State v. Davidson

65 P.3d 1078, 31 Kan. App. 2d 372, 2003 Kan. App. LEXIS 231
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kansas
DecidedApril 4, 2003
Docket87,604
StatusPublished

This text of 65 P.3d 1078 (State v. Davidson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Davidson, 65 P.3d 1078, 31 Kan. App. 2d 372, 2003 Kan. App. LEXIS 231 (kanctapp 2003).

Opinion

31 Kan.App. 2d 372 (2003)
65 P.3d 1078

STATE OF KANSAS, Appellee,
v.
SEAN DUSTIN DAVIDSON, Appellant.

No. 87,604

Court of Appeals of Kansas

Opinion filed April 4, 2003.

*374 Libby K. Snider, assistant appellate defender, and Randall L. Hodgkinson, deputy appellate defender, for appellant.

Andrew M. Delaney, county attorney, and Carla J. Stovall, attorney general, for appellee.

Before BEIER, P.J., ELLIOTT and GREEN, JJ.

BEIER, J.:

Sean D. Davidson appeals his convictions of aggravated criminal sodomy and aggravated indecent liberties with a child. We reverse because of the erroneous admission of K.S.A. 60-455 evidence as well as a therapist's opinion on whether the victim was capable of lying.

Dorothy "Dollie" Woods is the mother of Dorsia "Dodie" Davidson and the grandmother of Dodie's children, B.W., J.W., and K.D. B.W. was adopted by and lived with Dollie and her husband, Darrin Woods. J.W. lived with Dodie and the defendant, who is J.W.'s stepfather and K.D.'s father.

When J.W. was 4 years old and on a visit to the Woods, he spontaneously put his toy cars in the front of his pants and started moving his hips back and forth. Dollie asked what he was doing, and he replied that he was "doing sex" he had learned from the defendant. J.W. told Dollie that the defendant had put his "pee pee in his butt butt" and in his mouth and had made him try to do the same thing to him while they were on a fishing trip. J.W. subsequently told Darrin about the same incidents.

J.W.'s story had some variance over time; he sometimes stated the incidents happened inside the car on the fishing trip, at other times, outside. J.W. showed Dollie and Darrin a location at a lake where the incidents occurred. He also said the defendant had pointed a knife at him and threatened to kill him.

While taking a bath, J.W. showed an aunt and Dollie how the defendant had tied him up with washcloths. He said the defendant *375 forced him to bend over and hurt him. A couple of times, when Dodie suggested that J.W. take a bath with his daddy, J.W. would scream "no no." On a few occasions J.W. was observed by Dollie, Darrin, and his aunt trying to insert toy hot dogs into his rectum, and he told Darrin that this was "what Sean did to me."

Dollie called a child abuse hotline and was advised to document everything and to contact the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services (S.R.S.) and the sheriff. Dollie wrote a report based on J.W.'s statements. J.W. was interviewed within 2 weeks by Sheriff Mike Batchelder and social worker Lori Lopez. Although J.W. had difficulty remaining focused during this interview, he did state that the defendant did "bad things" to him and had "sex" with him in the front seat of the car when they went fishing.

Pediatrician Phyllis Roberts, M.D., examined J.W. approximately 2 weeks after the interview but found no external physical evidence of abuse. Because she nevertheless had suspicions of abuse because of Dollie's report, Roberts contacted the S.R.S. child abuse hotline and made a report, as she was required to do.

Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) Agent George Johnson interviewed the defendant before his arrest. The defendant admitted some unintentional touching had occurred, describing awakening to find J.W. in his bed and his hand on J.W.'s bare penis or his own bare penis against J.W.'s bare buttocks.

The district court held a hearing the day before trial to determine whether J.W. could testify. J.W. stated that the defendant put his "big, hairy pee pee in his butt," and he also wiped it on his face and nose. He explained that white stuff came out of the defendant's "pee pee" and that the defendant told him to lick it off. J.W. also stated that this happened outside of the car by the river and a bridge, and he said that this had happened five times. He also said the defendant had made him lie down in the car and had put his hard "pee pee" in his butt. J.W. reiterated that the defendant tied him up with a rag in the bathtub and made him hit his head. He denied helping the defendant take a bath. According to J.W., the defendant threatened to kill him if he told anyone what had happened.

*376 When J.W. had more difficulty testifying at trial, a transcript of his earlier testimony was admitted into evidence in addition to live testimony that the defendant was naked when they were fishing, that he put his "pee pee" in his "butt," that he told him to lick the white stuff that came out, that he forced him to bend over, and that he tied him up.

Before trial, the State moved to admit K.S.A. 60-455 evidence that the defendant had molested two stepdaughters and a sister-in-law from a prior marriage as relevant to establish intent, plan, and absence of mistake or accident. The district judge granted the motion after a hearing and affirmed that ruling when the defense renewed its objection before the testimony came in at trial:

"Well, we talked about this when I made my initial ruling under 60-455 and the three things that are required under State v. Nunn, 244 Kan. 207. In this particular case the Court found in my prior ruling the acts were similar. There was same act oral sex, some type of masturbation to ejaculation. The place was away from or the place was actually where he was the only adult there. There was always a threat not to tell anyone. There was fondling. The ages of the children were very close and they were stepchildren.
"Obviously intent may be an issue although intent is not an issue in the crime itself. Count 2 only requires that he engage in lewd fondling. There was an intent to arouse. In the other one engage in sodomy. It doesn't require intent but the probative value is the plan or in this particular case the absence of mistake since he's claiming it never happened, and for those two reasons only. So your motion is denied. I'll allow Miss [M.] to testify and the others to testify."

The defendant's former stepdaughters and sister-in-law testified at trial. One testified that, when she was 6 or 7, the defendant had forced her and the other girls to bathe his genitals when their mother or sister was not home.

Another testified that she was 7 or 8 when the defendant forced the girls to bathe him and stroke him until he ejaculated. She relayed that he also would take them into a barn, hold their hands in the air, fondle their chests and private parts, and make them play with his penis. She did not recall any oral contact. On another occasion, he forced her to lie down on a bed and stroke him while he put his hands into her pants. The defendant threatened that he would hurt the girls if they disclosed the abuse.

*377 The third of the defendant's earlier victims described the abuse in the barn. She also recalled that she and one of the other girls performed oral sex on the defendant. On another occasion, the defendant took her to a cemetery, where he forced her to perform oral sex.

Therapist Lynn Holliman treated J.W. for sexual abuse on 29 occasions, and she testified as an expert witness on behalf of the State. During therapy, J.W. told her that the defendant had put his "pee pee" up his bottom and hurt him. On one occasion, J.W.

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Bluebook (online)
65 P.3d 1078, 31 Kan. App. 2d 372, 2003 Kan. App. LEXIS 231, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-davidson-kanctapp-2003.