State v. Rodman

383 P.3d 187, 53 Kan. App. 2d 106, 2016 Kan. App. LEXIS 61
Court of Appeals of Kansas·Decided October 28, 2016·No. 114024·Published

Opinion

Pierron, J.:

A jury convicted Michael W. Rodman of one count of aggravated indecent liberties with a child and imposed a hard 40 sentence. On appeal, Rodman argues the district court erred under the best evidence rule by admitting a photocopy of a drawing by the victim. Additionally, he contends the district court erred *107 by admitting evidence of a prior sexual offense, as it was irrelevant and highly prejudicial.

In April 2014, the State charged Rodman with one count of aggravated indecent liberties with a child, in violation of K.S.A. 2013 Supp. 21-5506(b)(3)(A), (c)(2)(C)(3), for the lewd fondling or touching of a child under the age of 14 or the touching of the defendant by a child. The complaint indicated the victim was 5 years old.

Prior to trial, the State filed a motion to admit evidence of a prior sexual offense conviction. Citing recent statutory and case-law developments surrounding K.S.A. 2015 Supp. 60-455(d), the State argued that evidence of the prior sexual offense was admissible as long as it was relevant and probative. It sought to admit the evidence to demonstrate Rodmans propensity to commit sexual offenses against a young girl. The State contended that Rodman was convicted of aggravated indecent liberties with a child in 2002, based on his touching an 8-year-old girl’s genitalia in a communal sauna room and asking her to touch his genitals. A family member saw the touching and ended it. The State contended the prior conviction was relevant and probative, as it was the same offense as charged in the instant case and involved a highly similar set of facts. Additionally, the State contended the evidence would not result in undue prejudice as it would not produce the wrong result in light of all of the circumstances surrounding the case.

Refore trial, defense counsel objected to the admission of Rod-man’s prior aggravated indecencies with a child conviction. Counsel argued the evidence was neither relevant nor probative and any possible probative value was substantially outweighed by its likely prejudicial effect. Counsel argued the jury would likely convict Rodman based solely on emotion and the prior conviction. The district court granted the State’s motion to admit the evidence of Rodman’s prior sexual offense conviction, noting the language of K.S.A. 2015 Supp. 60-455(d) and briefly referencing cases cited in the State’s motion. Based on the statutory language and caselaw “as it relates to the admission of prior convictions for sex offenses in a criminal trial involving sex offenses,” the court denied the objection. While maintaining a continuing objection to admission of the *108 evidence, counsel agreed to allow the evidence to come in as a joint stipulation.

At trial, A.L. testified she had a daughter, A.M.S., who was 6 years old at the time of trial. Earlier the previous year, she lived with A.M.S and the child’s father, M.S. Rodman was a high school friend of M.S. and stayed with them on some weekends. Rodman slept on a couch in the family room while die others had bedrooms of their own. One weekend morning, A.L. saw A.M.S. standing in front of Rodman, who was lying down on the couch. A.M.S.’ pants and underpants were pulled down to just above her knees. At first, A.L. thought her daughter may have just come out of the bathroom and forgotten to pull her clothes up. She checked the bathroom and the toilet seat was up, indicating diat a male had been the last person to use the bathroom. She did not want to make a scene without more information, so she spoke to A.M.S. later that same day without saying anything to Rodman.

When A.L. asked A.M.S. about the incident, A.M.S. told her that “she touched him there and it made it wake up,” whereas, before she touched it, it was asleep. A.M.S. did not say anything at the time about Rodman touching her, although she did say he looked at her exposed genitalia and said it was supposed to be a secret. A.L. notified tire police, who interviewed her and A.M.S.

On cross-examination, A.L. testified Rodman’s head was up, not down, when she saw him on the couch with A.M.S. in front of him. He had a blanket over him, and she could not see A.M.S. s hands. She testified A.M.S. was potty trained but still had occasional accidents and walked in on people using the bathroom. A.M.S. never appeared to be afraid of Rodman or seemed to avoid him. She would occasionally wake him up by jumping on him. A.L. indicated she did not always get along with Rodman, as Rodman believed she should spank A.M.S. more often.

On redirect examination, A.L. stated that M.S. had described genital areas to A.M.S. as “no-no” zones when talking about physical privacy. To her knowledge, A.M.S. had never awakened Rod-man or anyone else by grabbing their penis. On recross, A.L. stated she had not checked the bathroom closest to the family room, but A. M. S. did not use that bathroom.

*109 A.M.S. testified that she was 6 years old and she understood the difference between telling the truth and not telling the truth. She stated she knew Rodman and she last had seen him at M.S.’s house. She remembered speaking to a detective, but she could not recall what she had spoken about with him. She recalled something happening the last time she saw Rodman that was supposed to be a secret, he told her it was a secret, but she could not immediately remember what happened. She testified her genitals were her “no-no zone” and Rodman had touched her there at some point with his hand inside her pants. She also stated she had seen Rodmans “no-no zone” and she had touched it even though she did not want to. She identified Rodman in the courtroom.

M.S. testified he was A. M.S.’s father. A.M.S. had never tried to awaken him by grabbing his penis or otherwise even tried to touch it. On cross-examination, M.S. testified that A.M.S. had walked in on people in the bathroom every once in a while out of curiosity, but he has instructed her about body privacy. He kept a close eye on her around Rodman and had never witnessed any inappropriate behavior. A.M.S. used to wake Rodman up and get under the covers with him, and she used to jump on everyone but not to wake them up.

Lara Rohlman testified she was a forensic nurse examiner and her responsibilities included taking a history from potential patients and examining them. She interviewed A.L. and A.M.S. on April 7,2014, when A.M.S. was still 5 years old. She spoke first with A.L., who described seeing A.M.S. in front of Rodman with her pants and underpants down. A.L. told her A.M.S. indicated she had only touched Rodman “when its sleeping” and that she woke it up.

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State v. Rodman, 383 P.3d 187, 53 Kan. App. 2d 106, 2016 Kan. App. LEXIS 61 (kanctapp 2016).

383 P.3d 187 (State v. Rodman) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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