State v. Smith
Supreme Court of Louisiana
743 So.2d 199 (La. 1999)
Relevant factsFree
Eual Howard Smith, Jr. (defendant) was accused by his wife's 12-year-old granddaughter of inappropriate touching. At trial, Smith sought to introduce evidence that the same girl had made and later recanted a prior molestation accusation against someone else, but the trial court found no such prior false accusation had been made and excluded the evidence. Smith was convicted of attempted indecent behavior with a juvenile, and his appeal reached the state supreme court on the question of whether the rape-shield rule properly barred this evidence.
IssueFree
Whether Louisiana's rape-shield evidence rule bars the admission of evidence that a victim made prior false accusations of sexual abuse.