Gomez v. State

RIDGELY, Justice:

Defendantr-Below/Appellant, Sergio Gomez, was charged by indictment with two counts of raping his nine-year-old niece. The matter proceeded to a jury trial. During the pretrial conference, the trial judge ruled that Gomez’s prior conviction in New Jersey for a similar sexual offense against Gomez’s other niece (the complaining witness’s cousin) was inadmissible. But, the complaining witness’s mother referred to the commission of that crime during her testimony, which occurred at the very end of the first day of Gomez’s trial. Defense counsel moved for a mistrial. The trial…