Stout v. State

612 N.E.2d 1076, 1993 Ind. App. LEXIS 409, 1993 WL 126530
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 26, 1993
Docket48A02-9210-CR-509
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 612 N.E.2d 1076 (Stout v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Stout v. State, 612 N.E.2d 1076, 1993 Ind. App. LEXIS 409, 1993 WL 126530 (Ind. Ct. App. 1993).

Opinions

ROBERTSON, Judge.

Clarence C. Stout appeals his conviction of child molesting, a class A felony.

We affirm.

Stout argues in this appeal:
(1) that the trial court erred in admitting evidence of the rape of a sixteen-year-old girl by Stout;
(2) that the trial court erred in permitting the victim's counselor to explain why the victim might add to her account of the charged crime;
(8) that the introduction of evidence of uncharged offenses under the depraved sexual instinet exception was fundamental error;
(4) that the conviction of class A felony child molesting is not supported by sufficient evidence on the element of the threat of deadly force;
(5) that the fifty-year sentence imposed was manifestly unreasonable, cruel and unusual punishment and in violation of article one, § 18 of the Indiana Constitution; and
(6) the trial court erred in denying the defense motion to strike statements made by the probation officer in the pre-sentence report and a victim impact statement from the victim's mother. We address the first and third issues together.

I.

Stout maintains the trial court committed reversible error by permitting the introduction of evidence he had previously raped a first cousin. This evidence, along with testimony that Stout had molested this particular cousin on two occasions before she turned sixteen, and testimony from a series of other family members whom Stout had molested in the past, was admitted pursuant to the depraved sexual instinct exception to the general rule forbidding admission of uncharged offenses or bad acts. Stout argues, first, that a prior rape would not have been admissible under the exception, citing Stwalley v. State (1989), Ind., 584 N.E.2d 229 and Reichard v. State (1987), Ind., 510 N.E.2d 163; and, second, that, with the abolition of the exception by the Indiana Supreme Court in Lonnan v. State (1992), Ind., 600 N.E.2d 1334, the admission of the evidence of the rape and other acts of child molesting constitutes reversible error.

Neither Stwalley nor Reichard involves the introduction of evidence of a prior rape in a prosecution for child molesting. Reichard involved the introduction of evidence of a second rape in a trial for rape. Although Stwalley, which followed Reich, ard, came to the court with convictions of both rape and child molesting, the offenses arose from the same act of intercourse, causing the court to vacate the child molesting conviction upon double jeopardy principles. That the Stwalley court did not intend to decide the propriety of evidence of an earlier rape in a child molesting prosecution is apparent from the court's statement that it need not consider whether. the court erred in permitting a prior rape conviction to be used as evidence of child molesting. 584 N.E.2d at 281.

The trial court admitted the evidence of the rape by Stout of his cousin based upon the precedent of Lawrence v. State (1984), Ind., 464 N.E.2d 923, in which the Indiana Supreme Court held that evidence of a rape twenty-two years earlier was admissible as evidence of child molesting. In Lawrence, the court observed that the acts of rape and child molesting were similar in character in that both involved sexual aggression, accomplished either by intimidation, force, threat or engendering fear. The rule of [1079]*1079Lawrence continued to be the law until Lannan abolished the exception altogether. See Foster v. State (1988), Ind., 526 N.E.2d 696 (Upholding impeachment by use of prior conviction for assault and battery with intent to commit rape in prosecution for child molesting); Stewart v. State (1990), Ind., 555 N.E.2d 121 (Citing Lowrence as authority for admission of evidence of oral and anal intercourse in prose-ecution for criminal deviate conduct and confinement); Knisley v. State (1985), Ind.App., 474 N.E.2d 518, 517, trans. denied.

Although Stout objected to the admission of the uncharged rape as evidence of a depraved sexual instinet, at no time did he object to the evidence of any of the prior bad acts or offenses on the ground that the justifications for the depraved sexual in-stinet exception were no longer valid or that the rule should be abolished for other reasons. The Lannan decision may be retroactively applied only to those cases pending on appeal at the time of the decision in which the issue has been properly preserved. Pirnat v. State (1992), Ind., 600 N.E.2d 1842, on rehearing, (1998), Ind., 607 N.E.2d 973, 978-74; Ried v. State, (19983), Ind.App., 610 N.E.2d 275, 281-82 (Barteau J. dissenting). Accord Coleman v. State (1990), Ind., 558 N.E.2d 1059, cert. denied, - U.S. -, 111 S.Ct. 2912, 115 L.Ed.2d 1075 (Booth/Gathers decisions of U.S. Supreme Court apply to direct appeal of a trial occurring before those cases were decided so long as the appellant has preserved a vietim impact issue by objection at trial), And cf. Vanover v. State (1992), Ind.App., 605 N.E.2d 218 (Objection made anticipating abolishment of rule); Sink v. State (1998), Ind.App., 605 N.E.2d 270 and Moran v. State (1992), Ind.App., 604 N.E.2d 1258 (Proper objections made to preserve error).

Stout concedes, at least with respect to the evidence of prior offenses other than the rape, that he voiced no specific objection at trial. He argues, however, that the admission of this evidence constitutes fundamental error which will survive the procedural default occasioned by his failure to object. Although the Indiana Supreme Court has not yet spoken on this issue, one district of this court has held that the admission of prior offenses as evidence of child molesting is not fundamental error. Ried, 610 N.E.2d at 282. This result is consistent with Indiana Supreme Court and Court of Appeals decisions which have held generally that the admission of evidence of other offenses does not deprive a defendant of fundamental due process. Lewis v. State (1987), Ind., 511 N.E.2d 1054; Greentree v. State (1976), 265 Ind. 47, 351 N.E.2d 25; Dorsey v. State (1977), 171 Ind.App. 408, 357 N.E.2d 280. Accordingly, we follow the lead of the fourth district and hold that any error in the admission of prior offenses evidence was not fundamental.

IL.

Stout argues the trial court erroneously permitted a counselor of the victim to effectively vouch for the veracity of the victim. The counselor was asked first whether she had an opinion as to why she would get bits and pieces of an incident from children who have suffered a traumatic event and to state that opinion. Stout made no objection. The witness testified:
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Bluebook (online)
612 N.E.2d 1076, 1993 Ind. App. LEXIS 409, 1993 WL 126530, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/stout-v-state-indctapp-1993.