Summary
The Supreme Court of Kentucky held that a school may satisfy the community requirement for reputation evidence under the pre-July 1, 2003 version of Kentucky Rule of Evidence 608. The court concluded that excluding testimony from the victim’s elementary school teachers was legal error and not harmless under the circumstances, reversed the Court of Appeals, vacated the conviction and sentence, and remanded for a new trial.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether an elementary school may satisfy the community requirement for reputation evidence under the pre-July 1, 2003 version of KRE 608.
- Whether exclusion of the proffered school-based reputation evidence was harmless error.
Holdings
- An elementary school can satisfy the community requirement for reputation evidence under the pre-July 1, 2003 version of KRE 608.
- The exclusion was not harmless because the evidence could have affected the verdict in a case that substantially depended on B.D.'s statements and credibility.
- Because the case began before the amendment to KRE 608, the pre-amendment rule governs the hearing and any retrials.
Key quotations
“Having considered the question, and recognizing that a school setting is probably the largest environment a young child will spend time in, other than its home, we now hold that a school can satisfy the community requirement.” (560)
“While a school can serve as an adequate community, the school must be large enough as measured against the child's age and other like activities, so that the reputation evidence provided is not of a "small segment of the community."” (561)
“The evidence in this trial really boils down to a "he said, she said."” (562)
Factual background
Vaughn was accused of attempting to force his eight-year-old stepdaughter, B.D., to perform oral sex while he was babysitting her and her ten-year-old brother. B.D. reported the incident to her brother and mother, but the incident was not reported to police until about a year later. At retrial, Vaughn sought to present testimony from two of B.D.'s elementary school teachers that she had a reputation for untruthfulness, but the trial court excluded the evidence.
Procedural history
Vaughn's first trial ended in a hung jury. At retrial, the trial court excluded testimony from two elementary school teachers concerning the alleged victim's reputation for untruthfulness, ruling that an elementary school was not a community under the pre-July 1, 2003 version of KRE 608. The Kentucky Court of Appeals upheld the ruling. The Supreme Court of Kentucky reversed, vacated the conviction and sentence, and remanded for a new trial.
Remand instructions
The conviction and sentence were vacated, and the matter was remanded for a new trial. On remand, the trial court must determine whether the particular school community was sufficiently large and interactive, considering B.D.'s age, activities, isolation within the school, and length of attendance, to support reliable reputation evidence.