State v. Chandle

In this appeal we determine there has been no ""significant change"" in the law regarding admissibility of expert testimony in child sexual abuse cases since the time of defendant's trial and appeal. Thus, we hold that defendant is not entitled to the relief he sought pursuant to the retroactivity rule set forth in N.C.G.S. § 15A-1415(b)(7). We therefore reverse the judgment of the trial court. Background Defendant was convicted in 1987 of five counts of first-degree sexual offense, six counts of taking indecent liberties with a child, and one count of crime against nature in a sexual abuse case involving seven preschool children. State v. Chandler, 324 N.C. 172, 174-75, 178, 376 S.E.2d 728, 730-31, 732 (1989). This Court found no error in defendant's convictions. Id. at 190, 376 S.E.2d at 739. On 30 March 2007, defendant filed a motion for appropriate relief under N.C.G.S. § 15A-1415(b)(7) in Superior Court, Madison County,1 contending there had been a significant change in the law pertaining to the admissibility of expert opinion evidence in child sexual abuse cases since the time of his trial and appeal. Defendant argued the law previously allowed an expert to testify that a child was in fact sexually abused absent physical evidence of abuse, but that, since the time of his trial and appeal, such evidence had become inadmissible. Defendant further contended this change in the law was required to be retroactively applied to his case and that the admission of erroneously admitted expert opinion evidence had prejudiced his case.