State Of Washington v. Robert Dengler, Jr., 49103-6

Background

In 2014, 14-year-old TM accused her 54-year-old uncle, Robert Dengler Jr., of repeated sexual abuse while living in his home; Dengler was charged with one count of third-degree child rape and three counts of third-degree child molestation.
At trial TM testified to multiple incidents of abuse between June and October 2014; she also described delayed disclosure and a contemporaneous suicide attempt in June 2014.
Defense sought to introduce testimony from Corrie (former foster parent) that TM had previously made multiple accusations against others and had told Corrie the June suicide attempt was a ploy—i.e., prior false allegations and a staged suicide attempt—aimed at impeaching TM’s credibility.
The trial court allowed the defense to cross-examine TM about prior allegations and the suicide attempt under ER 608 but excluded Corrie’s testimony as extrinsic evidence under ER 608(b); the court declined to admit Corrie’s testimony under ER 613(b) as collateral.
Dengler was convicted on all counts and appealed, arguing ineffective assistance because counsel did not move to admit Corrie’s extrinsic testimony under ER 613(b).

Issues

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether counsel was ineffective for not moving to admit Corrie’s testimony under ER 613(b)	Counsel’s choice was reasonable; State opposed admission and court ruled correctly	Dengler: counsel should have argued ER 613 to admit extrinsic evidence of TM’s prior false accusations and staged suicide to impeach credibility	Counsel not ineffective: a motion under ER 613 would have been futile because Corrie’s testimony was collateral and inadmissible
Whether Corrie’s proposed testimony was admissible extrinsic evidence under ER 613(b)	N/A (State opposed admission)	Corrie’s testimony impeached TM’s credibility by contradicting TM’s trial denials and showed motive to lie	Not admissible under ER 613(b); the testimony addressed collateral matters (specific instances) and did not bear on issues independent of contradiction
Whether prior accusations against others can be admitted to impeach absent proof they were false	N/A	Dengler argued prior accusations and staged suicide showed a pattern and motive to fabricate	Prior accusations against others are inadmissible unless defendant shows they were false; Corrie’s testimony did not reliably establish falsity, so inadmissible
Whether exclusion violated right to present a defense	N/A	Dengler asserted exclusion prevented him from presenting impeachment evidence	No constitutional violation: right to present a defense does not include admission of inadmissible evidence; trial court’s rulings permissible

Key Cases Cited

Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (ineffective assistance standard)
State v. Dickenson, 48 Wn. App. 457 (extrinsic evidence inadmissible for collateral matters)
State v. Simonson, 82 Wn. App. 226 (prior inconsistent statement inadmissible where it only showed specific instance of untruthfulness)
State v. Demos, 94 Wn.2d 733 (evidence that rape victim accused others is irrelevant unless shown false)
State v. Clinkenbeard, 130 Wn. App. 552 (ER 613 extrinsic evidence is for impeachment, not substantive proof)