Commonwealth v. Durham

By Judge David W. Lannetti

Today the Court rules on the Motion To Introduce Prior False Accusations filed by Defendant Melissa Durham, which seeks to allow her to present evidence that the complaining witness in the instant case made a prior false accusation of sexual misconduct. The issues before the Court are whether evidence of a prior false accusation of sexual assault where the current complaining witness was not the prior victim can be introduced: (1) via cross-examination of the complaining witness to impeach the witness’s general character for truthfulness; (2) via extrinsic evidence…