State v. R.K.

106 A.3d 1224, 220 N.J. 444, 2015 N.J. LEXIS 63
CourtSupreme Court of New Jersey
DecidedFebruary 3, 2015
StatusPublished
Cited by91 cases

This text of 106 A.3d 1224 (State v. R.K.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of New Jersey primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. R.K., 106 A.3d 1224, 220 N.J. 444, 2015 N.J. LEXIS 63 (N.J. 2015).

Opinion

Justice FERNANDEZ-VINA

delivered the opinion of the Court.

In this appeal the Court must determine whether defendant was afforded a fair trial, in light of numerous errors that occurred during the trial.

This ease stems from a nine-year-old victim’s allegation that her mother’s boyfriend, defendant R.K., repeatedly molested her. No physical evidence of the alleged sexual assaults was presented; therefore, the trial turned on whether the jury believed the victim or defendant. Ultimately, defendant was convicted of endangering the welfare of a child and child abuse.

The trial court permitted three different witnesses to testify regarding the same underlying allegation under the fresh-complaint doctrine. That testimony, however, included details and graphic demonstrations, and improperly bolstered the victim’s credibility. Thus, the purported fresh-complaint testimony in this case went far beyond the bounds that the doctrine permits. [449]*449Moreover, defendant argues the victim’s mother and sister improperly bolstered her credibility by stating they believed her allegations, and that it was not in her character to lie. Finally, defendant asserts that the trial court erred when it barred proposed testimony from a defense witness that defendant’s girlfriend suspected he cheated on her and was planning to leave him as her testimony went to bias and was admissible.

This case turned entirely on witness-believability. We hold that the aforesaid errors that occurred denied defendant a fair trial. For the reasons that follow, we reverse the Appellate Division judgment. Admission of the fresh-complaint testimony, bolstering of the victim’s credibility, and exclusion of bias testimony constituted reversible error. We remand to the trial court for a new trial.

In light of our decision of these issues, we do not address defendant’s remaining arguments.

I.

Defendant and his girlfriend, K.G., had two children: K.K. and R.K. Also living with them was K.G.’s daughter, C.G., then age nine. Although defendant was not C.G.’s biological father, he had been in her life since she was fifteen months old and acted as C.G.’s stepfather and disciplinarian. C.G. referred to defendant as “daddy.”

On March 30, 2009, K.G. left K.K. and C.G. in her car while she ran some errands. While the children were waiting, C.G. told K.K. that defendant sometimes had her come to the couch and “rub his pee pee.” When their mother K.G. returned, K.K. told her what C.G. had said.

K.G. immediately drove back to the house where she sat down with her daughters. C.G. told her mother that defendant had made her touch his private area “until yellow-white stuff came out” and moved her hands in a masturbatory motion. K.G. packed [450]*450their belongings and called her father to pick up her and her children.

Later, at K.G.’s parents’ house, C.G. told her mother that defendant had engaged in this activity with her at least ten times. C.G. also told her mother that during a trip with defendant to a recycling center, defendant touched and licked her private parts. C.G. indicated to her mother that she had told defendant she did not want to engage in these activities, but defendant told C.G. that if she refused, “[she] wouldn’t be living at the house anymore.” K.G. then contacted the Little Egg Harbor Township Police Department.

The next day, Trooper John Villamil interviewed C.G. During the interview, C.G. omitted the allegation regarding the incident at the recycling center. After speaking with C.G., Trooper Villamil sought and obtained a warrant for defendant’s arrest. On April 3, 2009, the U.S. Coast Guard apprehended defendant while he was at work on a clamming vessel at sea. Defendant denied engaging in sexual activity with C.G., stating that he never had sexual feelings towards her, nor did he ever take her out of her bedroom. Defendant indicated his belief that C.G. began to resent him when K.G. sent their cat away, after defendant placed the cat in the same pen as their pit bull. Moreover, defendant stated that he and C.G. argued because C.G. did not keep up with her schoolwork. Defendant said that he had spanked C.G. in public the day before C.G. made the allegations, and that he believed the allegations stemmed from that incident.

After defendant’s arrest, Trooper Villamil interviewed K.G. It was then that the trooper was informed about what had happened at the recycling center. The case was transferred to the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office. Detective Bill Adamson attempted to interview C.G. but she became upset when asked about the recycling center incident. Eventually, C.G. confirmed the cunnilingus allegation to the detective.

[451]*451A.

On June 16, 2009, a grand jury charged defendant with: second-degree sexual assault, contrary to N.J.S.A. 2C:14-2b; second-degree endangering the welfare of a child, contrary to N.J.S.A. 2C:24-4; and fourth-degree child abuse, contrary to N.J.S.A. 9:6-3. On January 6, 2011, defendant was charged in a superseding indictment with: first-degree aggravated sexual assault, contrary to N.J.S.A. 2C:14-2(a); second-degree sexual assault, contrary to N.J.S.A. 2C:14-2(b); second-degree endangering the welfare of a child, contrary to N.J.S.A. 2C:24-4; and fourth-degree child abuse, contrary to N.J.S.A. 9:6-3.

Between May 2 and May 6, 2011, defendant was tried before a jury. The State presented C.G., K.G., K.K., and the two investigating officers as witnesses. Defendant testified and presented several character witnesses on his behalf.

Before trial, the State sought permission to present testimony from K.G. and K.K. under the fresh-complaint doctrine. The testimony was intended to recount their conversations with C.G. regarding the alleged abuse. The trial court admitted the testimony as evidence of the allegation, but not as proof of the underlying claim.

At trial, K.G. testified that C.G. told her defendant made her “touch his private area,” and that defendant made her “touch him and go like this until yellow-white stuff came out of his private area.” While testifying, K.G. demonstrated the masturbatory motion C.G. had made. K.G. also noted C.G.’s claim that defendant threatened to harm her, her family, and her cat if C.G. ever told anyone.

K.K. also provided fresh-complaint testimony. She testified that C.G. alleged “that every night before a special occasion, [defendant] would come in and tell her to come out on the couch and rub his pee pee.” K.K. testified on direct examination: “I was kind of, like 1 was sad for her and I believed her because it’s really sad. She wouldn’t be making up things if it was not bad.”

[452]*452The trial judge did not instruct jurors that fresh-complaint testimony may not be considered as substantive evidence of the underlying allegation, and no such instruction was requested.

B.

A defense witness, a friend of K.G., was offered for the purpose of providing testimony that K.G. had said she suspected defendant cheated on her, and that K.G. planned to leave him. The prosecutor objected on hearsay grounds. Defense counsel argued that this evidence went to bias; however, the trial judge sustained the objection, and the testimony was excluded.

C.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
106 A.3d 1224, 220 N.J. 444, 2015 N.J. LEXIS 63, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-rk-nj-2015.