319 results for 'cat:"Sex Offender" AND cat:"Child Victims"'.
J. O'Brien finds that the lower court properly convicted defendant of Class X predatory criminal sexual assault of a child. The two charges on which he was convicted do not contain identical elements because a person can commit aggravated sexual assault of a child without also committing the offense of predatory criminal sexual assault of a child. Affirmed.
Court: Illinois Supreme Court, Judge: O'Brien, Filed On: April 4, 2024, Case #: 129425, Categories: Sentencing, sex Offender, child Victims
J. MacDonald opposes the defendant’s challenge of one of his convictions of a pattern of aggravated felonious sexual assault, which alleged that he repeatedly touched the breasts of the victim, who was under 13 years old. While chest isn't always a synonym for breasts, and the victim said the defendant touched her “chest” rather than “breasts,” she said that his touching of her became inappropriate when he touched her chest.
Court: New Hampshire Supreme Court, Judge: MacDonald, Filed On: April 3, 2024, Case #: 2022-0563, Categories: sex Offender, Assault, child Victims
J. Bishop finds the trial court properly convicted defendant, by no-contest plea, for sexual assault of a child. Forensic interview and testimony provided by the victims support the convictions. Though defendant says statements given by the parents of the victims were improperly allowed, the statutory definition of a victim establishes a baseline right to provide victim impact statements, and it does not limit a sentencing court’s discretion to consider relevant evidence from a variety of sources. All sentencing factors were properly considered. Affirmed.
Court: Nebraska Court Of Appeals, Judge: Bishop , Filed On: April 2, 2024, Case #: A-23-522, Categories: Sentencing, sex Offender, child Victims
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J. Brennan reverses the dismissal of indictments against the defendant for attempted rape of a child, attempted indecent assault and battery on a child under 14 and attempted indecent assault and battery on a person 14 or older. Even though he didn’t touch his 13-year-old daughter, he instructed her to masturbate with him on the phone with her.
Court: Massachusetts Court Of Appeals, Judge: Brennan, Filed On: March 29, 2024, Case #: 23-P-37, Categories: sex Offender, Assault, child Victims
J. Garry finds that the lower court properly convicted defendant based on his guilty plea to criminal sexual act against two children. Defendant sought to withdraw his plea on grounds of duress, but during the plea colloquy he denied being threatened or coerced into pleading guilty. Affirmed.
Court: New York Appellate Divisions, Judge: Garry, Filed On: March 28, 2024, Case #: 111551, Categories: sex Offender, Plea, child Victims
J. Hoyle finds the trial court properly convicted defendant for three counts of aggravated assault of a child, sentencing him to life in prison. Defendant makes no argument the denial of his motion for continuance would have been error. His belief the mother’s lack of testimony is the reason for the hung jury at first trial is speculation. The record indicates defendant was able to present his defensive positions the victim fabricated the sexual assault claim and that the house was under construction, thereby undermining the victim’s account. Affirmed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Hoyle , Filed On: March 28, 2024, Case #: 12-23-00119-CR, Categories: Evidence, sex Offender, child Victims
J. Brown finds the trial court properly convicted defendant for raping his girlfriend's daughter. The victim said she was 10 years old when she first made accusations against him, but she later recanted and was returned home after defendant pressured her. Her aunt then read diary entries detailing events of rape, as well as defendant's having bought her a sex toy. Contrary to defendant's argument, the state is not required to prove specifically when and where each act occurred. Furthermore, certain testimony detailing events that occurred outside Arkansas were properly admitted under the pedophile exception. Affirmed.
Court: Arkansas Court Of Appeals, Judge: Brown , Filed On: March 27, 2024, Case #: CR-23-387, Categories: Evidence, sex Offender, child Victims
J. Dorrian finds defendant's claim of ineffective assistance of counsel regarding the filing of a notice of alibi prior to his trial on rape charges is contradicted by the record, which shows his attorney filed the notice more than six months before trial; therefore, the claim is meritless. Meanwhile, the trial court properly denied defendant's motion for acquittal because the victim's testimony established all the elements of the offenses with which he was charged and was sufficient to prove the assaults. Affirmed.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Dorrian, Filed On: March 26, 2024, Case #: 2024-Ohio-1139, Categories: Ineffective Assistance, sex Offender, child Victims
Per curiam, the New Jersey Supreme Court finds that the appellate division properly overturned an order limiting testimony from the alleged eight-year-old victim in defendant's trial for sexually molesting the child during music instruction. The child's video statement was testimonial, and defendant's right to confront witnesses did not depend on the victim's ability to recall details six years later. Affirmed.
Court: New Jersey Supreme Court, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: March 26, 2024, Case #: A-13-23, Categories: Confrontation, sex Offender, child Victims
J. MacDonald agrees with defendant, who appeals his convictions of aggravated felonious sexual assault and attempted aggravated felonious sexual assault, that the lower court erred in denying his motion for a mistrial. A statement was allowed that suggested there was a second victim, and this was highly prejudicial. Reversed.
Court: New Hampshire Supreme Court, Judge: MacDonald, Filed On: March 26, 2024, Case #: 2022-0728, Categories: sex Offender, Assault, child Victims
J. Overstreet finds that the lower court properly convicted defendant of sexual assault of his four-year-old daughter. Defense counsel was not ineffective for failing to object to the admission of two positive STD tests, as this evidence was admissible at trial despite the physician-patient privilege attached to them under the exception set forth in the Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act. Affirmed.
Court: Illinois Supreme Court, Judge: Overstreet, Filed On: March 21, 2024, Case #: 129289, Categories: Ineffective Assistance, sex Offender, child Victims
J. Mundy finds that the superior court properly found that there was evidence to support an adjudication of delinquency in this suit wherein one 12-year-old convinced another with an intellectual disability to lift up her shirt and expose her bra while on camera and posted the video on social media. The crime of transmission of sexually explicit images by a minor does not require exposure of the nipple in order to meet the definition of nudity; nudity is established where any area below the top of the nipple is visible. Affirmed.
Court: Pennsylvania Supreme Court, Judge: Mundy, Filed On: March 21, 2024, Case #: J-68-2023, Categories: sex Offender, child Victims, Child Pornography
J. Musseman finds the trial court properly convicted defendant for lewd and indecent acts with a child. Defendant alleges insufficient representation for counsel's alleged failure to move to quash for the state's not putting on evidence at the preliminary hearing of the required element the victim was under the age of 16. Necessary evidence was presented at trial, and defendant fails to show defense counsel's failure to seek a motion to quash at the preliminary hearing impacted the outcome. Affirmed.
Court: Oklahoma Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Musseman , Filed On: March 21, 2024, Case #: F-2022-367, Categories: sex Offender, Due Process, child Victims
J. Bradford finds the trial court properly denied defendant's motion to dismiss. Defendant was charged with failure to register as a sex or violent offender after he returned to Indiana, where the offense had taken place. Defendant had previously transferred his parole from Indiana to Florida, where he is required to register for life, signing a form acknowledging residency in another state would require registration there as well. The requirement to re-register in Indiana does not impose an additional criminal penalty. Affirmed.
Court: Indiana Court Of Appeals, Judge: Bradford, Filed On: March 20, 2024, Case #: 23A-CR-1339, Categories: sex Offender, Jurisdiction, child Victims
J. Wilkinson finds the Board properly denied the Venezuelan's petition for relief from deportation. The Venezuelan argued his attempts to meet a 14-year-old for sex, which led to attempted sexual battery and electronic solicitation of minor convictions, are not crimes involving moral turpitude. He argued that attempted sexual battery was not a crime involving moral turpitude as the minimum conduct to sustain a conviction was insufficiently reprehensible. And he claimed that the electronic solicitation statute lacked the requisite culpable mens rea to be a crime involving moral turpitude. Statutes that limit convictions to defendants who knew or had reason to believe that their intentional sexual acts were directed at children categorically involve moral turpitude. Denied.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Wilkinson, Filed On: March 20, 2024, Case #: 23-1238, Categories: Immigration, sex Offender, child Victims
J. Emas finds defendant's habeas corpus petition in his case alleging two offenses of lewd and lascivious molestation of a minor under the age of 12 must be granted. In part because the child victim did not testify in person at defendant's adversary preliminary hearing, the child's two out-of-court statements prosecutors submitted at the hearing were improperly allowed as evidence by the trial court, as they qualify as inadmissible hearsay given the circumstances. No other evidence was brought to establish probable cause, so defendant must be released on recognizance.
Court: Florida Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Emas, Filed On: March 14, 2024, Case #: 24-0331, Categories: Evidence, sex Offender, child Victims
J. Harris finds the trial court properly admitted the testimony of an expert witness who testified the victims did not appear to have been coached on the stories they gave when they reported the sexual assault allegations against defendant. Although such testimony, which vouches for the truthfulness of the victims, is typically not allowed, defendant opened the door to the admission of the evidence when he advanced a defense based on the theory the victims had been coached by their grandmother, which included questions to potential jurors, statements during opening arguments and direct examination of the victims. Affirmed.
Court: Colorado Court Of Appeals, Judge: Harris, Filed On: March 14, 2024, Case #: 2024COA26, Categories: sex Offender, Experts, child Victims
J. Brown finds the trial court improperly excluded DNA evidence in defendant's trial on a single charge of sexual assault of a child. The presence of another individual's DNA on the victim was not protected by the rape shield statute. Defendant did not intend to pursue an alternate suspect theory and claim the victim had sex with another individual, but sought the evidence to rebut the prosecution's theory that defendant's DNA was not found because the victim showered the morning after the assault; therefore, defendant's conviction must be vacated and the case remanded for a new trial. Reversed.
Court: Colorado Court Of Appeals, Judge: Brown, Filed On: March 14, 2024, Case #: 2024COA27, Categories: Dna, sex Offender, child Victims
J. Gallagher finds testimony provided by each of the victims was sufficient to support defendant's rape and gross sexual imposition convictions despite some inconsistencies. Each victim spoke about a specific series of events to establish the elements of the crimes, while the amount of time that passed between the assaults and defendant's trial was likely to blame for any confusion regarding the dates of the crimes. Affirmed in part.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Gallagher, Filed On: March 14, 2024, Case #: 2024-Ohio-954, Categories: Evidence, sex Offender, child Victims
J. Murphy finds the trial court properly convicted defendant for four counts of first-degree sexual assault, amended from the original charge of rape. Defendant's ex-wife's minor daughter asserted he raped her multiple times between the ages of 14 and 17. Sufficient evidence supports the conviction. Though defendant moved to strike the amended information or for a continuance, saying the information was filed giving him inadequate notice, the amendment was made after defendant divorced the mother and moved out of the residence, changing the nature of the relationship. This was known to the defense since the pendency of the case, and the court properly denied the motion. Affirmed.
Court: Arkansas Court Of Appeals, Judge: Murphy , Filed On: March 13, 2024, Case #: CR-23-131, Categories: sex Offender, Due Process, child Victims
J. Bock finds the child victim's testimony was sufficient to establish all the elements of the rape offenses with which defendant was charged. While there were some inconsistencies between her statements to investigators and testimony at trial, none of her trial testimony contradicted any previous claims and the jury was in the best position to determine her credibility. Meanwhile, although the doctor's statement at trial that there was a "high likelihood that abuse has occurred" was inappropriate vouching for the victim, the error was harmless because the state did not mention the comment at any point during trial and there was other, overwhelming evidence to support defendant's convictions. Affirmed.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Bock, Filed On: March 8, 2024, Case #: 2024-Ohio-851, Categories: Evidence, sex Offender, child Victims
J. McShan finds that defendant was properly convicted of criminal sexual act and course of sexual conduct against a child for allegedly performing oral sex on five boys each under the age of 13 over a protracted period because the weight of the evidence supported the verdict, including testimony from the boys and defendant's own confessions. Affirmed.
Court: New York Appellate Divisions, Judge: McShan, Filed On: March 7, 2024, Case #: 110875, Categories: Evidence, sex Offender, child Victims
J. Wright finds the trial court properly convicted defendant for continuous sexual abuse of a child. The victim testified defendant was in a relationship with her older sister when the victim was 11 or 12 years old. She said defendant eventually began grabbing her breast and touching her vagina, with the behavior escalating to sexual intercourse. She also testified defendant bought her a cell phone in order to facilitate their encounters. The victim then told her friends, who began recording the conversations, eventually playing the recordings for the victim's mother. Ample evidence supports the conviction. All evidence was properly admitted, and no abuse of discretion is found in the court's denial of defendant's motions for mistrial for failure to disclose. Affirmed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Wright , Filed On: March 6, 2024, Case #: 09-21-00386-CR, Categories: Evidence, sex Offender, child Victims
J. Wright finds the trial court properly convicted defendant for continuous sexual abuse of his 8-year-old daughter and 12-year-old stepdaughter. The girls revealed certain abuse to their mother on the same day one had been caught with drugs, as an explanation for why she was doing drugs. Though defense counsel was admonished for his badgering tone when questioning one of the girls about why she did not reveal she was also abused, and did not rephrase his question, ample evidence and testimony support the conviction. The trial court did not comment on the weight of the evidence or limit defendant's ability to cross-examine. Affirmed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Wright , Filed On: March 6, 2024, Case #: 09-23-00049-CR, Categories: Evidence, sex Offender, child Victims
J. Burnett finds a lower court improperly placed an extradition order on a defendant. The public prosecutor argued that it was entitled to impose a prison sentence on the defendant for sexual activity with a minor. However, the defendant sufficiently showed in court that he was not deliberately absent under criminal standard of proof based on his unawareness of the charges. Reversed.
Court: Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, Judge: Burnett, Filed On: March 6, 2024, Case #: 24UKSC9, Categories: sex Offender, child Victims, Extradition