New Jersey v. Garrison

A grand jury indicted defendant Carl Garrison on several counts of child sexual abuse. The charges stemmed from allegations of abuse against his girlfriend s daughter, Joan. Joan testified that defendant abused her throughout the summer of 2010, when she was eleven years old, both in Alabama and New Jersey. Prior to trial, defendant moved to exclude evidence of events that took place in Alabama as inadmissible other-crimes evidence under N.J.R.E.404(b). The State also presented an expert witness’ testimony who examined Joan and found no evidence of physical abuse. The trial court found that the evidence of what occurred in Alabama was admissible not as other-crimes evidence, but as intrinsic evidence of the charged crimes. The court provided limiting instructions to the jury at the time the evidence was introduced and in the final charge to the jury. The jury subsequently convicted defendant of three counts of first-degree aggravated sexual assault, two counts of second-degree sexual assault, and one count of third-degree endangering the welfare of a child. Defendant received an aggregate sentence of fifty-two years in prison, with an eighty-five percent period of parole ineligibility. Defendant appealed, arguing that evidence of events that allegedly took place in Alabama was improperly admitted. Although not raised below, defendant also contended that the admission of a portion of the expert’s statistics-based testimony was error. The Appellate Division reversed defendant’s convictions and remanded for a new trial, rejecting the State’s contention that the Alabama evidence was intrinsic to the crimes charged and determined that this evidence should have been evaluated under N.J.R.E.404(b). The Appellate Division then concluded that the evidence failed to satisfy Rule404(b) and that its admission was not harmless error. In a footnote, the panel agreed that the expert’s testimony amounted to an improper opinion of Joan s credibility and constituted plain error. The Supreme Court disagreed, finding the Alabama evidence was admissible and given an appropriate limiting instruction. View "New Jersey v. Garrison" on Justia Law