Archive | Sexual assault

RSS feed for this section

State v. Pulst

State v. Pulst, 2015 MT 184 (June 30, 2015) (Wheat, J.) (5-0, aff’d & rev’d)

Issue: (1) Whether trial court abused its discretion by admitting evidence of uncharged sexual assault; (2) whether trial court abused its discretion by excluding evidence that victim’s mother observed and photographed bruises on victim several years after sexual assaults; and (3) whether trial court’s written sentence conformed to oral sentence.

Short Answer: (1) No; (2) no; and (3) no, requiring remand for correction.

Affirmed in part and reversed in part

Facts: AB, born in 1988, frequently visited family in Chester when she was a child. Pulst, AB’s uncle, would take AB on drives between the time she was 7 and 11 years old, and sexually assault her.…

State v. Rogers

State v. Rogers, 2013 MT 221 (Aug. 13, 2013) (7-0) (Baker, J.)

Issue: (1) Whether the district court violated Rogers’ constitutional rights by requiring him to testify to his defense of justifiable use of force prior to cross-examining the victim about her prior acts of violence against him, and (2) whether the district court erred by allowing the state to question Rogers about his prior criminal history once he testified about the victim’s prior acts of violence against him.

Short Answer: (1) No, as Rogers failed to preserve this issue for appeal, and (2) yes, this trial error was not harmless.

Reversed & remanded for a new trial…