Criminal Practice – Reopening Evidence – Motion Denied – Witness’s Passport

When she was in the third grade, the victim lived in a home with defendant (her uncle) and his mother. The victim testified that defendant raped her during a week when defendant’s mother was in Honduras. Both defendant and his mother, who has memory problems, testified at trial. After both sides rested, defendant moved to reopen the evidence to admit his mother’s passport to show she was not in Honduras during the week in question. The trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying the motion because, among other things, defendant was unable to authenticate or lay the proper foundation for the passport.

We find no error in defendant’s convictions for four counts of first-degree rape of a child and one count of sexual offense against a child by an adult.

State v. Carrasco (Lawyers Weekly No. 012-105-23, 5 pp.) (Jefferson Griffin, J.) Appealed from Ashe County Superior Court (Michael Duncan, J.) Jason Caccamo for the state; Drew Nelson for defendant. North Carolina Court of Appeals (unpublished)