APPELLATE COURT THROWS OUT SEXUAL-ABUSE CONVICTION.Byline: KAREN MAESHIRO Staff Writer LANCASTER -- An appellate court A court having jurisdiction to review decisions of a trial-level or other lower court. An unsuccessful party in a lawsuit must file an appeal with an appellate court in order to have the decision reviewed. threw out the sexual-abuse conviction of a Lancaster man who impregnated im·preg·nate tr.v. im·preg·nat·ed, im·preg·nat·ing, im·preg·nates 1. To make pregnant; inseminate. 2. To fertilize (an ovum, for example). 3. a 12-year-old girl, saying a detective improperly continued questioning the man when he said he didn't want to talk. Despite DNA tests showing Tyrell Dion Moore was the father, the Second District Court of Appeal overturned the conviction because his right to remain silent was violated and there was insufficient evidence insufficient evidence n. a finding (decision) by a trial judge or an appeals court that the prosecution in a criminal case or a plaintiff in a lawsuit has not proved the case because the attorney did not present enough convincing evidence. without the confession to establish that Moore was guilty of ``continuous sexual abuse.'' The ruling said Moore can be retried re·tried v. Past tense and past participle of retry. . ``I'm gratified grat·i·fy tr.v. grat·i·fied, grat·i·fy·ing, grat·i·fies 1. To please or satisfy: His achievement gratified his father. See Synonyms at please. 2. at the decision and hope that the Court of Appeal decision remains unchanged,'' said Greg Kane, Moore's appellate attorney. Attorneys with the Attorney General's Office said they had not seen the ruling yet. Moore, 26, was convicted of continuous sexual abuse of a child and found to have inflicted great bodily injury on the girl, a relative of his girlfriend. He was sentenced in April 2005 to 15 years in prison. The pregnancy was aborted at 12 weeks in August 2004, the court ruling said. DNA testing DNA testing Analysis of DNA (the genetic component of cells) in order to determine changes in genes that may indicate a specific disorder. Mentioned in: Acoustic Neuroma, Retinoblastoma, Von Willebrand Disease established that the defendant was the father, the ruling said. The DNA evidence Among the many new tools that science has provided for the analysis of forensic evidence is the powerful and controversial analysis of deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA, the material that makes up the genetic code of most organisms. supplied overwhelming proof of the sexual misconduct sexual misconduct Professional ethics Any behavior that violates a health professional's ethics through sexual contact of physician and his/her Pt. See Professional boundaries. , but the only direct evidence that it occurred over the three-month period needed to fit the legal definition of ``continuous sexual abuse'' came from Moore's confession, the ruling said. The ruling said a detective had read Moore his Miranda right to remain silent, then asked whether he wanted to talk about what happened. Moore said, ``I mean I really ain't got nothing to say, because this, to me, is bulls--- ...,'' the ruling said. But the detective continued asking questions, and Moore eventually admitted that during weekends starting in March 2004, he had sex with the girl on numerous occasions, the ruling said. When the case got to court, the girl essentially recanted what she had told detectives about having sex with him, the ruling said. ``We conclude that defendant's right to remain silent was violated when he initially told (the detective) that he had nothing to say, and because of this, (defendant's statements) should have been suppressed,'' the ruling said. The defendant's conviction may be upheld only if the record shows that admission of his statements was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. The error in this case was not harmless, the ruling said. karen.maeshiro(at)dailynews.com (661) 267-5744 |
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