State v. Mahany

748 S.W.2d 762, 1988 Mo. App. LEXIS 197, 1988 WL 10708
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedFebruary 16, 1988
Docket52604
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 748 S.W.2d 762 (State v. Mahany) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Mahany, 748 S.W.2d 762, 1988 Mo. App. LEXIS 197, 1988 WL 10708 (Mo. Ct. App. 1988).

Opinion

KAROHL, Presiding Judge.

Defendant, Daniel Mahany, was convicted after jury trial of two counts of sodomy, Section 566.060 RSMo 1986, and one count of sexual abuse in the first degree, Section *763 566.100 RSMo 1986. Defendant was sentenced to consecutive sentences of five years for each sodomy count and forty-two days for the first degree sexual abuse. On appeal, defendant argues the trial court erred in (1) overruling defendant’s motion to compel testimony of an endorsed defense witness; and (2) overruling defendant’s objections to out-of-court statements of the complaining witness, age seven, to another person because such statements were not properly qualified under Section 491.075.1(1) RSMo 1986. We affirm.

Since defendant does not challenge the sufficiency of the evidence, we view the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict, see e.g., State v. Dinkins, 741 S.W.2d 40 (Mo.App.E.D.1987). The evidence adduced at trial showed that Frances Maha-ny, now Frances Moore, was married to defendant, Daniel M. Mahany, from July 24, 1976, to November 1, 1982. R.M., the son of defendant and Frances Moore, was bom on December 15, 1978. Mrs. Moore received custody of R.M. pursuant to a divorce decree dissolving her marriage to defendant. By consent of the parties R.M. would ordinarily visit defendant every other weekend.

At trial, R.M. stated that on those weekends he was required to sleep in the same bed as his father. R.M. did not want to sleep there and did not like going to his father’s house because he feared his father would molest him. R.M. confirmed previous statements to Officer Michael Williams of the St. Louis County Police Department and to Lae Titia La Rocke, a pediatric nurse practitioner at Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital, that every time he went to his father’s house, from approximately September 1984 to April 1985, his father would sodomize him. R.M. was not able to relate a specific number or the dates of oecur-rences of sodomy, but he did indicate that such occurred “a lot of times.”

Dr. Anthony Scalzo, of the St. Louis University Medical Center, testified that pursuant to his April 25, 1985 examination of R.M. his findings were consistent with the conclusion that R.M. was a victim of chronic sexual abuse.

Defendant first contends that the trial court erred in overruling his Motion to Compel Testimony of endorsed defense witness, Brenda Bird. Defendant maintains Bird, a charged co-defendant, should have been ordered to testify because she was an essential witness to the defense and because defendant overcame the presumption that Bird’s responses would incriminate her.

The record indicates that, prior to her taking the stand, Ms. Bird’s attorney conveyed to defense counsel that Ms. Bird intended to exercise her Fifth Amendment right not to testify and right not to incriminate herself. Brenda Bird was sworn for a hearing apart from the jury in order to determine her intent for the record. She testified as to her current address, admitted she was charged with an offense in St. Louis County, and conceded she had taken a polygraph examination. However, as to all other questions relating to the criminal offense and facts pertaining to the present case, Ms. Bird responded by asserting the Fifth Amendment.

In support of the oral motion to compel testimony, defense counsel made an offer of proof to the effect that Brenda Bird would have testified in accord with her polygraph responses. 1 Defense counsel maintained that these answers not only would have aided defendant’s claim of innocence but also could not have incriminated Brenda Bird. Moreover, counsel claimed that Ms. Bird’s assertion of the Fifth Amendment was improper because she was *764 invoking it only to strengthen her chances of an entry of a Nolle Prosequi order and not out of a belief that her answers would be incriminating. Finally, defendant contends that Bird waived her privilege against self-incrimination because she answered questions relating to her address, her being charged with an offense, and her taking a polygraph examination without invoking the Fifth Amendment. The trial court overruled defendant’s motion stating it was conceivable that Ms. Bird’s answers on the polygraph were not true, and it was possible that the reaction of the machine was not accurate. If such were the case and she were compelled to testify, the trial court concluded she could be in a position to incriminate herself by answering some or all of the questions posed. We also observe that in-court testimony would not be limited to the polygraph questions.

The privilege against self-incrimination is secured by Article I, Section 19 of the Missouri Constitution and by the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. In order to assure that these protections are meaningful, our Supreme Court has held that once a witness claims the Fifth Amendment:

“A rebuttable presumption arises that the witness’ answer might tend to incriminate him, a presumption that can be rebutted by a demonstration by the party seeking the answer that such answer ‘ “cannot possibly” have such tendency to incriminate.’” (citations omitted).

State ex rel. Shapiro Realty & Inv. v. Cloyd, 615 S.W.2d 41, 46 (Mo. banc 1981).

Defendant attempts to rebut the presumption that Brenda Bird’s answers would be incriminating by offering proof of her polygraph examination which the examiner concluded were truthful responses. For several reasons we do not believe defendant overcame the presumption that, if compelled to testify, Bird’s answers could incriminate her. First, our courts have never accepted, as a matter of law, the reliability of polygraph examinations. State v. Biddle, 599 S.W.2d 182, 185 (Mo. banc 1980); State v. Hensley, 655 S.W.2d 810, 811 (Mo.App.1983). Our Supreme Court has enunciated reasons, which include: these tests are not uniformly sanctioned by the scientific community; they contain a high degree of interpretive subjectivity; they are not susceptible to in-court examination and testing; and they are subject to an inordinately high degree of reliance by juries. See, Biddle, 599 S.W.2d 187-190.

Second, “the polygraph will not detect the witness who makes honest misstatements of fact, and it may not detect the hardened individual who recognizes no responsibility [to tell the truth].” Biddle, 599 S.W.2d at 190 (citation omitted). Defendant’s offer of proof assumes that Brenda Bird’s answers to the polygraph examination were truthful. We note, however, that the state had evidence available linking Bird to the same offense for which defendant was convicted. This created more than an inference that the examinee’s polygraph responses might not have been entirely truthful or exhaustive on the facts surrounding the case.

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Bluebook (online)
748 S.W.2d 762, 1988 Mo. App. LEXIS 197, 1988 WL 10708, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-mahany-moctapp-1988.