The People of the Territory of Guam v. Thomas v. McGravey

Appellant Thomas MeGravey challenges his convictions for first and second degree criminal sexual assault on the ground that the jury instructions, taken as a whole, misled the jury by directing it to give undue weight to the testimony of the victim, who was a minor.

MeGravey identifies two instructions that were given and one proposed instruction that was rejected by the trial court as the basis for his appeal. Because we hold that the jury instructions, viewed in their entirety, did not lead the jury to place a disproportionate emphasis on the testimony of the alleged "victim, we affirm.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

MeGravey was tried before a jury on the charge of sexually molesting his nephew on two separate occasions — first when the child was seven years old and again when the child was nine years old. Since there were no witnesses to the alleged acts, and because neither side offered any corroborating evidence to support its version of the events, the trial boiled down to a pure credibility contest between the defendant and the alleged victim, who was then ten years old.

At trial, MeGravey objected unsuccessfully to two separate jury instructions. The first instruction he…

dissenting:

I.

Wherever the truth may lie, this case represents a family tragedy. It may also constitute a grave injustice. Allegations of sexual misconduct by one family member against another pose exceptional difficulties for the judicial system. In many instances, no one but the alleged perpetrator and the alleged victim is able to testify regarding what did or did not happen. The cases are exceedingly troublesome for all concerned, including judges and jurors. On the one hand, we are becoming increasingly aware of the frequency with which sexual abuse occurs and remains hidden. On the other, we have learned, painfully, that the passions and pressures that can arise within a family sometimes cause troubled individuals to make false accusations. Judges and juries must make decisions with the gravest consequences for the fives of those involved on the basis of limited information, the reliability of which is often open to serious question.

These problems are especially pronounced where the alleged victim is a child. The sexual molestation of children is unfortunately just a facet of child abuse in general, a facet that appears to represent an all too common phenomenon. While…

14 F.3d 1344 The PEOPLE OF the TERRITORY OF GUAM, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Thomas V. McGRAVEY, Defendant-Appellant. No. 92-10003. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Argued and Submitted Nov. 4, 1992. Decided Jan. 14, 1994. Scott R. Grigsby, Agana, Guam, for defendant-appellant. Robert C. Sacco, Guam, Asst. Atty. Gen., Agana, Guam, for plaintiff-appellee. Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Guam, Appellate Division. Before: BROWNING, NORRIS and REINHARDT, Circuit Judges. WILLIAM A. NORRIS, Circuit Judge: 1 Appellant Thomas McGravey challenges his convictions for first and second degree criminal sexual assault on the ground that the jury instructions, taken as a whole, misled the jury by directing it to give undue weight to the testimony of the victim, who was a minor. 2 McGravey identifies two instructions that were given and one proposed instruction that was rejected by the trial court as the basis for his appeal. Because we hold that the jury instructions, viewed in their entirety, did not lead the jury to place a disproportionate emphasis on the testimony of the alleged victim, we affirm. FACTUAL BACKGROUND 3 McGravey was tried before a…