 1084, 1990 Ind. App. LEXIS 120, 1990 WL 12698
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedFebruary 14, 1990
Docket55A01-8908-CR-302
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 549 N.E.2d 1084 (Riffel 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
Riffel v. State, 549 N.E.2d 1084, 1990 Ind. App. LEXIS 120, 1990 WL 12698 (Ind. Ct. App. 1990).

Opinions

RATLIFF, Chief Judge.

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

Luke Riffel appeals his conviction of Count I, Neglect of a Dependent;1 Count II, Conducting a Performance Harmful to a Minor;2 Count III, Obscene Performance;3 and Count IV, Obscene Performance,4 contending the evidence is insufficient to sustain the convictions because it consists only of repudiated Patterson5 statements. We affirm as to Count I and reverse as to Counts II, III, and IV.

FACTS

Riffel was charged in a four count information as follows:

“I. Richard Puryear says: Luke Riffel on or about the month of August 1988 at and in the County of Morgan and State of Indiana, having the care, custody and control of [M.R.], age five (5), a dependent, did knowingly place [M.R.], his dependent, in a situation endangering his mental health, to-wit: allowed Larry Max Cramer, age 35, to demonstrate receiving oral sex from an anatomically correct nude lifesize adult female doll, in front of [M.R.], also in the presence of Luke Rif-fel, Tina Cramer and Sharon Benton, all of whom were adults, Luke Riffel then telling [M.R.] to put his penis in the doll’s mouth.
“II. Richard Puryear says: Luke Riffel on or about the month of August, 1988, at and in the County of Morgan and State of Indiana, did knowingly engage in a performance that is harmful to minors, to-wit: engaged in sexual intercourse of Tina Cramer, before [M.R.], age five (5), whose date of birth is April 16, 1983, and who is the natural son of Luke Riffel.
“HI. Richard Puryear says: Luke Rif-fel on or about the month of August, 1988, at and in the County of Morgan and State of Indiana, did knowingly engage in an obscene performance, to-wit: did perform sexual intercourse with Tina Cramer in front of his natural son, [M.R.], age five (5), after having instructed his son to watch the sex act.
“IV. Richard Puryear says: Luke Rif-fel on or about the month of August, 1988, at and in the County of Morgan and State of Indiana, did knowingly engage in an obscene performance, to-wit: stuck his finger in Tina Cramer’s vagina and then placed his finger before the nose of [M.R.], age fiye (5), and told [M.R.] to smell his finger.”

The alleged incidents took place during Riffel’s visitation period with M.R. at the [1086]*1086camping trailer residence of Riffel. Except for that part of the charge in Count I concerning the use of the doll by Cramer, the only evidence supporting the charges were the so-called Patterson statements of M.R. made to his mother, police, social workers, and a physician.

As to Count I, according to these statements, Cramer had a life-size inflatable doll equipped with a vibrator type mechanism in its mouth. When a penis was inserted into the doll’s mouth and the mechanism activated, the doll simulated fellatio. M.R.’s statements related that Cramer, in the presence of M.R., Riffel, and Riffel’s girl friend, Tina, who is Cramer’s sister, and Cramer’s girl friend Sharon, demonstrated the use of the doll. Thereafter, M.R. was placed on the doll and instructed to place his penis into the doll’s mouth. The mechanism then was activated and everyone present laughed. At trial, M.R. testified as to Cramer’s use of the doll, but denied the remainder of the incident. M.R. did, however, tell the police where Cramer kept the doll and certain other pornographic materials. Pursuant to a search warrant, the police recovered the doll from the location indicated by M.R., and it was introduced in evidence at the trial.

Evidence at trial further revealed that after this alleged incident, M.R. was found to be infected with chlamydia, a sexually transmitted disease, and that Cramer had chlamydia. Medical evidence was presented that M.R. could have gotten chlamydia from the doll if it had been used shortly before by a person infected with chlamydia.

As to Counts II and III, the only evidence supporting them are M.R.’s out-of-court statements that Riffel and Tina engaged in sexual intercourse in his presence and that Riffel directed M.R. to watch.6 At trial, M.R. repudiated these statements, denied making them, and denied that any such event occurred.

Because we believe the acts charged in Count IV, even if proved, do not constitute the crime charged, we find it unnecessary to relate the evidence pertaining to that charge.

ISSUE

The only issue presented for our determination is whether the evidence is sufficient to sustain the convictions.

DISCUSSION AND DECISION

In Patterson v. State (1975), 263 Ind. 55, 324 N.E.2d 482, our supreme court held that prior out-of-court statements of a witness could be used as substantive evidence where the declarant was present in court and available for cross-examination. This rule later was explained in Watkins v. State (1983), Ind., 446 N.E.2d 949, 959-60:

“The Patterson exception to the hearsay rule is justifiable because it permits the admission, on occasions, of major testimonial evidence of guilt that otherwise would be lost simply because it had not been subject to cross examination at the time of its utterance, notwithstanding that it was subject to cross examination at trial. Stone v. State, (1978), 268 Ind. 672, 377 N.E.2d 1372. Its misapplication and abuse have been noted in Samuels v. State, (1978), 267 Ind. 676, 678-79, 372 N.E.2d 1186, 1187, (‘To the extent that it has been used to support the admission of out-of-court statements as a mere substitute for available in-court testimony, it has been misapplied.’) and in Carter v. State, (1980) Ind.App., 412 N.E.2d 825, 828-31, (‘We conclude that the trial court erred in permitting Officer Crawford to relate Irey Hughes’ post-arrest statements before Hughes acknowledged making the statements.’) and (‘under our interpretation of the Patterson rule, denied or unrecalled statements are inadmissible as substantive evidence.’) (Emphasis added.) It was correctly observed in D.H. v. J.H., (1981) Ind.App., 418 N.E.2d 286, 294-95:
‘Briefly stated, the Patterson rule is that a prior statement of a witness is admissible, not only for purposes of [1087]*1087impeachment, but also as substantive evidence, provided the out-of-court as-serter is present as trial for cross-examination.’ (Citations omitted, original emphasis.)
‘However, we do not believe the rule to be as broad as might be indicated in that definition, if by this definition nothing more is required than the mere presence of the out-of-court declarant. We have reviewed a number of cases wherein the Patterson rule was relied upon and find the common factor in those cases was that the out-of-court declarant had in fact testified and been subjected to cross-examination.’ ”

The court in Watkins

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Riffel v. State
549 N.E.2d 1084 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1990)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
549 N.E.2d 1084, 1990 Ind. App. LEXIS 120, 1990 WL 12698, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/riffel-v-state-indctapp-1990.