Ruel v. State

GARRARD, Judge.

Facts

On October 22, 1984, Hammond Police Officers Pavlina and Lawson took a written statement from J.N., a borderline mentally retarded youth, age 10, in which J.N. alleged in detail that his babysitter, Edward Ruel (Ruel) forced J.N. to submit to oral and anal sex. Based on this statement, Ruel was arrested and later charged with child molesting and criminal deviate conduct.

At trial, J.N., now age 11, testified that in September 1984, while babysitting J.N., Ruel forcibly pulled J.N.'s pants down and performed fellatio on him. In addition to this and other occasions on which…