Opinion ID: 1855985
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 10

Heading: hearsay statements of christopher ranne

Text: Cox next complains that the district court erred by admitting Drouillard's testimony containing Christopher Ranne's out-of-court statement regarding the cause of injuries to his feet, namely, [D]addy poured hot water on [my] feet. Defense counsel's objection to any eliciting of any testimony of statements by any witness who is not present in court, hearsay, is apparently directed to Christopher's statement, admitted into evidence through Drouillard's testimony regarding Christopher's scalded feet. To preserve a claimed error in admission of evidence, a litigant must make a timely objection, which specifies the ground of the objection to the offered evidence. Neb.Evid.R. 103(1)(a), Neb.Rev. Stat. § 27-103(1)(a) (Reissue 1985); State v. Roggenkamp, 224 Neb. 914, 402 N.W.2d 682 (1987); State v. Pointer, 224 Neb. 892, 402 N.W.2d 268 (1987). If a party does not make a timely objection to evidence, the party waives the right on appeal to assert prejudicial error concerning the evidence received without objection. State v. Archbold, 217 Neb. 345, 350 N.W.2d 500 (1984). Perhaps as prognostication of Neb.Evid.R. 103(1)(a), this court observed in Havlicek v. State, 101 Neb. 782, 784-85, 165 N.W. 251, 251-52 (1917): It is the duty of counsel to make his objections so specific that the court may understand the point intended to be raised, and, unless prejudicially erroneous on the point presented, the admission of the evidence to which objection is offered will not be held prejudicially erroneous for some reason which counsel did not suggest at the trial. Unless the objection to offered evidence be sufficiently specific to enlighten the trial court and enable it to pass upon the sufficiency of such objection and to observe the alleged harmful bearing of the evidence from the standpoint of the objector, no question can be presented therefrom in the court of appeal. 5 Jones, Commentaries on Law of Evidence, sec. 893. Both timeliness and specificity of defense counsel's objection in Cox's case are, at best, questionable. In apparent anticipation of a hearsay response, counsel chose to object well in advance of the prosecutor's question to Drouillard, What did he [Christopher] tell you? Consequently, when defense counsel objected, there was no pending question calling for an answer containing hearsay. At the point of the objection, without inquiring into the content of Christopher's conversation with Drouillard, the prosecutor was evidentially establishing the existence of a conversation between Christopher and Drouillard and was in the process of introducing a foundation for prospective admission of the conversation's content as evidence. With respect to timeliness, just as some objections may be procedurally too late, some objections may be procedurally too early. Cox's hearsay objection was, therefore, premature. Furthermore, counsel phrased the objection in the broadest possible terms, any testimony of statements by any witness... not present in court. Given the all-inclusive nature and universality of counsel's objection, the district court had no choice but to overrule the objection. Under the Nebraska Evidence Rules, the hearsay rule does not require exclusion of all out-of-court or extrajudicial statements. See Neb.Evid.R. 803, Neb.Rev.Stat. § 27-803 (Reissue 1985). An extrajudicial statement must be examined to determine whether (1) it is hearsay defined by Neb. Evid.R. 801, Neb.Rev.Stat. § 27-801 (Reissue 1985), and (2) if hearsay, whether any exception to the hearsay rule authorizes admission of the statement into evidence. See, Neb.Evid.R. 803; Neb.Evid.R. 804, Neb.Rev.Stat. § 27-804 (Reissue 1985). To afford a trial court a fair opportunity to examine an out-of-court or extrajudicial statement in the light of the Nebraska Evidence Rules, counsel must direct a hearsay objection to the statement to be excluded pursuant to the objection. Failure to direct a hearsay objection to a particular extrajudicial statement, offered as evidence, may result in a waiver of the right on appeal to assert prejudicial error. See, State v. Roggenkamp, supra ; State v. Archbold, supra . However, we need not decide whether Cox waived his right to claim error regarding Christopher's statement contained in Drouillard's testimony. In a jury trial of a criminal case, whether an error in admitting or excluding evidence reaches a constitutional dimension or not, an erroneous evidential ruling results in prejudice to a defendant unless the State demonstrates that the error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. State v. Olsan, 231 Neb. 214, 436 N.W.2d 128 (1989). See, also, State v. Watkins, 227 Neb. 677, 419 N.W. 2d 660 (1988). Harmless error exists in a jury trial of a criminal case when there is some incorrect conduct by the trial court which, on review of the entire record, did not materially influence the jury in a verdict adverse to a substantial right of the defendant. State v. Watkins, supra at 686, 419 N.W.2d at 666. Erroneous admission of evidence is harmless error and does not require reversal if the evidence erroneously admitted is cumulative and other relevant evidence, properly admitted, or admitted without objection, supports the finding by the trier of fact. State v. Guy, 227 Neb. 610, 419 N.W.2d 152 (1988) (police officer's testimony containing a victim's statement to the officer was erroneously admitted into evidence over the defendant's objection; however, the error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt because other witnesses testified without objection regarding the same details related in the officer's testimony containing hearsay). See, also, State v. Thierstein, 220 Neb. 766, 371 N.W.2d 746 (1985). Cox did not object to Officer Grabowski's testimony, which coincided with the content of Drouillard's testimony concerning Christopher Ranne's response to inquiries about the cause of his burns, namely, Daddy had poured hot water on [my] feet. Furthermore, Joseph Ranne, Christopher's brother, testified in detail regarding Cox's disciplinary practice of placing Christopher in the bathtub and running hot water on Christopher's feet. If Christopher's extrajudicial statement is excluded by the hearsay rule, testimony from Joseph Ranne and Officer Grabowski rendered the admission of Drouillard's testimony, which contained Christopher's statement about the cause of his burns, error which was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. Cox also claims the district court erred in admitting hearsay during the testimony of witnesses in addition to Drouillard. Without an express reference to the statute, as far as we can gather, Cox relies on Neb. Rev.Stat. § 25-1141 (Reissue 1985), which provides: Where an objection has once been made to the admission of testimony and overruled by the court it shall be unnecessary to repeat the same objection to further testimony of the same nature by the same witness in order to save the error, if any, in the ruling of the court whereby such testimony was received. If we assume that Cox is relying on § 25-1141 (perhaps an unwarranted assumption, since Cox did not mention the statute at trial and has not referred to the statute in his appellate brief), then there may be some meaning to Cox's casual comment in his brief: The Court may note here that objection was not made by the defense counsel to the admission of this hearsay for defense counsel had a continuing hearsay objection. Brief for appellant at 6. In the preceding comment, this hearsay refers to various witnesses other than Drouillard and their testimony which Cox claims is hearsay. Certainly, we do note that defense counsel has made no objection regarding the evidence now questioned as hearsay. More important, we also note that Cox's assertion of a continuing hearsay objection is not correlated with any reference to the record which locates or reflects counsel's statement of such objection or ruling by the judge. Believing that absence of any reference to the record is an oversight of counsel, we have examined the nearly 1,000 pages in the four volumes of the bill of exceptions and are unable to locate the hearsay objection claimed by Cox, the objection which Cox asserts was granted a continuing status by the trial court. In order that assignments of error concerning the admission or rejection of evidence may be considered, the Supreme Court requires that appropriate references be made to the specific evidence against which objection is urged. State v. Copple, 224 Neb. 672, 401 N.W.2d 141 (1987); Pulliam v. State, 167 Neb. 614, 94 N.W.2d 51 (1959). As the result of counsel's failure to direct our attention to a specific location in the record, reflecting a continuing hearsay objection, and as a consequence of our inability to locate the claimed objection, notwithstanding our examination for such objection, we must conclude that there is no continuing hearsay objection by Cox. Even if one were to conclude that, during direct examination of Drouillard, defense counsel's objection attained the stature of a proper and continuing objection to hearsay, the exemption from an otherwise necessary objection, available under § 25-1141, applies to further testimony of the same nature by the same witness. It would take a lot of legal legerdemain to transform the objection during Drouillard's testimony into an objection to testimony from other witnesses, some of whom testified 2 days after Drouillard had testified. Therefore, beyond Drouillard's testimony, we consider no witness' testimony in relation to the hearsay rule or any other rule for admissibility of evidence. Cox's claimed error regarding hearsay is without merit.