Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Criminal Law Blogs -> Tenth Circuit Blog

Criminal Law

: Tenth Circuit Blog

Grant of New Trial Based on Erroneous Admission of Testimony Affirmed

By Shari Allison

US v. Grigsby, No. 07-7014 (10th Cir. April 9, 2008) (unpublished): A defense win! The Tenth affirms the district court's granting a new trial to a defendant convicted of sexually abusing his grandneice in Indian Country. The district court was concerned because it had allowed defendant's niece (not the victim) testify that 20 years earlier, the defendant had tried to abuse her. The niece was impeached (prior forgery convictions and a motive to lie), but the district court concluded that the unfair prejudice created by her testimony outweighed the probative value, and the curative instruction was insufficient, and accordingly granted a new trial. The Tenth, in affirming, also noted that the other evidence was weak -- the victim clearly could not distinguish between reality and fantasy and her statement included a clear falsehood (she claimed the defendant had stabbed one of his grandchildren that same evening as the incident, but that had not happened) and the defendant's "confession" -- obtained by an investigator with the Cherokee Nation Marshal Service -- was subject to attack...continue to full post

Full post as published by Tenth Circuit Blog on April 10, 2008 (boomark / email).