State v. Bass

EAGLES, Judge.

I

Defendant first assigns as error the trial court’s denial of defendant’s motion to present evidence concerning alleged prior sexual abuse of the victim. Defendant sought to introduce evidence that the victim here had been similarly abused by her uncle when she was three years old, some three years before the alleged assault by defendant. The trial court denied defendant’s motion after hearing argument that Rule 412 barred introduction of the evidence in question. G.S. 8C-1, Rule 412 (1983). Defendant contends that this was error because the evidence of prior abuse, if…