State v. Crouse

── State v. Crouse ── Court: Nebraska Court of Appeals Date: May 19, 2026 Category: General IN THE NEBRASKA COURT OF APPEALS MEMORANDUM OPINION AND JUDGMENT ON APPEAL (Memorandum Web Opinion) STATE V. CROUSE NOTICE: THIS OPINION IS NOT DESIGNATED FOR PERMANENT PUBLICATION AND MAY NOT BE CITED EXCEPT AS PROVIDED BY NEB. CT. R. APP. P. § 2-102(E). STATE OF NEBRASKA, APPELLEE, V. FREDRICK C. CROUSE, APPELLANT. Filed May 19, 2026. No. A-25-213. Appeal from the District Court for Butler County: CHRISTINA M. MARROQUIN, Judge. Affirmed. Chad Wythers, of Wythers Law Firm, for appellant. Michael T. Hilgers, Attorney General, and Jordan Osborne for appellee. RIEDMANN, Chief Judge, and BISHOP and WELCH, Judges. BISHOP, Judge. I. INTRODUCTION After a jury trial in the Butler County District Court, Fredrick C. Crouse was convicted of first degree sexual assault of a child. On appeal, Crouse contends that his custodial statement to law enforcement was presented to the jury without a judicial determination that it was freely and voluntarily made. He also claims that the district court erroneously overruled certain hearsay objections made at trial and that his trial counsel was ineffective. We affirm. II. BACKGROUND In December 2023, Deena S. dropped off her two daughters, M.L. (age 7) and L.L. (age 11), at the home of the children’s paternal grandmother, in David City, Nebraska, for a weekend stay. A friend of L.L. from school, E.K. (age 12), also stayed over that weekend. During the visit, -1- L.L. and E.K. shared a bedroom in the home while M.L. and the grandmother slept on the floor on an air mattress in the living room. On the second day of the sleepover, the group picked up Crouse, the grandmother’s then-boyfriend, from his home in Ulysses, Nebraska, and returned to the grandmother’s residence to celebrate a combined Thanksgiving and Christmas. Later that evening, M.L., Crouse, and the grandmother went to lay down on the air mattress. L.L. and E.K. retired to the bedroom. At some point in the night, L.L. left the bedroom to use the restroom and observed Crouse on the air mattress “licking [M.L.’s] crotch area” as the grandmother slept. L.L. retreated to the bedroom, informed E.K. about what she saw, and soon after, M.L. entered. Fearful that Crouse might come into the bedroom, the three girls stacked furniture in front of the door and snuck out of the home through a window. They walked several blocks to a local park, phoned 911, and eventually made their way to a nearby emergency room. While at the hospital, M.L. disclosed that Crouse had forcibly removed her underwear. After a sexual assault investigation, the State charged Crouse by information with first degree sexual assault of a child, a Class IB felony, in violation of Neb. Rev. Stat. § 28-319.01(1)(a) (Reissue 2016). Section 28-319.01(1)(a) makes it unlawful for a person “at least nineteen years of age or older” to “subject[] another person under twelve years of age to sexual penetration.” A two-day jury trial was held in July 2024. Testimony was elicited from multiple witnesses, including the three minor children, Deena, various medical professionals, police officers, and a DNA analyst. The evidence established that Crouse, born in 1973, was 50 years old at the time of the sexual assault. As such, the main factual issue to be resolved by the jury was whether Crouse sexually penetrated M.L. 1. TRIAL EVIDENCE (a) L.L. and E.K.’s Testimony L.L. and E.K. were both called as witnesses by the State. Regarding the sexual assault, L.L. testified that in the late hou