State v. Krahl

CourtCourt of Appeals of Kansas
DecidedJuly 28, 2017
Docket115024
StatusUnpublished

This text of State v. Krahl (State v. Krahl) 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. Krahl, (kanctapp 2017).

Opinion

NOT DESIGNATED FOR PUBLICATION

No. 115,024

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF KANSAS

STATE OF KANSAS, Appellee,

v.

ROBERT KRAHL, Appellant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Appeal from Johnson District Court; KEVIN P. MORIARTY, judge. Opinion filed July 28, 2017. Affirmed.

Kai Tate Mann, of Kansas Appellate Defender Office, for appellant.

Shawn E. Minihan, assistant district attorney, Stephen M. Howe, district attorney, and Derek Schmidt, attorney general, for appellee.

Before MALONE, P.J., LEBEN and BRUNS, JJ.

Per Curiam: Robert Krahl appeals his convictions of two counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child stemming from an incident involving his 8- and 10-year- old grandsons. Krahl argues that (1) the district court erred in admitting evidence of statements he made about future conduct; (2) the district court erred in denying his motion for a directed verdict based on insufficiency of the evidence; (3) the district court erred in failing to instruct the jury on the definition of "lewd"; (4) the State engaged in multiple instances of prosecutorial error; and (5) he was denied a fair trial based on cumulative error. For the reasons stated herein, we affirm the district court's judgment.

1 FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

On May 13, 2013, 10-year-old I.C. approached his mother, Krystal K-C, and told her that earlier that day his grandfather, Krahl, had touched his and his 8-year-old brother J.C.'s genitals. I.C. told Krystal that after picking them up from school, Krahl told I.C. and J.C. to go to an upstairs bedroom, pull down their pants, and Krahl then touched their penises and testicles and told them not to tell anyone. I.C. also told Krystal that Krahl had discussions with them about puberty. Krystal went to J.C.'s room and asked him about what I.C. just told her. J.C. was emotional and upset but confirmed I.C.'s allegations.

That night, Krystal drove to Krahl's home and confronted him about I.C.'s allegations. She expressly instructed Krahl that he was not to engage in any sex education with her children and that if it continued he would never be allowed to see I.C. and J.C. again. Krahl did not say anything and walked out of the room. Afterwards, Krystal contacted the police who arranged forensic interviews for I.C. and J.C. at the Sunflower House. The day before the boys' scheduled interviews, Krahl contacted Krystal via email asking her to meet him and telling her that she was wrong to go to the police. Krystal picked up Krahl and his wife, Nancy, in her van and they drove to a parking lot to talk. Krahl told Krystal that he had taken the boys upstairs and told them to remove their pants and that he did touch their genitals but it was to teach them about testicular cancer.

Erin Miller-Weiss, a forensic interviewer at the Sunflower House interviewed I.C. on May 22, 2013. I.C. told Miller-Weiss that on May 13, 2013, Krahl picked him and his brother up from school. I.C. and J.C. were supposed to practice piano but instead Krahl told them to go upstairs. Krahl had an orange package under his arm and he told I.C. and J.C. to sit down on the bed. Krahl opened the package, which contained a book called The Facts of Love, Living, Loving and Growing Up (Facts of Love). I.C. stated that Krahl had showed them the book before but only when nobody else was home because "he knows he's not supposed to." Krahl sat down next to I.C. and J.C. on the bed and showed them

2 pictures of people going through puberty, including naked people from toddler age to adults. I.C. stated that about a year earlier, Krahl had also brought a printed document about puberty to I.C.'s house and urged I.C. to read it.

I.C. told Miller-Weiss that after showing them the book, Krahl told them to pull down their pants so he could show them something. Krahl then touched their privates with his finger and showed them the "pee tube" on their privates. I.C. also said that Krahl was moving their private parts around and showing them how long their private parts were. Krahl touched J.C. first. According to I.C., Krahl touched each of them for about 9 minutes; he was aware of the time because there was a digital clock in the room. I.C. also stated that this was not the first time Krahl had asked them to pull down their pants, but it was the first time he had asked them to pull down their underwear. After Krahl finished touching I.C. and J.C., he told them that next time they were alone he would talk about how to get a girl pregnant and how to have sex with themselves. He also told them not to tell anybody about what had occurred.

Melissa Harris, another forensic interviewer at the Sunflower House, conducted J.C.'s interview on the same day. J.C. told Harris that Krahl told him and I.C. to go to an upstairs bedroom and told them to pull down their pants and he told them about their "front privates." J.C. then said that Krahl touched his front private, showed them where the "pee tube" was, and explained about semen and conception. J.C. stated that Krahl touched his private part with his fingers and "pulled it up and told us about the tubes," but then he had J.C. touch his own private part "all the way to the bottom."

When asked about the Facts of Love book, J.C. stated that it had "sex and gay in it" and things that children should not know about. He also stated that the book had pictures of "private parts" and showed naked boys and girls in different stages of development. J.C. told Harris that he had seen the book previously and that Krahl had showed him pictures of bodies in various stages of development and "the inside of a

3 private," and it made him uncomfortable and scared because he had never seen pictures like that before. Finally, J.C. stated that Krahl told I.C. and J.C not to tell anyone or they would get in big trouble.

Detective Leslie Smith sat in on the boys' Sunflower House interviews. As a result of what she heard, Smith obtained consent from Nancy to search Krahl's residence. Nancy told Smith that she had found the Facts of Love book in the bottom drawer of a cabinet as well as three other books. The Facts of Love book was inside a brown envelope and had tabs on specific pages with pictures of naked males and females in various stages of sexual development. The book also had tabs on pages containing drawings of male and female genitalia.

On July 23, 2013, the State charged Krahl with two counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child, one count involving I.C. and the other count involving J.C. Krahl was bound over for trial on the charges after a preliminary hearing. On October 23, 2013, the State filed a motion to admit K.S.A. 60-455(d) evidence. Specifically, the State requested that it be allowed to introduce evidence at trial of two prior instances of sexual misconduct to establish Krahl's propensity to commit sexual offenses against children. The first incident involved Krahl's son, K.K., who would testify that Krahl sexually abused him as a child under the guise of sexual education. The second incident involved L.S., a family friend of Krahl as a child, who would testify that Krahl molested him as well. After hearing arguments of counsel, the district court ruled that K.K.'s testimony was admissible but L.S.'s testimony would not be allowed at trial. Specifically, the district court found that L.S.'s proposed testimony would be more prejudicial than probative as it involved an incident that occurred over 50 years ago.

Krahl's trial began on July 6, 2015. Krystal testified first about I.C.'s disclosure that Krahl had touched his and his brother's genitals.

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State v. Krahl, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-krahl-kanctapp-2017.