State v. Young

743 A.2d 1275, 144 N.H. 477
CourtSupreme Court of New Hampshire
DecidedDecember 16, 1999
DocketNo. 97-715
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 743 A.2d 1275 (State v. Young) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of New Hampshire primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Young, 743 A.2d 1275, 144 N.H. 477 (N.H. 1999).

Opinion

BROCK, C.J.

The defendant, Paul Young, was convicted after a jury trial in Superior Court (Gray, J.) of felonious sexual assault. See RSA 632-A:3 (1996 & Supp. 1998). We affirm.

Based on the evidence introduced at trial viewed most favorably to the State, see State v. Smart, 136 N.H. 639, 643, 622 A.2d 1197, 1200, cert. denied, 510 U.S. 917 (1993), the jury was entitled to find the following facts. The defendant and the victim’s mother began dating in 1989 when the victim was eight years old. Soon thereafter, the defendant entered the victim’s bedroom one evening while she was in bed and rubbed her buttocks' and breasts with his hand (bedroom incident). Melissa V, a childhood friend of the victim, was present and observed the bedroom incident. On a subsequent occasion, the defendant touched the victim’s vagina while the two were sitting on a couch (couch incident).

Although the victim discussed the bedroom incident with Melissa V. shortly after it occurred, she first reported that the defendant had touched her to Angie S., her sister-in-law, in 1991, approximately one year after the incidents. She told her mother on the following day, but her mother stated that she did not believe her. The victim also told Doreen S., the mother of one of her friends, that the defendant had touched her, and Doreen S. contacted the division for children and youth services, which is now entitled the division for children, youth and families (DCYF).' See Laws 1994, ch. 212. Although DCYF apparently investigated the matter in 1991, the record is unclear as to its ultimate disposition.

The victim’s mother and the defendant married in August 1992 and separated in March 1994. After the victim disclosed the bedroom and couch incidents to a counselor, the matter was referred to the Portsmouth Police, who began an investigation in February 1996. The defendant was charged with three acts of felonious sexual assault for engaging in sexual contact with the victim’s breasts, buttocks, and vagina, see RSA 632-A:3, III, and was convicted on each indictment. This appeal followed.

On appeal, the defendant argues that the trial court erred in: (1) admitting as substantive evidence several prior consistent statements of the victim; and (2) instructing the jury that there was no evidence of a DCYF investigation, and that the jury was not to consider evidence of any investigation other than the one that led to the charges against the defendant. We address each argument in turn.

[479]*479 I. Prior Consistent Statements

The State called the victim as its first witness. On direct examination, after testifying about the bedroom and couch incidents, the victim testified that she told Angie S., Doreen S., and her mother after the incidents that the defendant “had been touching” her. She testified that she made similar statements to a friend, Renee A., and to her half-sister, Jennifer E She could not remember, however, the specifics of what she had told each of these individuals. The victim also testified that she spoke with Melissa Y. shortly after the bedroom incident about what Melissa Y. had observed.

On cross-examination, the victim testified that she was upset when the defendant and her mother married. The following exchange transpired:

Q. Isn’t it true that you were upset long before that about your mother’s relationship with [the defendant]?
A. When he touched me, yes.
Q. Before that you didn’t like the idea of having [the defendant] or another man come in and substitute for your father; did you?
A. I was fine with [the defendant]. We got along.
Q. During this time, did you make attempts to go and live with your father?
A. I don’t remember if it was before [the defendant] touched me or afterwards.
Q. But it may have been before?
A. When I first started seeing my father again, I hadn’t seen him for years, and I wanted to be with him.
Q. Even at that point, you wanted out of that house, isn’t that true?
A. To be with my father, yes.
Q. From that time on, you and your mother began to have confrontations about a number of things, isn’t that true?
A. All kids fight with their parents.
Q. Isn’t it true that [the defendant] from time to time intervened when that happened?
A. When he intervened, what do you mean?
Q. Well, he would stand up for your mom?
A. Well, when he stood up for my mom, he stood up a little bit too much.
Q. There were a couple of times when he used some force; isn’t that true?
[480]*480A. A little bit too much force, yes.
Q. You didn’t like that at all; did you?
Q. And because of those things happening and [the defendant] trying to discipline you, you didn’t want him there any more; did you?
A. Well, I mean — no.
Q. In 1993, didn’t you threaten to leave home unless [the defendant] left?
A. I said “I’m not coming home.”
Q. At that point, he did leave?
A. Yes.
Q. And at that point, he hadn’t touched you for over three years, even on your version of the facts?
A. He hadn’t touched me sexually, no.
Q. But he had disciplined you?
A. He had physically disciplined me.

On redirect, the victim testified that she had told “everybody” that the defendant had touched her before he ever physically disciplined her or assumed an active role in her discipline.

The State then called Melissa Y., and asked whether the victim had ever discussed with her the couch incident, and what she had said. After the defendant objected generally, the State explained that the statement was being offered under New Hampshire Rule of Evidence 801 to rebut “a suggestion of improper motive by defense counsel in cross-examination of [the victim] with respect to her desire to get [the defendant] out of the house and keep him from her mother.” The trial court overruled the objection. The State next called Angie S. When defense counsel inquired as to the purpose of her testimony, the State explained that it was being offered under Rule 801 to rebut the improper motive implicit in the cross-examination of the victim “that she didn’t like [the defendant] and did not want him living with her mother.” Defense counsel stated, “We are not alleging a recent fabrication. We are alleging that it is not true from the very beginning.” The trial court overruled the objection. The State next called Jennifer E, and defense counsel stated, “For the record, I have the same objection to this witness.”

After Melissa Y.,

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Bluebook (online)
743 A.2d 1275, 144 N.H. 477, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-young-nh-1999.