 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to DUI Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
State v. Godfrey7/28/2004
Heard at oral argument: May 6, 2003
Submitted: September 9, 2003
Tracey Raymond Godfrey appeals from the jury verdict, judgment, and sentence of the Twenty-first Judicial District, Ravalli County, in which he was convicted of one count of Felony Sexual Assault. We affirm.
ISSUE
We restate the issue as follows: Should this Court invoke the common law doctrine of plain error and conclude that the prosecutor violated Godfrey's Constitutional right to due process by commenting during trial on his pre-trial silence?
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
In the summer of 1999, S.M. and her five children returned to Montana after living out of state for a few years. S.M.'s two oldest children are K.M. and her twin sister, who were about nine years old at the time. The twins are the biological daughters of Godfrey's twin brother. Godfrey expressed a desire to become involved in the children's lives, and began spending his Saturdays with them. Although S.M.'s other children are not blood relatives of Godfrey, he took them with the twins on a variety of outings, including swimming, hiking, and shopping. The children occasionally spent the night at Godfrey's residence--a converted school bus located about one hundred yards from his grandmother's home.
On October 1, 1999, S.M. was hospitalized for the birth of her sixth child. She had arranged ahead of time for Godfrey and her friend Lucy Salazar to take care of her other children during her hospital stay. Godfrey picked the children up after work on Friday, October 1, and took them to Pizza Hut for dinner. Afterward, he returned with the children to S.M.'s residence and stayed there until someone else arrived to care for them. The following morning, he picked up S.M.'s children and Salazar's son, and they spent the day "hiking, swimming and hanging out at the bus." On October 3, he drove the children to meet Salazar, in whose care the children were to remain until S.M. was released from the hospital. Godfrey and Salazar conversed briefly before Godfrey left.
Salazar testified that she met Godfrey through her friendship with S.M. and that Godfrey had occasionally included her son in the outings with S.M.'s children. Salazar testified that she helped the children get ready for bed on October 3 and K.M. told her that Godfrey had "put his hand in her night pants" the previous night. K.M.'s "night pants" are pull-up training pants that she wears to bed because she has a medical condition which causes frequent bed-wetting accidents. Salazar said K.M. told her that Godfrey had held her tightly across her stomach and pulled her toward him, that K.M. told Godfrey, "it hurt," and that Godfrey replied, "it's supposed to hurt." When S.M. came home from the hospital on October 4, Salazar informed her of the conversation she had had with K.M.
K.M. had not said anything to S.M. about the incident with Godfrey. S.M. asked K.M.'s school teacher Elizabeth Jameson for advice before broaching the subject with K.M. Jameson conducts weekly class meetings with her students on a variety of topics. At least once per year, she discusses the difference between "good touches" and "bad touches." Jameson decided to use that as the topic of her meeting on October 7. At trial, Jameson testified that K.M. approached her after the October 7 class meeting and stated that she had been touched in a bad way by Godfrey, and that he had pulled down her pants while she was lying on his couch. Jameson encouraged K.M. to discuss the incident with S.M.
S.M. testified that as soon as K.M. returned from school on October 7, K.M. told her that Godfrey had pulled down her "nigh
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Montana DUI Attorneys
DUI Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to DUI Lawyers in your area.
|
|