State v. Beauvais

322 P.3d 1116, 261 Or. App. 837, 2014 WL 1257956, 2014 Ore. App. LEXIS 364
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedMarch 26, 2014
Docket06FE0574SF; A147355
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 322 P.3d 1116 (State v. Beauvais) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Beauvais, 322 P.3d 1116, 261 Or. App. 837, 2014 WL 1257956, 2014 Ore. App. LEXIS 364 (Or. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

SCHUMAN, S. J.

Defendant was charged with one count of first-degree sexual abuse, ORS 163.427, and two counts of attempted first-degree sexual abuse, arising out of his alleged contact with the victims, J and K. In a motion in limine, defendant sought to exclude the testimony of experts from Kid’s Intervention and Diagnostic Service Center (KIDS Center) who had interviewed J and K. According to defendant, one witness’s testimony included a diagnosis of sexual abuse and was inadmissible under State v. Southard, 347 Or 127, 140-41, 218 P3d 104 (2009), because it was scientific evidence that was highly prejudicial and only minimally probative. Other witnesses’ testimony was inadmissible, defendant maintains, because, although it did not directly vouch for the credibility of the victim, it amounted indirectly to the same thing, contrary to the rule in State v. Lupoli, 348 Or 346, 234 P3d 117 (2010). The trial court denied the motion. The court also denied defendant’s motion to sever and motion for a mistrial, in which he contended that trying the counts involving J and K together was prejudicial. Midway through a jury trial, the state dismissed the charges relating to J. Defendant was subsequently convicted of one count of first-degree sexual abuse involving K. He appeals, renewing the arguments that he made below.1 We conclude that the trial court did not err, and we therefore affirm.

The relevant facts are not in dispute. J and K, ten-year-old girls, were babysitting for defendant’s son and were asleep on the floor of defendant’s house when defendant and his wife returned home. K awoke to find defendant kneeling down almost on top of her with his hand down her pants. K heard a door open, and defendant left to join his wife in another room. K sat up, and defendant came back into the room. K and defendant engaged in a brief conversation, and defendant left the room again. K woke J and told her that defendant had been touching her in her “private area” and that she wanted to go home. J’s father picked up the girls, [839]*839who told him of defendant’s conduct; the father then took them to a police station, where they were interviewed. He then took them to a hospital for an evaluation.

At that time, K was examined by White, a sexual-assault nurse. White testified at trial that K had reported “rubbing of her genitalia area,” and that, consistent with what K had reported, White’s examination of K revealed an “acute injury” in the genital area — abrasions, redness, and swelling that one would not expect to see from typical wiping or cleaning. White described “increased redness and swelling of the clitoris *** and at the labial folds on the upper portion,” and “increased redness in the upper and lower” parts of K’s hymen, “which is also consistent with some type of rubbing or blunt trauma.” White further testified that K’s labia “appeared abraded, as if there’s been some shaking, some rubbing.” Her written report also stated those findings.

Six weeks later, K was interviewed by Zancanella, a staff person from KIDS Center. Zancanella testified at trial about what KIDS Center looks for in evaluating a child for sexual abuse. Zancanella explained that she looks at whether the child provides information in narrative form and spontaneously. She explained that, when the child can do that, “I’m going to get more details and I’m going to get more accurate information.” Zancanella further testified that she looks at whether the child has consistently reported the “core details” to police, medical personnel, and the KIDS Center interviewer. Zancanella explained that, when a child is able to give more details, including sensory details, “there’s a very low percentage of making stories up ***. [T]hat tells us that there’s some additional validity.”

Glesne, also of KIDS Center, interviewed K, and described at trial the observations relating to K that she considered significant:

“[T]he core details of the information [K] provided [to KIDS Center] were consistent with what she had provided to * * * the sexual assault nurse examiner and the Redmond Police Department. They were also consistent with what had been provided by another child that had been interviewed previously at the KIDS Center.
[840]*840“[K] used both words, her body, a drawing, to describe what had happened in relating the disclosure that she made at the KIDS Center.”

K was also examined by Dr. Kyriakos of KIDS Center. At trial, Kyriakos described what KIDS Center looks for in evaluating a child for sexual abuse. Like Glesne and Zancanella, Kyriakos testified that KIDS Center is “looking to see if there is a physical sign” and “the consistency of the core details that the child has given over time.” Kyriakos explained that she looks to see whether the child “was able to give multiple details” and if the “child was able to give information in more than one * * * media form.” She testified:

“Q. When you’re evaluating a child for any kind of abuse, what is it that — what is it that you’re looking for specifically with regard to child sexual abuse, or the criteria that you’re looking for?

“A. Well, in the examination you’re looking to see if there is a physical sign, something that you see on examination, that would be diagnostic of abuse. The other things that we’re looking at is if the history that we’ve gathered supports a diagnosis of child sexual abuse.

“So we’re looking at a lot of things, but that — some of the main categories are looking at consistency of the core details that the child has given over time. So we compare the core details of what was said previously to law enforcement, or maybe to a parent, maybe to DHS, and then to us during the interview and examination.

“We look to see if the child was able to give multiple details, so — so a lot of depth in detail; talking about who, what, where, when, sometimes how. Are they able to provide other contextual details, like describing furniture in the room or clothes that were being worn? So some of the other details during the incident.

“One thing we look at is if a person — child was able to give information in more than one — we call it more than one media form. And those mean things like able to give descriptions verbally, able to give description by drawing, able to communicate by using the child’s body as a reference.

“One — another thing is how the disclosure was made. So was it — disclosure spontaneous or not, which is — we weigh that heavily, because ‘spontaneous’ means that the [841]*841child made the disclosure without having to be asked about it. So it wasn’t something an adult came and asked the child about; something that they spontaneously provided without being asked.

“Another thing that — that weighs into, if the child’s able to give any kind of very specific details on — on sensory-type information. So something that they felt would be an example. And those type of details are important because sensory details usually are only something you know and if the child actually experienced the actual event.

“Behavioral changes; we look at that, too. Behavioral changes are not diagnostic of abuse, because the changes can be due to other stressors in the child’s life. But if those behavioral changes are a change from what the child’s baseline is, then that’s very concerning for abuse.”

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Related

State v. Keanaaina
326 Or. App. 286 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2023)
State v. Delaney
498 P.3d 315 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2021)
State v. Crummett
361 P.3d 644 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2015)
State v. Beauvais
354 P.3d 680 (Oregon Supreme Court, 2015)
State v. Gensler
337 P.3d 890 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2014)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
322 P.3d 1116, 261 Or. App. 837, 2014 WL 1257956, 2014 Ore. App. LEXIS 364, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-beauvais-orctapp-2014.