COURT OF APPEALS DECISION DATED AND FILED August 5, 2009 David
R. Schanker Clerk of Court of Appeals |
|
NOTICE |
|
|
This opinion is subject to further editing. If published, the official version will appear in the bound volume of the Official Reports. A party may file with the Supreme Court a petition to review an adverse decision by the Court of Appeals. See Wis. Stat. § 808.10 and Rule 809.62. |
|
Appeal No. |
|
|||
STATE OF WISCONSIN |
IN COURT OF APPEALS |
|||
|
DISTRICT II |
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
State of
Plaintiff-Respondent, v. David D. Austin,
Defendant-Appellant. |
||||
|
|
|||
APPEAL
from a judgment and an order of the circuit court for
Before Brown, C.J., Anderson and Snyder, JJ.
¶1 PER CURIAM. David Austin appeals from a judgment of conviction of first-degree sexual assault of a child and from an order denying his motion for postconviction relief. He argues that his examination of one of his defense witnesses was prejudicially limited and that the evidence is insufficient to support the conviction because no reasonable jury could believe the victim’s testimony. We reject his claims and affirm the judgment and order.
¶2 About a month after
¶3 Two or three days later, Jasmine revealed to her mother what
occurred. When Jasmine’s mother
confronted
¶4 Jasmine’s mother had reported the allegation to her ex-boyfriend,
Perry Sharpe. Sharpe reported it to the
police. Police detective April Hinke
interviewed Jasmine in her police car.
At first Jasmine denied that
¶5
¶6 Austin sought to present the testimony of James Dillon, a
retired police officer, an attorney, and a law enforcement and criminal law
instructor at the Moraine Park Technical College, as an expert witness to
identify for the jury “problems that exist in interviewing children and in
particular the problematic process undertaken in this particular case.” The prosecution objected because it has not
been provided a report of Dillon’s conclusions.
The trial court found that the discovery statute, Wis. Stat. § 971.23(2m) (2007-08),[1]
had not been complied with and excluded Dillon from testifying as an expert
witness.
¶7
¶8 Whether a defendant’s right to present a defense has been
improperly denied by the trial court is a question of constitutional fact which
we review de novo. State
v. Heft, 185
Wis. 2d 288,
296,
517
N.W.2d 494
(1994). Here the trial court excluded the proposed expert
testimony as a sanction for the failure to disclose the expert’s conclusions as
required by the discovery statute, Wis.
Stat. § 971.23(2m)(am). The
decision to exclude evidence for the failure to comply with § 971.23 is
committed to the trial court’s discretion, and we affirm the decision if there
is a reasonable basis for it. State
v. Gribble, 2001 WI App 227, ¶29, 248
¶9 It appears that Dillon did not prepare a report or written
statement in connection with his proposed expert testimony. Thus,
¶10
James Dillon has conducted investigative work in this matter speaking with a number of individuals and having reviewed the police practices including the interviews done with the alleged victim. Mr. Dillon is a retired police officer and prior educator of law enforcement. Using his training and experience he will identify for the jury problems that exist in interviewing children and in particular the problematic process undertaken in this particular case.
¶11 We conclude that this was inadequate to serve the purposes of
the disclosure requirement in Wis. Stat.
§ 971.23(2m)(am). The
purpose of the requirement is to enable the opposing side to prepare for trial,
Schroeder,
237
¶12 We may not reverse a conviction on the basis of insufficient
evidence “unless the evidence, viewed most favorably to the state and the
conviction, is so insufficient in probative value and force that it can be said
as a matter of law that no trier of fact, acting reasonably, could have found
guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.” State
v. Poellinger, 153
¶13 Austin argues that no reasonable jury could have believed
Jasmine’s testimony that the sexual assault occurred in light of her repeated
denials and reputation for untruthfulness.
However, a witness’s testimony is not incredible as a matter of law
unless it is in conflict with the uniform course of nature or with fully established
or conceded facts. Haskins v. State, 97
¶14 Explanations were given for Jasmine’s repeated denials that the
assault occurred. Jasmine herself
testified that she made denials because she was afraid of
By the Court.—Judgment and order affirmed.
This opinion will not be published. See Wis. Stat. Rule 809.23(1)(b)5.
[1] All references to the Wisconsin Statutes are to the 2007-08 version unless otherwise noted.
[2] Sharpe testified that if Jasmine’s younger half-sister, Sharpe’s child, wanted to come live with him he would like that. He also indicated that he never threatened custody proceedings in order to get the child to live with him. He denied reporting the incident for the purpose of keeping the children away from their mother. On cross-examination he said he did not try for custody of the children during the timeframe.
[3] Rather, the only mention of Jasmine’s mother in the context of Dillon’s proposed testimony was that Dillon would impeach Sharpe’s testimony that he had a good relationship with Jasmine’s mother by testimony that Sharpe said Jasmine’s mother was deceptive.
[4] In
his reply brief
[5] We
observe that no offer of proof was made regarding the excluded evidence. Where no offer of proof is made, an exclusion
of evidence, even if erroneous, cannot be held prejudicial. State v.