Taylor v. State

65 A.3d 593, 2013 WL 1883258, 2013 Del. LEXIS 226
CourtSupreme Court of Delaware
DecidedMay 6, 2013
DocketNo. 434, 2012
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 65 A.3d 593 (Taylor v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Delaware primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Taylor v. State, 65 A.3d 593, 2013 WL 1883258, 2013 Del. LEXIS 226 (Del. 2013).

Opinion

HOLLAND, Justice:

The defendant-appellant, Stanley Taylor (“Taylor”), a registered sex offender, appeals from final judgments of conviction entered by the Superior Court. A grand jury indicted Taylor on eighteen counts of Unlawful Sexual Conduct Against a Child by a Sex Offender,1 one count of Attempted Unlawful Sexual Conduct Against a Child by a Sex Offender,2 and two counts of Endangering the Welfare of a Child.3 The indictment was based on allegations that Taylor engaged in unlawful sexual conduct with his two minor step-granddaughters, (“M.H.” & “E.H.”).4

A four-day jury trial was held in the Superior Court. To avoid prejudice to Taylor, the sex offender element of his crimes was redacted from the indictment and a separate bench trial was held on that element after the jury returned its verdict. The State dismissed five counts at the close of the evidence. The jury was ultimately left to consider the following charges: four counts of Rape in the First Degree,5 four counts of Rape in the Second Degree,6 seven counts of Sexual Exploitation of a Child,7 one count of Continuous Sexual Abuse of a Child,8 and one count of Endangering the Welfare of a Child.9

Taylor was found guilty of all of the offenses presented to the jury. Thereafter, in a bench trial, the Superior Court found that Taylor was a registered sex offender at the time of the offenses, resulting in guilty verdicts on all of the sex offender charges. Taylor was sentenced to eight life sentences, plus an additional 225 years of incarceration.

Issues on Appeal

Taylor has raised four arguments in this direct appeal. His first contention is that the prosecutor made an improper closing argument that encouraged the jury to disregard the judge’s instruction as to the manner in which it must consider an out-of-court unsworn statement, and thereby jeopardized the fairness and integrity of his trial. Second, Taylor submits that the trial judge abused his discretion and violated Taylor’s right to a fair trial when, despite Taylor’s request, he refused to strike allegedly irrelevant and highly prejudicial testimonial evidence by a nurse. Third, Taylor argues that the trial judge abused his discretion and denied Taylor his right to a fair trial when he allowed the jury to view, during deliberations, one of the complainant’s out-of-court statements, “when her statement and her in-court testimony were originally presented to the jury four days previous and when there were significant inconsistencies within her testimony and gaps between her statement and her testimony.” Finally, Taylor alleges that, even if this Court were to conclude that alleged individual errors, standing alone, do not warrant reversal, the cumulative impact of all of the errors amounts to plain error.

We have concluded that each of Taylor’s first three assignments of error is without merit. Accordingly, there could be no cumulative impact amounting to plain error. [596]*596Therefore, the judgments of the Superior Court must be affirmed.

Facts 10

On June 4, 2011, Taylor’s two step granddaughters, M.H., eight-years-old, and E.H., twelve-years-old, made complaints to police that over the previous few years, Taylor had engaged in unlawful sexual conduct with each of them when he visited the trailer in which they lived. The complainants were taken to the Beebe Medical Center for forensic examinations.

Cheryl Littlefield, a sexual assault nurse examiner (“SANE nurse”), conducted a forensic examination of M.H. According to Littlefield, M.H. reported that she had pain in her private area. The nurse also stated that during the examination, she observed physical evidence that M.H. had been vaginally and anally penetrated multiple times.

Ashley Thompson-Hill, another SANE nurse, examined E.H. She testified that E.H. reported that “my Pop-pop touched me in my breasts and in my butt three times in the last two weeks. He was in bed with my sister last night. He took pictures of me down there with his camera.” However, E.H. also stated that no one had ever penetrated her vagina or her rectum.

Thompson-Hill stated that during the examination “E.H. was very withdrawn. She was very scared to really talk or let us look at her anywhere.” As a result of the examination, the nurse noted bruising around E.H.’s rectum and redness in the vaginal area. She acknowledged that these conditions could have occurred naturally.

After the forensic examinations were completed, the children were taken to the Child Advocacy Center (“CAC”) to give statements. In her statement, M.H. alleged that there were occasions where Taylor: took naked photos of her, engaged in anal intercourse with her, engaged in multiple acts of fellatio with her, and engaged with her in multiple acts of vaginal penetration with his finger.

Later, at trial, M.H. only testified that Taylor stuck his finger in her “bottom” on more than one occasion. She also testified that he took a photograph of her while she was in the bathroom nude. The trial judge noted that M.H.’s testimony was “internally inconsistent” and there were gaps between her testimony and her CAC statement.

E.H. also took the stand at trial. She testified that no one ever touched her breasts or her buttocks inappropriately. Instead, she alleged: sexual abuse of M.H. by Taylor, that Taylor made both of the girls kiss him on the lips, that she got on top of Taylor with clothes on and moved up and down, that Taylor “pulled his part out” while she was in the bathroom, and that Taylor took pictures of her and M.H. nude. Because E.H. was adamant that she talked to someone at CAC about good and bad touches, but not about allegations of sexual misconduct, her CAC statement was not presented to the jury.

Based on the complaints that Taylor had taken nude photos of M.H. and E.H., police obtained a warrant and searched his home. Police seized a Fuji, Model Z5 camera, a tower to a Compaq Computer Presario, and a tower to an HP Pavilion. Detective Nancy .Skubik examined the camera and the two computer towers. She identified six separate photos that contained images of a young female’s vaginal area, a young female’s buttocks, and a young female’s genitalia with a male penis. Because the wallpaper in the background [597]*597of the photos matched that in the bathroom of the trailer where the girls lived, the State testified that the photos were of M.H. and E.H.

The State presented multiple copies of each of the six photos, because the photos had been found on the multiple devices police had seized. Skubik testified that this was evidence that the photos had been transferred from the camera to the two computer towers. According to the State, this was evidence of intent to use the photos for sexual gratification.

Taylor gave a statement to police, portions of which were played for the jury.

Prosecutor’s Closing Argument

Taylor alleges that the State made comments during its closing argument to the jury that deprived him of a fair trial. Taylor concedes that he did not preserve this argument at trial. Accordingly, that claim is subject to the plain error standard of appellate review.

In Baker v. State,11

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Bluebook (online)
65 A.3d 593, 2013 WL 1883258, 2013 Del. LEXIS 226, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/taylor-v-state-del-2013.