Mitchell v. State

In Mitchell v. State, 865 P.2d 591, 596 (Wyo. 1993), the prosecution charged the defendant with second degree sexual assault of a ten-year-old girl. At trial, evidence was admitted that appellant had previously been convicted of second degree sexual assault of his three-year-old niece. The investigator of the case leading to the previous conviction testified that appellant had admitted the activity against his niece had sexually aroused him. Mitchell held that this evidence was properly admitted to prove motive, and that decision was consistent with this Court's previous decisions in Elliott v. State, 600 P.2d 1044, 1048-49 (Wyo. 1979), and Brown v. State, 736 P.2d 1110, 1113 (Wyo. 1987). (Mitchell, 865 P.2d at 598-99.) The Court held that uncharged sexual misconduct is relevant when the accused denies any wrongdoing if it tends to show that the defendant is motivated by other than a general sexual desire. Mitchell, 865 P.2d at 598-99.