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Peterson v. State

Similar transaction evidence of prior sexual contact between the defendant and the 12-year-old victim was admissible to show defendant's lustful intent and to corroborate the victim's testimony.

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Following a jury trial, Walter Peterson was convicted of statutory rape, aggravated sexual battery, and child molestation. On appeal he contends that i the evidence was insufficient to sustain the convictions, ii the trial court erred by admitting evidence of prior sexual contact between him and the victim, iii the trial court erred by failing to give a curative instruction following objectionable testimony from one of the State’s expert witnesses, iv the trial court erred by allowing the jury to take a videotaped interview of the victim into the jury room during deliberations, v his trial counsel was ineffective, and vi the trial court erred by failing to grant his motion for a new trial. We discern no reversible error and affirm.

Viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict, the evidence reveals that on May 24, 1996, the victim, a twelve-year-old child, was at home alone with her mother’s boyfriend, Peterson. During the evening, Peterson unbuttoned the victim’s pants and felt on her body. He then dragged her across a couch and to a chair, removed her pants, and started kissing and feeling on her body and chest. Peterson then carried the victim to her room, removed his pants in another room, and came back to the victim’s room, where he then inserted his finger into her vagina and anus. Over the victim’s objections, Peterson attempted to have anal intercourse with the victim and then placed his penis into the victim’s vagina.

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