State v. Covington
State v. Covington
Opinion of the Court
*515Defendant appeals a judgment of conviction for six counts of first-degree sexual abuse, ORS 163.427, for abusing his three step-daughters. Defendant raises 10 assignments of error and three additional supplemental pro se assignments. Of the 13 assignments, we reject all but one without extended written discussion.
Defendant was convicted of sexually abusing his three minor step-children in various ways over a period of years. The abuse allegedly occurred when the children were between six and 12 years of age. The alleged victims' accounts of the abuse differed slightly from one victim to the *516next. Although defendant sought disclosure of grand juror notes of the testimony of all of the victims, he identified only one instance of a possible inconsistency between the trial and grand *279jury testimony of one of the victims, L, which concerned Count 1 of the indictment.
Defendant was charged in Count 1 with rubbing his penis on L's vagina. However, L testified at trial that defendant had not done that. Rather, she testified that defendant had forced her to grab his erect penis, which is conduct for which defendant was not charged. In contrast, a police officer testified at trial that L had admitted to him that defendant had rubbed his penis against her vagina. In cross-examination of L and in closing argument, defendant highlighted inconsistencies in L's trial testimony as well as inconsistencies in L's report to a social worker and to an employee of Child Abuse Response and Evaluation Services (CARES), in addition to instances in which L had recanted her accusations against defendant. L sought to address all of that by explaining that she had testified truthfully at trial because she was testifying under oath. The jury convicted defendant of all counts, including Count 1, viz. , the count in which L had testified at trial that defendant had not engaged in the charged conduct.
Because the indictment indicates that L had testified before the grand jury, defendant argued to the trial court that L presumably had testified consistently with the allegations in the charged count, that is, by telling the grand jury that defendant had rubbed his penis on her vagina. Defendant also identified minor inconsistencies in the testimony of other witnesses. Thus, according to defendant, he was entitled to have the trial court conduct an in camera review of the grand juror notes to look for evidence of inconsistent testimony between the grand jury and trial testimony of the witnesses. The trial court disagreed with defendant and did not conduct the requested review.
Defendant argues on appeal that the trial court erred by refusing to conduct an in camera review of the notes taken by grand jurors. Defendant invokes the federal Due Process Clause, which requires the state to disclose to a defendant evidence that is in the state's possession or *517control and that is material and favorable to the defendant.
The parties disagree about the showing that defendant had to make to require the trial court to review the grand juror notes in camera . We recently explained in State v. Lammi ,
The defendant made the threshold showing in Lammi II by demonstrating that "there was a reasonable basis to think that [the victim's counseling] records contained exculpatory statements by the victim about the charges against [the] defendant."
To establish that a defendant's due process rights were violated by a trial court's failure to conduct an in camera review of grand juror notes, the defendant must first "demonstrate that the items of which he sought review would have been material and favorable to his defense." State v. Cockrell ,
After the required threshold showing has been made, the second step in the process requires the trial court to decide whether to undertake an in camera review of the material, considering, among other things, "the facts and circumstances of the particular case, the volume of materials at issue, the relative importance of information sought, and whether such information might be available from non-privileged sources." Lammi II , 281 Or.App. at 99,
We turn to the first step from Lammi to determine whether defendant made a plausible showing that an in camera review of the grand juror notes would disclose the existence of material, favorable evidence. Defendant identifies one, specific inconsistency in L's testimony. As explained earlier, defendant was indicted for, among other things, sexually abusing L when she was six or seven years old by "touching her vagina, a sexual or intimate part of [L], to wit: by rubbing his penis on her vagina in the storage room in the basement." Because the indictment noted that L had testified before the grand jury, defendant reasons that L probably testified to the grand jury consistently with the facts alleged in the indictment.
The state responds that-even if defendant is correct that L testified differently at trial than she did before the grand jury-any discrepancies in L's testimony before the grand jury is cumulative of evidence that defendant introduced at trial and, thus, evidence of such a discrepancy could not be material Brady evidence. The state notes that defendant cross-examined L on the inconsistencies in her accounts of sexual abuse, including that she had told the police detective, a social worker, and the CARES worker different versions of events from the version to which she had testified at trial, and that L had recanted her accusations against defendant. Additionally, the state contends that L's change in testimony was beneficial to defendant because she testified at trial that defendant had not touched her in the manner alleged in the indictment. Thus, according to the state, any impeachment evidence from the grand jury would have shown that L had testified to the grand jury consistently with the conduct charged in the indictment, which would not have been helpful to defendant.
We agree with defendant that he made a showing sufficient to establish a reasonable belief that a review of the grand juror notes would disclose the existence of material impeachment evidence. Because L's trial testimony on Count 1 contradicted the indictment, it is plausible that L testified to the grand jury in a manner consistent with the charged conduct, such that the grand juror notes of L's testimony would disclose the existence of material impeachment evidence. That evidence, in turn, would be of a type that is different from the other evidence that defendant used to impeach L, because it would show that L had lied under oath. Thus, we conclude that defendant made a sufficient showing that the grand juror notes plausibly would disclose the existence of material impeachment evidence.
We turn to the second step in the inquiry to determine whether the trial court should have conducted an in *521camera review of the grand juror notes. Under the facts of this case, we conclude that it would be an abuse of discretion for the trial court to decide not to review the grand juror notes in camera , because the only way that defendant could obtain the potential evidence to impeach L was through the grand juror notes, and there is no reason to believe that review of the notes would impose an undue burden on the court. See Lammi II , 281 Or.App. at 100,
In sum, defendant was entitled to have the trial court conduct an in camera review of the grand juror notes of L's testimony for material impeachment evidence, and, accordingly, we vacate the judgment of conviction. If, after review, the trial court determines that the notes disclose the existence of material impeachment evidence, then defendant is entitled to a new trial. However, if, after review, the court determines that the notes do not contain information that meets that standard, then the court should reinstate the original judgment of conviction. See Lammi I ,
Vacated and remanded.
In his first assignment, defendant contends that he was entitled under State v. Hartfield ,
We note that the state does not dispute that the grand juror notes were in its possession or control.
The police officer who testified at trial about L's abuse also testified before the grand jury, so it is possible that the indictment was based on the officer's testimony about L's account of the episode, and that L's version of events remained consistent between the grand jury and trial.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- STATE of Oregon, Plaintiff-Respondent v. Wesley Kirt COVINGTON
- Cited By
- 3 cases
- Status
- Published