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State v. Bauer1/15/2002
APPEAL FROM: District Court of the Third Judicial District, In and for the County of Deer Lodge, Honorable Ted L. Mizner, Judge Presiding
Submitted on Briefs: June 21, 2001
On appeal, Chester Bauer challenges the evidentiary basis of a jury conviction of incest in the Third Judicial District Court, Deer Lodge County, Montana. We affirm.
We restate the issues on appeal as follows:
1. Did the District Court err by denying a motion for a directed verdict of acquittal on the basis of insufficiency of evidence?
2. Did the District Court abuse its discretion by denying Bauer's motion for a mistrial for the erroneous admission of "other crimes" evidence?
3. Did the District Court abuse its discretion by denying Bauer's request to admit the state crime lab's DNA report as exculpatory evidence?
4. Did the District Court abuse its discretion by declining to give a jury instruction on weak and less satisfactory evidence?
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
In 1983, Chester Bauer (Bauer) was sentenced to the Montana State Prison for aggravated assault and sexual intercourse without consent. On September 22, 1997, both convictions were vacated on the basis of DNA test results that excluded Bauer as the assailant and other "newly discovered evidence" of actual innocence. However, Bauer remained incarcerated for another two years under sentences for convictions he gained while in prison. In 1991, Bauer pleaded guilty to the charge of intimidating a prison employee 's spouse, and, in 1996, he was convicted of sexual intercourse without consent with a 19-year-old female inmate at the Blaine County Jail, where Bauer had been assigned for his protection after serving as a State's witness at the trials subsequent to the 1991 prison riot. Bauer was released on probation in November 1999, and took up residence with his mother in Townsend.
Amanda Bauer (Amanda) is Bauer's daughter and was two years old when Bauer was sent to prison in 1983. She did not see Bauer again until she visited the prison with her grandmother in October 1999, three weeks prior to Bauer's release. Amanda is mildly developmentally disabled and attended special education classes since grade school. Amanda graduated from high school in May 1999. Both Amanda and her sister, Nicole, suffer from Frederick's Ataxia. This progressively debilitating physical disorder and scoliosis of the lower spine affect Amanda's coordination and balance, necessitating that she often use a wheelchair. Amanda's speech and ability to write have also deteriorated, and her life expectancy is greatly reduced. Due to Amanda's mental and physical disabilities, she receives Social Security Insurance benefits, which enable her to live independently.
Bauer arranged to visit his extended family for the 1999 Christmas holiday in Anaconda, where his two sisters live with their families and his father was visiting. In addition, Bauer's ex-wife, Amanda's mother, resides in Anaconda with her husband, children and Amanda's younger sister, Nicole. According to Bauer's probationary travel permit, he planned to stay in Anaconda with his sister, Janet Ricketts. Instead, Bauer spent Christmas Eve with his 18-year-old daughter Amanda in her apartment.
According to Amanda's testimony, Bauer had non-consensual sex with Amanda two times during the evening of December 24, 1999. Afterward, Bauer told Amanda that the family would ostracize her and he would be returned to prison if she told anyone what had happened. The next day, Amanda's mother noticed that Amanda was unusually withdrawn during the holiday festivities, ignored her Chr
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