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State v. Hutchins2/8/2000
Grafton
The defendant, Michael Hutchins, was acquitted on three counts of sexual assault following a jury trial. One additional charge was nolle prossed at the close of the trial. Subsequently, the defendant was indicted for perjury based upon his testimony at trial. The defendant moved to dismiss the indictment, arguing that a subsequent trial is barred by the doctrine of collateral estoppel and thus would violate the protections afforded him by the Double Jeopardy Clauses of the State and Federal Constitutions. The Trial Court (Fitzgerald, J.) denied the motion and the defendant appeals. We affirm and remand.
The record reflects that, in early 1990, the victim and her sister, aged five and one respectively, were removed from their parents' custody by the State of Florida because of family problems including substance abuse and neglect by both parents. Subsequently, the older daughter disclosed that she had suffered sexual abuse by her father. In May 1990, the children moved in with the defendant, who is their uncle. While residing with the defendant, the victim informed him that her father had sexually assaulted her. In the summer of 1991, the children returned to the custody of their mother. In September 1992, the victim alleged that the defendant had sexually abused her while she was residing with him.
In June 1993, the defendant was indicted on one count of aggravated felonious sexual assault, see RSA 632-A:2 (1986 & Supp. 1991) (amended 1992, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999), one count of attempted aggravated felonious sexual assault, see RSA 629:1 (1996) (amended 1999); RSA 632-A:2, and two counts of felonious sexual assault, see RSA 632-A:3, III (1996). The four indictments alleged that the defendant assaulted the victim between July 1, 1990, and August 30, 1991, a period which overlapped the time frame in which she lived with him.
At the superior court trial in April 1994, the victim testified that the four sexual assaults all occurred at approximately the same time, on the same day, and in the same room. The defendant elected to testify, and during his cross-examination, the following colloquy occurred:
Q Did anything inappropriate ever occur between you and [the victim]?
A Absolutely not.
Q Did anything of a sexual nature ever occur between you and [the victim]?
A The descriptions of abuse from her father, yes. Physical, no.
(Emphasis added.) At the conclusion of the trial, the State nolle prossed with prejudice one count of felonious sexual assault, and the jury acquitted the defendant on the remaining counts.
Following the trial, the defendant was indicted for perjury. See RSA 641:1 (1996). The indictment alleged that the defendant's denial that "anything of a sexual nature" ever occurred with the victim was a false, material statement made in an official proceeding. The defendant moved to dismiss the indictment on the grounds that it violated the double jeopardy protections afforded him under the State and Federal Constitutions. The court denied the defendant's motion, ruling that the jury determined only that the State had failed to prove the defendant's guilt for the charged crimes.
On appeal, the defendant contends that the State is collaterally estopped from relitigiating the issue of the truthfulness of his testimony concerning whether he ever had sexual contact with the victim because that issue was necessarily decided in his first trial. He also argues that his denial that he engaged in "anything of a sexual nature" with the victim referred only to the acts specified in the indictments and not, as the State argues, to other uncharged sexual ac
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