State v. Skinner

450 N.W.2d 648, 1990 Minn. App. LEXIS 122, 1990 WL 5217
CourtCourt of Appeals of Minnesota
DecidedJanuary 30, 1990
DocketC3-89-988
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 450 N.W.2d 648 (State v. Skinner) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Skinner, 450 N.W.2d 648, 1990 Minn. App. LEXIS 122, 1990 WL 5217 (Mich. Ct. App. 1990).

Opinions

OPINION

FOLEY, Judge.

Daniel- H. Skinner appeals from the conviction for first degree criminal sexual conduct in violation of Minn.Stat. § 609.342, subds. 1(a) and 2 (1988), with reference to Minn.Stat. § 609.101 (1988). We affirm.

FACTS

On May 30, 1988, appellant was arrested following an accusation that he had sexually abused C.A.V., a 10 year old girl. Appellant lived in Minneapolis with his girlfriend and five children. C.A.V. is the daughter of the girlfriend’s sister-in-law.

In November 1987, C.A.V. reported that her father had been molesting her and having sexual intercourse with her. In December 1987, the abuse was reported to the authorities. C.A.V.’s father pleaded guilty to the crime and is now in prison.

C.A.V. and her brothers often spent time at appellant’s house and stayed overnight with their cousins. They spent Memorial Day weekend of 1988 at appellant’s house with their cousins. According to C.A.V., at some point on either Saturday or Sunday, she was sitting on appellant’s lap watching television. Appellant’s girlfriend and several cousins were gone, and the others were playing outside. Appellant was holding his infant son. C.A.V. testified that [650]*650she fell asleep and appellant slipped his hand under her shirt and touched her chest. He also slid his hand under her pants and fondled her genital area. He then took his penis out of his pants and placed her hand on it.

C.A.V. testified that appellant then zipped up his pants and put the baby into his crib. Appellant returned to the living room, picked up C.A.V., took her into a bedroom, and placed her on the bed. C.A.V. felt appellant lie down on top of her, and he again put his hand under her shirt. He then pulled her pants down and penetrated her with his finger and his penis. C.A.V. also testified that he tried to put his penis in her mouth, but she turned her head away. During this time, C.A.V. kept her eyes closed and pretended to be asleep. She testified that appellant got up once to look out the window. He stopped when he heard his girlfriend drive up. He pulled up her pants and left the bedroom.

C.A.V. testified that she ran upstairs to the bathroom. She noticed that her genital area was wet, and she tried to dry the area. She also noticed that her pants were wet and tried to dry them as well.

When she went outside, her brother saw her damp pants and accused her of wetting her pants. C.A.V. replied that she had not wet her pants but that appellant “had did what her dad did.” She also testified that she had told her cousins about the incident, but nothing was said to any of the adults. Later that weekend, appellant’s girlfriend washed C.A.V.’s clothes.

On Monday evening, C.A.V.’s mother picked up her children from appellant’s house. The children bathed when they got home, put on their pajamas, and went into the living room to watch television with their mother. C.A.V.’s brother told her that she should tell their mother what had happened. C.A.V. was reluctant to say anything but eventually said that appellant had sexually abused her.

C.A.V.’s mother then arranged for a neighbor to watch the children, went to pick up her sisters and some friends, and drove to appellant’s house to confront him. She testified that she asked him how he could have done the same thing to C.A.V. as her father did. She also said that she had allowed him to get away with something once and that she wasn’t going to let him do it again. She further testified that his reply was something like “this is once, when was the second time” or “that was once, this was the second time.” Her sister testified that when she asked appellant how he could admit this in front of everyone, he smiled and made no reply.

C.A.V. was taken to Mercy Medical Center for a sexual abuse examination. C.A.V. told Dr. Mark Winholtz and Linda Lohn, a registered nurse, that appellant sexually assaulted her. Dr. Winholtz did a physical examination and found “mild irritation, a little redness and swelling of the vaginal mucuosa” as well as unusual tenderness in that area. He concluded that there had been some recent penetration, but he could not say exactly what had caused the irritation. Samples tested for the presence of sperm were negative. Dr. Garry Peterson, Chief Medical Examiner for Hennepin County, testified that assuming the alleged sexual assault occurred no later than Sunday afternoon, he would not have expected any sperm to still be present in samples taken on Monday night.

Appellant was arrested following the accusations by C.A.V.’s mother and was interviewed at the Hennepin County Jail by Sergeant David Martens on May 31, 1988. Appellant acknowledged there had been times during the weekend when he had been alone with the children, but he denied sexually abusing C.A.V. When Martens asked appellant if he would take a lie detector test, appellant indicated that he would first like to consult with an attorney. At that point, Martens apparently told appellant that he believed that if appellant admitted abusing C.A.V., he was more likely to receive therapy rather than a punitive sanction. Appellant did not respond for approximately 30-45 seconds and then said he simply wanted to get out of jail and get back to work.

Appellant testified at trial in his own behalf. He denied molesting C.A.V. He further indicated, contrary to C.A.V.’s tes[651]*651timony, that the baby did not sleep in a crib and that he wore gym shorts that weekend, not pants with a zipper;

Appellant’s girlfriend testified that she was gone from the house for a short time on Saturday, when she and her sister went to pay a bill. She testified that during this time, one of her brothers was at the house with appellant and the children. She also testified that the next day, in the afternoon, she walked into a bedroom and found C.A.V. nude on the bed apparently masturbating. She testified that C.A.V. dressed quickly and left the room. The girlfriend did not mention that incident to C.A.V.’s mother.

According to appellant’s girlfriend, C.A.V. acted normally that weekend and when asked if she wanted to go home or spend another night at their house, C.A.V. indicated that she wanted to sleep over for another night.

The girlfriend’s mother testified that she had dropped by appellant’s house unannounced on Sunday afternoon and that she spoke briefly with appellant. She did not notice anything out of the ordinary. She also testified that appellant was wearing gym shorts that did not have a zipper.

There was also testimony at trial from Dr. Judy Rothenberg, a psychologist who had been counseling C.A.V. in connection with the sexual abuse by her father. Dr. Rothenberg testified that she met with C.A.V. on the Friday before the Memorial Day weekend and again on June 3, 1988. She indicated that C.A.V. seemed withdrawn, resentful, and upset or traumatized in the June 3 meeting. However, she acknowledged that there were other pressures on C.A.V. because the family was being evicted from the home and C.A.V. was concerned about leaving her school and friends. Dr. Rothenberg further testified that it was common in child sexual abuse cases for the victim to pretend to be asleep as she is being abused and that she and C.A.V. had discussed this in prior meetings as an appropriate self defense response in certain situations.

The jury found appellant guilty of first degree criminal sexual conduct.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
450 N.W.2d 648, 1990 Minn. App. LEXIS 122, 1990 WL 5217, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-skinner-minnctapp-1990.