A state appellate court reversed a Montgomery County jury’s conviction of a man sentenced to 35 years in prison for raping and abusing a young girl, saying the testimony of a nurse practitioner who examined the victim should not have been allowed.
The Maryland Court of Special Appeals has ordered a new trial for 31-year-old Frederick Roscoe Coates, who court records say has lived in Potomac and Landover. Coates was convicted in May 2005 for sexual offenses against a young girl when she was between 3 and 6 years old.
Coates’ attorneys sought to bar the testimony of Heidi Bresee, a pediatric nurse practitioner at Shady Grove Adventist Hospital, because the victim was not seeking medical treatment from Bresee when she spoke to her 14 months after the abuse had ended.
Medical examiners are granted an exemption to the hearsay rule and can testify in court about conversations with victims when the victims disclosed information to them while seeking medical treatment.
Prior Maryland Court of Special Appeals rulings have said “the rationale behind this exception is that the patient’s statements are apt to be sincere and reliable because the patient knows that the quality and success of the treatment depends upon the accuracy of the information presented to the physician.”
But the court ruled Friday that Bresee had a “dual purpose” for her questions of the child victim: “The details she solicited concerning the sexual abuse and identity of the perpetrator were not relevant to a medical purpose or the child’s health needs.”
Officials with Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler’s office and Montgomery State’s Attorney John McCarthy on Tuesday said they were reviewing the case and contemplating their next move.
Coates is in state custody and eventually will be returned to county custody to await a new trial.
“It’s not a situation where he’s free to walk,” said McCarthy spokesman Seth Zucker.
