UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Keith Wayne FREDERICK, Defendant-Appellant

OVERVIEW

Defendant, Keith Frederick, was charged with three counts of Aggravated Sexual Assault against his stepdaughter, S.F., all arising out of a single incident alleged to have occurred in June of 1992. He was convicted on two counts and sentenced to 188 months in jail. He raises a number of issues on appeal, including prosecutorial vouching, improper comments by the prosecutor about defendant’s counsel, and prejudicial testimony by government witnesses suggesting that he had committed similar offenses against others. We reverse because of the cumulative effect of the errors.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Frederick was tried and convicted of molesting his ten-year old step-daughter, S.F., within the confines of an Indian reservation. The government and the defendant agree that the facts set forth in the indictment and at trial derive almost entirely from statements made by the alleged victim, who was 12-years-old at the time she testified in district court. S.F.’s statements at trial, and prior statements to investigating officers, were, understandably, sometimes confused and contradictory.

Sometime before January 1987, Frederick married Tracy F., S.F.’s mother. During…