Lawson v. State

Appellant, Joseph Lawson, was charged with assaulting and raping his seven-year-old cousin, Nigha P., on at least two separate occasions: 1 while he was staying with Nigha’s family in October or November of 2001 (“November 2001 incident”), and while he was babysitting Nigha’s older brother at Nigha’s home in June of 2002 (“June 2002 incident”). Neither incident, however, was reported by Nigha until July 2002, when she informed her mother of both.

Appellant was subsequently arrested and charged with, among other crimes, two counts of second-degree rape, two counts of attempted second-degree…