Lannan v. State
590 N.E.2d 668
Facts. Appellant was twenty-three years old at the time he was arrested; victim was fourteen. Appellant was charged w/ molestation and the jury that eventually convicted him was allowed to hear testimony from the victim, as well as from another alleged victim who claimed Appellant had molested her in the past. Both victims testified that Appellant had molested both of them in his truck in the past. The current victim also testified that she had had sex with Appellant on at least three other instances. Under prior Indiana precedent, in prosecution for “incest, sodomy, criminal deviate conduct or child molesting,” evidence of prior sexual conduct was allowed under the “depraved sexual instinct exception.” Lanna appealed his conviction, arguing for an abandonment of the Indiana rule.
Issue. Should the Indiana common law “depraved sexual instinct exception” be abandoned in favor of the standard set by FRE 404(b) which provides, that evidence of uncharged prior bad acts are not admissible?
Held. Yes, the rule should be abandoned and FRE 404(b) be adopted. The opinion stressed that the new rule does not mean that evidence of prior bad acts is inadmissible, but rather that it “means only that such evidence will no longer be admitted to show action in conformity with a particular character trait” (the propensity box)
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