State v. Prine

303 P.3d 662, 297 Kan. 460, 2013 WL 2364286, 2013 Kan. LEXIS 534
CourtSupreme Court of Kansas
DecidedMay 31, 2013
DocketNo. 103,242
StatusPublished
Cited by71 cases

This text of 303 P.3d 662 (State v. Prine) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court 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. Prine, 303 P.3d 662, 297 Kan. 460, 2013 WL 2364286, 2013 Kan. LEXIS 534 (kan 2013).

Opinion

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Beier, J.:

This appeal returns to this court after retrial. In 2009, we reversed defendant John Prine’s 2004 convictions for rape, aggravated criminal sodomy, and aggravated indecent liberties because tire district judge had erred by admitting evidence of Prine’s sexual abuse of two victims other than the one making the allegations underlying this case. State v. Prine, 287 Kan. 713, 200 P.3d 1 (2009) (“Prine I”). The legislature responded to our decision by amending K.S.A. 60-455, see L. 2009, ch. 103, sec. 12. The district judge ostensibly applied the amended statute to admit the same evidence at Prine’s retrial. Prine now challenges his new convictions and his sentence of 387 months’ imprisonment. His primary argument is the same that entitled him to reversal in 2009; it does not carry the day this time around.

Factual and Procedural Background

Crimes and Investigation

J.C’s babysitter fell through. J.C’s then-fiancé (now husband), Anthony, had a best friend: defendant John Prine. J.C. contacted Prine, who agreed to act as a backup babysitter. She left Prine with her two babies and her 6-year-old stepdaughter, A.M.C. Anthony, A.M.C.’s father, picked her up after lunch and took her to kindergarten. J.C’s mother, A.M.C.’s future grandmother, picked A.M.C. up from school to take her back home, where Prine was still babysitting. On the way home, A.M.C. told her grandmother that she did not want to go home because Prine had touched her. The grandmother relayed this information to J.C., who immediately came home. J.C. told Prine he was free to go, which he did after taking a shower. Then J.C. and Anthony took A.M.C. to the doctor for a medical examination. The examination revealed no injury, but J.C. and Anthony filed a police report, as the doctor suggested.

[462]*462Detective John Taylor interviewed A.M.C. at the police station. The interview was videotaped. They talked about truth and lies, and about good and bad touching. A.M.C. told Taylor that “John” had given her “bad touches.” She told Taylor that Prine had touched her on her “front”—which she identified with “where she went pee from”—with his fingers, his tongue, and his tummy. She demonstrated how he licked his two fingers and touched her front, and she described how he “would pull my front open and lick inside.”

Taylor also interviewed Prine, who denied ever inappropriately touching A.M.C. Prine became annoyed and left the police station^ but he returned later to make a report concerning illegal activity at a grocery warehouse where Anthony worked. Specifically, he reported that Anthony was stealing from the warehouse.

Several weeks later, Taylor interviewed Prine again. At this time, Prine offered information about unintentional conduct that might have formed the basis for A.M.C.’s allegations. One time, he said, A.M.C. had a swimsuit on and slid down his arm and the side of her swimsuit moved, exposing her vagina; on other occasions, Prine had roughhoused with A.M.C. and his hand might have slipped; and one time A.M.C. got peanut butter on her face, and Prine had licked his thumb and wiped it off. Prine also suggested that A.M.C.’s father might have been the one who molested her.

Between the time that A.M.C. made her initial allegations about Prine and the time that she was interviewed, J.C. called T.M. and informed her about A.M.C.’s accusations. T.M. was Prine’s ex-wife and had two children with him. She and defendant had been involved in a bitter custody dispute. T.M.’s daughter, S.M., had previously made allegations that Prine molested her. Taylor interviewed S.M. The interview was recorded. At the time of her interview, S.M. was 9 years old. She stated that defendant—her father—had sex with her when she was little. When she was 4 or 5 years old, he would place her on top of his bare body and she would be naked from the waist down and she could feel his penis on her vagina.

Taylor also interviewed Prine’s younger sister, J.S., who had previously reported being molested by defendant. At the time of her [463]*463interview, J.S. was 27 years old. She indicated that, from the time she was about 4 years old until she was 10 or 11, defendant sexually abused her. He would lick two fingers and touch her vagina; touch his penis to her vagina; put his mouth and lips on her vagina; and/ or wipe saliva on her vagina. She also described him forcing her to have oral sex with him by placing his penis in her mouth. She stated that two of her brothers had, at least on one occasion, witnessed this abuse. When J.S. was 15 years old, she filed a police report in her hometown in Montana, detailing Prine’s sexual abuse of her.

First Trial and Appeal

After Prine was tried and convicted by a jury on the evidence described above, including the video of Taylors interview of A.M.C., he appealed. He argued, among other things, that the district judge erred in admitting evidence of his prior sexual abuse of S.M. and J.S. A divided Court of Appeals panel affirmed the admission and his convictions. See State v. Prine, No. 93,345, 2006 WL 3479017 (Kan. App. 2006) (unpublished opinion).

On the K.S.A. 60-455 evidence, the majority stated that, despite a general rule that evidence of prior crimes is inadmissible to show intent when it is obvious from the mere doing of the charged act, such evidence should be admissible when a defendant has created “an inference of innocent motive.” 2006 WL 3479017, at *4. The majority also relied on its view that, “[djespite some difference . . . the defendant’s conduct [with A.M.C.] was sufficiently similar [to evidence of sexual activity with S.M. and J.S.] to demonstrate a plan or common approach.” 2006 WL 3479017, at s5. It also held that, even though the probative value of Prine’s intent was slight because of his general denial of the charged crimes, “the combined value of the prior bad acts evidence to prove intent, an absence of mistake or accident, and plan outweighed the potential prejudice to the defendant.” 2006 WL 3479017, at *5.

Judge Richard D. Greene dissented on the issue. He would have held that the K.S.A. 60-455 evidence was not admissible to prove intent, absence of mistake or accident, or plan, and that the erroneous admission of the evidence to show propensity denied Prine a fair trial. Specifically, Judge Greene wrote that “there was no [464]*464room for any inference of innocent conduct.” 2006 WL 3479017, at *6 (Greene, J., dissenting). In his view, intent and absence of mistake or accident were not in issue, as Prine had not offered an innocent explanation for the charged conduct. Judge Greene also wrote that the allegations made by S.M. and J.S. were not sufficiently similar to those made by A.M.C. for the uncharged crimes to prove plan or modus operandi. 2006 WL 3479017, at ®6.

On Prine’s petition for review, this court reversed the convictions and remanded the case for retrial. In our opinion, we discussed the history of K.S.A. 60-455’s inconsistent application to child sexual abuse cases.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
303 P.3d 662, 297 Kan. 460, 2013 WL 2364286, 2013 Kan. LEXIS 534, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-prine-kan-2013.