United States of America v. Robert James Caplette

* This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by 9th Cir. R. 36-3.
NOT FOR PUBLICATION
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff - Appellee,
v.
ROBERT JAMES CAPLETTE,
Defendant - Appellant.
No. 09-30081
D.C. No. 4:08-CR-00065-SEH
MEMORANDUM *
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the District of Montana
Sam E. Haddon, District Judge, Presiding
Argued and Submitted February 5, 2010
Seattle, Washington
Before: ALARCÓN, W. FLETCHER and RAWLINSON, Circuit Judges.
Appellant Robert James Caplette (“Caplette”) appeals from the district
court’s decision to permit the prosecution to introduce under Federal Rule of
Evidence 413 his prior juvenile adjudication for sexual assault in his trial for
sexual assault. Caplette contends that his juvenile status when he committed the
FILED
FEB 17 2010
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS

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prior sex crime is a significant “intervening event” counseling against admission
under the Rule 403 balancing test. Doe v. Glanzer, 232 F.3d 1258, 1268 (9th Cir.
2000).
This case is controlled by this Court’s precedent in United States v. LeMay,
260 F.3d 1018 (9th Cir. 2001). In LeMay, we held that “courts must consider
whether the prior acts evidence was necessary to prove the case, along with other
factors.” Id. at 1029. Here, the district court acted within its discretion in
determining admission of the evidence was proper because the testimony of the
alleged victim that she was raped was challenged by the defendant who testified
that she consented. See id. Furthermore, the prior sex crime had strong probative
value because of the similar modus operandi. See id.
Caplette’s reliance on Roper v. Simmons, 543 U.S. 551 (U.S. 2005) for the
proposition that juvenile crimes show less propensity to recommit such acts as an
adult is misplaced. Roper dealt only with the cruel and unusual imposition of the
death penalty on those below eighteen. Id. at 555-56. Although it relied in part on
sociological evidence that juveniles were less likely to be morally culpable, this
insight is not sufficient to overturn established and controlling Ninth Circuit
jurisprudence in an unrelated area of the law where Congressional intent was to
admit all prior sex crimes. Compare Fed. R. Evid. 413 (admitting all prior sex

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crimes) with Fed. R. Evid. 609(b) (only allowing prior convictions for
impeachment if they are less than ten years old). The fact that the prior crime was
committed by Caplette while he was a juvenile may be an appropriate
consideration in determining whether to admit evidence of that crime, but under
our established case law evidence of a juvenile crime is not categorically
inadmissible. The district court did not abuse its discretion in admitting Caplette’s
prior sexual assault conviction.
AFFIRMED.

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