Mouton v. Mississippi

by
There was no abuse of the trial court’s discretion in denying a mistrial, no was there an abuse of discretion in handling the discovery of a prosecution’s expert’s testimony. A grand jury indicted Jesse Mouton on four counts of sexually assaulting N.B. Counts one and two charged Mouton with sexual battery. Counts three and four charged him with touching a child for lustful purposes. In this case, an expert witness testified that injuries to a child were consistent with sexual abuse. Her reports, photographs of the injured body area, and expert opinion were previously disclosed to the defense. Yet, at trial, the defense took issue with the expert’s testimony about the relevance of the shape of some of the injuries. After assessing the defendant’s request to exclude the expert’s testimony, the trial judge denied it. Though the court found no discovery violation, the judge recessed trial for the day so defense counsel could further interview the expert, and restricted the expert’s testimony to external injuries but allowed the expert to give an opinion that the child’s injuries resulted from sexual assault. The defendant appealed the outcome, arguing that the trial court’s actions in handling the expert’s testimony and report denied him a fair trial. Finding no reversible error in the trial court record, the Mississippi Supreme Court affirmed defendant’s convictions. View "Mouton v. Mississippi" on Justia Law