554
Ginsburg, J., dissenting
* * *
Petitioner Scott Leslie Carmell began sexually abusing his stepdaughter, "K. M.," in the spring of 1991, when K. M. was 13 years old. He continued to do so through March 1995. The specific question before the Court concerns Carmell's sexual assault on K. M. in June 1992, when K. M. was 14.1 K. M. did not inform anyone about that assault or about any of Carmell's other sexual advances toward her until sometime around March 1995, when she told a friend and then her mother, Eleanor Alexander. Alexander went to the police, and Carmell was arrested and charged in a 15-count indictment.
Under Article 38.07 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure as it stood at the time of the assault, a conviction for sexual assault was supportable on the uncorroborated testimony of the victim if the victim was younger than 14 years old at the time of the offense. If the victim was 14 years old or older, however, the victim's testimony could support a conviction only if that testimony was corroborated by other evidence. One form of corroboration, specifically described in Article 38.07 itself, was known as "outcry": The victim's testimony could support a conviction if he or she had informed another person, other than the defendant, about the offense within six months of its occurrence. Tex. Code Crim. Proc. Ann., Art. 38.07 (Vernon 1983).
Article 38.07 was amended in 1993. Under the new version, which was in effect at the time of Carmell's trial, the victim's uncorroborated testimony can support a conviction as long as the victim was under 18 years of age at the time of the offense. Tex. Code Crim. Proc. Ann., Art. 38.07 (Vernon Supp. 2000). The corroboration requirement con-1 The Court correctly notes that Carmell's ex post facto challenge applies equally to three other counts on which he was convicted. Ante, at 518- 519. This Court's grant of review, however, was limited to the first question presented in Carmell's petition for certiorari, which encompassed only the count charging the June 1992 assault. Pet. for Cert. 4.
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