Page 461
[Copyrighted Material Omitted]
Page 462
APPEAL
FROM THE JOHNSON COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT [NO. 36CR-17-112],
HONORABLE BILL PEARSON, JUDGE
Brett
D. Watson, Attorney at Law, PLLC, by: Brett D. Watson, for
appellant.
Leslie
Rutledge, Atty Gen., by: Adam Jackson, Asst Atty Gen., for
appellee.
OPINION
LARRY
D. VAUGHT, Judge
David
Mondy appeals his conviction by a Johnson County Circuit
Court of two counts of second-degree sexual assault. We
affirm.
On
April 19, 2017, a Clarksville kindergarten class was learning
about "good touches and bad touches" when
six-year-old Z.P. yelled out "my daddy tickles my
private parts." Counselor Laura Hyden testified at
Mondys trial that she then spoke to Z.P. outside of class
and, as a result of that conversation, called the child-abuse
hotline to report possible abuse.
Page 463
Z.P.
testified that Mondy is her mothers boyfriend and that
although he is not her biological father, she calls him
"daddy." She testified that Mondy touched her
"private parts" with his hand and his mouth. She
demonstrated what she meant by "private parts" and
explained that the touching occurred at her house and at an
apartment where they had previously lived. Z.P. also
testified that she had seen Mondys private parts, had seen
him touch his penis (she demonstrated this gesture by moving
her hand up and down with a closed fist), and had seen
"water" or "soap" come out of his penis.
Prior
to trial, the State requested and was granted permission to
introduce evidence that Mondy is a registered sex offender as
a result of a conviction that occurred seventeen years before
trial. However, on the day of Mondys trial, his half-sister
M.B., who had been the minor victim in the previous case,
told the prosecutor that she did not remember the events that
led to Mondys conviction. She also stated that she and Mondy
had reconciled and that she did not want to testify against
him. The State nevertheless called her as a witness, and the
court overruled Mondys objection that it was improper for
the State to call her knowing that she would deny knowledge
of the previous incident. M.B. testified that she was not
allowed to have any contact with Mondy for several years but
stated that she did not remember making allegations that
Mondy had engaged in sexual contact with her as a child.
Mondy
testified that he had not engaged in any sexual acts with
Z.P. but worried that she had inadvertently seen explicit
photos that Mondy and Z.P.s mother exchanged on their
phones. He admitted that he is a registered sex offender as a
result of allegations of sexual impropriety that M.B. made
against him seventeen years ago. He described the nature of
those allegations and denied that they were true. He claimed
that his 2001 conviction for a sex offense against M.B. was
the result of "a bad custody battle" with M.B.s
mother. He also claimed that Z.P.s mother had coached her to
make false allegations against him after he had ended their
relationship.
Mondy
also presented the testimony of his ex-wife, Martha Mondy,
who stated that she did not have concerns about him being
around their eleven-year-old daughter. He also called several
other witnesses who testified that they know ...