Commonwealth v. Nichols

Richard Nichols was convicted by a jury on ten indictments charging sexual molestation of a child and one indictment of assault and battery. In his appeal, Nichols argues principally that the trial judge erroneously denied his request to cross-examine the victim witness about false allegations of sexual molestation she had made against an uncle subsequent to the complaints against the defendant. The complaints against the uncle were retracted two days after they had been made. We think the circumstances of the false complaint were such as to invoke the limited exception announced in…