## Facts

- Heather Red Cloud reported that Jason Adam Pumpkin Seed sexually assaulted her and underwent a hospital sexual-assault examination.
- Medical staff documented injuries to Red Cloud’s back, knee, lip, and elbow.
- During the exam, Red Cloud denied consensual intercourse within the prior 72 hours.
- The rape kit revealed foreign pubic hair and semen in Red Cloud’s vaginal area.
- After a federal grand jury indicted Pumpkin Seed, FBI testing determined Pumpkin Seed was not the source of the semen or pubic hair.
- Red Cloud later admitted she had a consensual sexual encounter about one day before the alleged assault and initially withheld it because the man was married.
- The defense sought to introduce evidence of that encounter to (1) show an alternative source of semen, pubic hair, and possibly injuries, and (2) support a theory that Red Cloud fabricated the allegation to explain a potential pregnancy or sexually transmitted disease.

## Issues

1. Whether the district court erred under Federal Rule of Evidence 412 by excluding evidence of the complainant’s recent consensual sexual encounter offered to show another source of semen, pubic hair, or injuries.
2. Whether exclusion of that evidence violated the defendant’s constitutional right to present a defense by limiting proof of an alleged motive to fabricate.

## Decision

- The Eighth Circuit affirmed the conviction.
- The court held the district court did not abuse its discretion in excluding the proffered sexual-history evidence under Rule 412.
- The court held the exclusion did not violate the Sixth Amendment right to present a defense.

## Legal Principles

- Federal Rule of Evidence 412 generally bars evidence of a complainant’s prior sexual behavior, subject to limited exceptions, including evidence offered to prove someone other than the accused was the source of semen, injury, or other physical evidence. Fed. R. Evid. 412(b)(1)(A).
- A district court may exclude sexual-history evidence as cumulative when an “other source” for physical evidence can be established through less intrusive proof (such as laboratory results).
- Rule 412(b)(1)(A) does not require admission where the connection between the prior sexual encounter and claimed injuries or other physical evidence is speculative or lacks an evidentiary foundation.
- The constitutional right to present a defense does not entitle a defendant to introduce marginally relevant or speculative sexual-history evidence otherwise excluded by Rule 412.
- Appellate review of Rule 412 evidentiary rulings is for abuse of discretion, with deference to the district court’s assessment of probative value and the rule’s protective purposes.

## Conclusion

The Eighth Circuit upheld the exclusion of evidence that the complainant had recent consensual sex with another man, concluding that laboratory results already established an alternative source for semen and pubic hair, the asserted linkage to injuries and fabrication motive was speculative, and Rule 412’s application did not infringe the defendant’s right to present a defense.


United States v. Pumpkin Seed, 572 F.3d 552 (8th Cir. 2009)