Lead Opinion
Appellant, Willie Preston Parker, was indicted for second-degree child sexual abuse, D.C.Code § 22-4109 (1996), and attempted second-degree child sexual abuse, D.C.Code §§ 22^1109, -4118, stemming from two separate incidents involving two different minor boys, M.S., a twelve-year-old, and T.K., a thirteen-year-old. Following a jury trial, appellant was convicted of the first charge, but acquitted of the second. Appellant was subsequently given a sentence of three to nine years, with all but sixteen months suspended in favor of a four-year period of probation and mandatory participation in alcohol treatment and sexual counseling programs. On appeal, appellant challenges the trial court’s decision to deny his motion to sever the two charges, contending that the trial court failed to conduct a full Drew inquiry, see Drew v. United States, 118 U.S.App. D.C. 11,
I.
A. Factual Background.
Thirteen-year-old T.K. testified at trial that he had been alone sitting on the living room couch in his cousin’s apartment watching television when appellant walked in, sat down by the couch and took off his shirt. Appellant told T.K. that he was a good-looking kid and asked him if he was interested in meeting a girl. After T.K. said that he was, appellant turned off the light, closed the blinds and asked T.K. to pull down his pants, telling T.K., “You got to let me see your hair ... ‘cause she like boys with a whole bunch of hair.’ ” T.K. refused to remove his pants, and when appellant began to walk towards T.K. with his hands open as if to grab him, T.K. rushed to the door, just as his mother and his cousin were returning from the store. Appellant looked out the window, saw the others, and told T.K. not to tell anybody
M.S. testified that on April 14, 1996, about two months after the incident involving appellant and T.K.,
Later in the night, M.S. felt a hand turning him over, but he remained asleep. The next morning, M.S. woke up and found appellant with his hand down M.S.’s pants and holding M.S.’s penis. Appellant’s hand was moving up and down, and M.S. ejaculated. At this point, M.S. became fully awake
M.S.’s testimony was corroborated by both his uncle, Tyrone, and Rodericka Cook. Tyrone testified that he woke up on the morning of April 14, 1996 and heard M.S. cry out “Ooh, ... What you trying to do, Junior [appellant]? What you trying to do?” Tyrone then heard appellant say “I ain’t trying to do nothing. I ain’t trying to do nothing to you,” and M.S. respond: “Yes, you is, Junior, yes, you is. You had your hand down in my pants. You unbuckled my pants and you run your hand down my pants. You did, Junior.” Tyrone went into the bedroom to find out what had happened and M.S. told him “Junior had his hand going down my pants.” According to Tyrone, appellant “looked like, you know, he was trying to, you know, deny. He had a funny look on his face, you know.” Tyrone also testified at trial that shortly after appellant had called the police, appellant had tried to walk out of the apartment, but that he had prevented appellant from leaving.
Before the trial began, appellant moved to sever the two charges against him, arguing that he would be impermissibly prejudiced by their joinder because the jury might infer criminal disposition from one offense and use it to assess appellant’s culpability for the other offense. Appellant also asserted that any determination as to whether the evidence from either of the two charged offenses would be admissible under Drew v. United States, in a separate trial for the other charge required a pretrial evidentiary hearing.
[Tjhose are Drew issues. This is a severance issue. Both counts are charged. If we get to a point where there isn’t clear and convincing evidence on one or the other counts, that count will be thrown out. And if you feel you should get a mistrial, I’ll address it at that point, but I don’t think I should need to pre-try the case in order to find out the Government proved the charges in the indictment.
Nor did the court rule on appellant’s request that the court -conduct a balancing test to determine whether the evidence in the cases were more probative than prejudicial, saying: “I don’t need to. They’re both charged here. I can’t preclude her from putting on evidence of the charged crimes. It’s a severance issue, not a Drew issue.” When appellant -asserted that the same procedure was applicable to the issues of severance and admissibility of other crimes evidence, the court responded: “All right. As I said, I’ll address them after the evidence is put on in trial.”
At the conclusion of the government’s case, appellant moved for a judgment of acquittal as to both counts.
Counsel for appellant then renewed her motion for severance, arguing that in light of the government’s evidence, she would have presented different defenses had the cases been severed, and that the decision to join the charges therefore prejudiced her client. The court denied the motion.
II.
Appellant challenges the trial court’s decision to deny his motion to sever the two charges, contending that the court was required to conduct a full Drew analysis before determining that the evidence presented by the government for both charges would be mutually admissible at a separate trial for the other charge. Specifically, appellant alleges that the court failed to make a separate finding that there was clear and convincing evidence of the attempted child sexual abuse charge against T.K., and that he was harmed by joinder of that charge without a prior judicial evaluation of the evidence, particularly as he obtained an acquittal on that charge. Appellant also contends that evidence of the incident involving T.K. was not directed at a material, contested issue in the case involving M.S. Finally, appellant argues that the trial court erred by failing to conduct a balancing test to determine whether the prejudicial effect of the evidence concerning the incident with T.K. far outweighed any probative value of that evidence in the context of the charge involving M.S. We do not decide whether the trial court was required to consider each of these factors, however, because, even assuming error, we conclude .that the evidence pertaining to the charge of second-degree child sexual abuse involving M.S. was so overwhelming that any error by the trial court was harmless.
“A motion for severance on the ground of prejudicial joinder is committed to the sound discretion of the trial court.” Arnold v. United States, supra note 8,
joinder is based on the “similar character” of the offenses, “a motion to sever should be granted unless (1) the evidence as to each offense is separate and distinct, and thus unlikely to be amalgamated in the jury’s mind into a single inculpatory mass, or (2) the evidence of each of the joined crimes would be admissible at the separate trial of the others.”
Bright v. United States,
The trial court in this case ruled that severance was not required because, even if severed, each of the two charged incidents would be admissible at the trial of the other. Appellant contends, however, that the trial court erred in reaching this conclusion without first following the evidentiary rules concerning the admission of “other crimes,” or Drew, evidence.
We pause first to recognize that “[a] proffer is not evidence at all,” Daniels v. United States,
There are no similar concerns in this case where we are presented with the converse situation: appellant was convicted of the charge on which the government had strong evidence and acquitted of the charge on which the evidence was weaker. M.S.’s testimony that he woke up with appellant’s hand rubbing on his penis was corroborated by Tyrone Fowler’s account that he heard M.S. exclaim “Yes, you is, Junior, yes, you is. You had your hand down in my pants. You unbuckled my pants and you run your hand down my pants. You did, Junior.” Tyrone Fowler also testified that when he ran into the bedroom and asked M.S. what had happened, M.S. responded, “Junior had his hand going down my pants.” Rodericka Cook testified that she heard M.S. crying when she awoke that morning right before she sent Tyrone into the room to see what had occurred. Detective Fine, the officer investigating the incident, stated at trial that he took down a statement that morn
III.
Accordingly, for the foregoing reasons, we affirm appellant’s conviction.
Affirmed.
Notes
. M.S. denied on cross-examination that he had heard about the earlier incident between appellant and T.K. prior to the April 14, 1996 incident in which he was involved. However, T.K. testified that M.S. was in the room when T.K. told his other family members about what had happened to him with appellant.
. M.S.’s aunt, Nicole, is Mark Fowler’s sister.
. M.S. testified that when appellant realized that he had woken up, appellant handed him a washcloth and told him to clean up. However, Joseph Anderson, a Metropolitan Police Department officer who was assigned to the Mobile Crime Laboratory investigating the M.S. incident testified that no washcloth was recovered from the apartment.
. Appellant was apparently the person who called the police.
. Kathy Kyle, a Public Defender Service investigator, testified that she and another PDS intern had interviewed Tyrone Fowler and that he had indicated to them that he was not present on the date of the incident. On cross-examination, Tyrone denied telling the investigators that he had not been at the apartment that day, but admitted not telling them about what he eventually testified to at trial.
. Appellant did not testify at trial; however, his dentist testified that he had treated appellant on April 25, 1996, about ten days after the incident, for an abscess and that appellant likely had the abscess for "some time” prior to the visit, which caused him great pain.
. In her motion, counsel for appellant also argued that evidence of the two offenses could not be kept separate and distinct in a single trial. See Arnold v. United States,
. Appellant submitted on the evidence on the first count (involving M.S.), but argued that there had been no showing that there was an attempt to touch any precluded area with respect to the second count (involving T.K.).
. See, e.g., Howard v. United States,
. The court did not address the first charge (involving M.S.) in denying the motion for judgment of acquittal.
. The following colloquy ensued between counsel and the court:
COUNSEL: [A]t this point I think it's also clear that our — our defenses would have been different if these cases were [not] joined. It is clear at this point that the Government’s evidence in the second count is far weaker than it was in the first count. And that the — the second count—
THE COURT: The jury would have heard about [evidence about the first count]*947 whether they're severed or joined. So he would have been — because of the Drew issue. So there — there was no confounding of defenses.
COUNSEL: Our position that's a probative — that there’s a probative nature and has a prejudicial affect [sic], and we’d renew the motion.
THE COURT: You’ve said all that at least five times. All right, what else? Is there any other — the motion is denied.
. Although appellant argued in his motion to sever that evidence of the two offenses could not be kept separate and distinct in a single trial, he does not make the same argument to this court; nor did the trial court base its ruling on the severance motion on the "separate and distinct” exception. It would have been difficult for the trial court to do so, given its later comments denying appellant’s motion for judgment of acquittal, notably:
[C]ertainly — I think it’s a close issue. And as I said, I’m denying [the] motion [for judgment of acquittal] because I think with the other evidence of intent [from the other charged incident], what we’ll call Drew evidence, that it’s clearly sufficient.
. Drew v. United States, recognized the "principle of long standing in our law that evidence of one crime is inadmissible to prove disposition to commit crime, from which the jury may infer that the defendant committed the crime charged.” Drew, 118 U.S.App. D.C. at 15,
Before evidence of other offenses probative of any of the allowable issues may be admitted, a trial court is required to find:
i) that the defendant committed the other offenses by clear and convincing evidence;
ii) that the evidence of the other offenses is directed to a genuine, material and contested issue in the case; iii) that the evidence is relevant to the issue beyond demonstrating the defendant’s criminal propensity; and iv) that the evidence is not more prejudicial than probative.
Flores v. United States,
.Compare Roper, supra note 14,
Dissenting Opinion
dissenting.
“Precedent” is one thing — “outcome” another. In our courtrooms, the first describes the legal rule that judges are required to follow, and lawyers to know; the second describes the future life that a citizen accused of crime must face as dictated by his peers, or fortuitous events (including Divine intervention). It must be somewhat disconcerting, therefore, for the layman to realize that errors committed by judges and lawyers'
To begin with, we need not “assume” error; the trial judge did not follow the precedent of the landmark decision of Drew v. United States
(1) there must be clear and convincing evidence that the defendant committed the other offense, see Thompson v. United States,546 A.2d 414 , 421 n. 11 (D.C.1988); Ali v. United States,520 A.2d 306 , 310 & n. 4 (D.C.1987); United States v. Bussey, 139 U.S.App. D.C. 268, 273,432 F.2d 1330 , 1335 (1970); (2) the other crimes evidence must be directed to a genuine, material and contested issue in the case, Landrum v. United States,559 A.2d 1323 , 1326 (D.C.1989); Thompson, supra,546 A.2d at 420 ; Graves v. United States,515 A.2d 1136 , 1140 (D.C.1986); (3) the evidence must be logically relevant to prove this issue for a reason other than its power to demonstrate criminal propensity, Landrum, supra,559 A.2d at 1326 ; Ali, supra,520 A.2d at 310 n. 4; Campbell v. United States,450 A.2d 428 , 430 (D.C. 1982); and (4) the evidence must be more probative than prejudicial, e.g., Thompson, supra,546 A.2d at 420 ; Campbell, supra,450 A.2d at 430 . See generally Bartley v. United States,530 A.2d 692 , 700-01 (D.C.1987) (Mack, J., dissenting).
Roper v. United States,
Since Drew was decided, this court has allowed evidence of other crimes to be
In the instant case, if the court had required a proffer from the government on the charge of attempted second degree child sexual abuse, the proffer would have indicated a lack of evidence that appellant actually attempted sexual contact with T.K. Given the lack of evidence, much less clear and convincing evidence, of attempted sexual contact, the crime could not be admissible as evidence in a trial of appellant on the other count. “The reason for requiring that there be clear and convincing evidence that the defendant in fact committed the other offense should be obvious: if someone else committed the crime, or if no crime was committed, evidence of the other offense would have no relevance — and at the same time, might seriously prejudice the defendant.” Id.
Even if we assumed that the trial court committed error in not having found clear and convincing evidence of each offense before sending both counts to the jury, we cannot assume that the jury’s finding of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt as to the first count, and an acquittal as to the second count, rendered the trial court’s error harmless. More accurately, we cannot assume that the jury’s acquittal on the weaker count rendered the evidence thereof not prejudicial. The majority cites the “strength of the evidence” against appellant on the first count as rendering the trial court’s error harmless. I cannot be so sure. There were inconsistencies in the record which might have caused the jurors to hesitate before convicting appellant, if not for the corroborative nature of the second count.
. See Woodard v. United States,
. 118 U.S.App. D.C. 11,
.The division opinion in Bartley also noted the need to weigh the probative value of the evidence against its prejudicial effect. See
. For example, M.S. testified that after the incident, he immediately left the bedroom and went into the living room and then, without saying anything, went into Nicole's room, where he stayed until the police came. He testified that he did not yell at appellant or have a conversation with him other than saying a few words. Tyrone Fowler testified that he heard M.S. and appellant, through the closed bedroom door, talking loudly for several minutes; he then went into the bedroom and talked to M.S. and appellant. Without the evidence of the other offense, tending as it did to show appellant’s propensity to commit this offense, these discrepancies might have caused the jury to question the credibility of some of the witnesses.