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TESTIMONY THAT THE FREQUENCY OF SEXUAL RELATIONS BETWEEN DEFENDANT AND HIS WIFE DROPPED OFF PRECIPITOUSLY AT ABOUT THE TIME THE CHILD ALLEGED THE SEXUAL ABUSE BEGAN SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN ADMITTED BECAUSE IT ALLOWED THE JURY TO SPECULATE ABOUT THE REASON FOR THE DROP-OFF; SEXUAL ASSAULT OF A CHILD AND RAPE CONVICTIONS REVERSED AND NEW TRIAL ORDERED (THIRD DEPT).

The Third Department, reversing defendant predatory-sexual-assault-against-a-child and rape convictions and ordering a new trial, determined it was error to allow defendant’s wife to testify that the frequency of their sexual relations dropped off precipitously at about the time the child-victim began to be abused. The testimony was erroneously deemed to constitute circumstantial evidence of the abuse:

… [T]he “fact” testified to, the significant reduction in the frequency of the couple’s sexual encounters, is not a fact from which the jury could reasonably infer the existence of a fact material to the charges against defendant, i.e., whether he sexually abused the victim. Rather, it allows the jury to impermissibly speculate that the reason that defendant and the victim’s mother had less frequent sex was because he replaced one sexual partner, the victim’s mother, with another, the victim. Furthermore, “[i]t is axiomatic that evidence bearing on the sexual climate of a household is inadmissible where it does not tend to prove a material element of the crime charged and is introduced simply to demonstrate a predisposition to commit the subject offense” … . Although such testimony may be admitted if it demonstrates the relationship between the parties or completes a sequence of events … , the testimony in this case was not offered to prove a material element of the case, the relationship of the parties, nor was it an integral part of the sequence of events leading to the criminal conduct or delay in the disclosure. The People candidly admitted that the purpose of the testimony was to convince the jury that defendant, who the victim’s mother testified had exhibited a vociferous sexual appetite, suddenly stopped having frequent sex with her and filled the void with the victim. As such, County Court erred in allowing the testimony. People v Hansel, 2021 NY Slip Op 07035, Third Dept 12-16-21

 

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