State v. Ralph Thibedau

Citations

• 157 A.3d 1063
• 2017 WL 1428866
• 2017 R.I. LEXIS 44

Syllabus

On October 1, 2004, a jury found Ralph Thibedau, the defendant, guilty of three counts of child molestation against his stepdaughter. On appeal from the judgment of conviction, the defendant claimed that the trial justice committed reversible error when he: (1) allowed the admission of evidence of other wrongful acts under Rule 404(b) of the Rhode Island Rules of Evidence, (2) allowed the state to introduce a witness in violation of Rule 16 of the Superior Court Rules of Criminal Procedure, (3) precluded defense counsel from cross examining a witness regarding specific instances of conduct concerning the complaining witness's character for untruthfulness, (4) allowed a witness to testify as to the meaning of the complaining witness's body language and demeanor, (5) denied the defendant's motion for judgment of acquittal because the evidence regarding one hundred incidents of child molestation that occurred in the same time frame set out in count one, rendered count one duplicitous, (6) failed to give an instruction regarding the definition of a person's age where age was an element of the offenses charged, and (7) failed to include an instruction regarding the proper use of the Rule 404(b) evidence in the written instructions given to the jury. The Supreme Court held that the trial justice did not commit reversible error and, accordingly, affirmed the judgment of the Superior Court.