Opinion ID: 1975189
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Whether Corroborating Circumstances Clearly Indicate the Trustworthiness of the Statement

Text: Having established that the declarant is unavailable, a defendant who seeks the admission of a declaration against penal interest must also demonstrate that there exist corroborating circumstances that clearly indicate the trustworthiness of the statement. The Notes of the Advisory Committee on Proposed Rules do not set forth with particularity what circumstances might satisfy the corroboration requirement, but it states that the corroboration requirement must be construed in such a manner as to effectuate its purpose of circumventing fabrication. Fed.R.Evid. Advisory Committee's Note to Rule 804, Subdiv. (b), Exception (3). See generally S. Saltzburg and K. Redden, Federal Rules of Evidence Manual 602-03 (2d ed. 1977). Accordingly, the proponent of a proffered declaration against penal interest must overcome a significant burden under the rule we adopt today. He must demonstrate that the statement was made under circumstances clearly indicating its trustworthiness. While this corroboration requirement does not require an absolute guarantee of the accuracy of the proffered statement, see United States v. Barrett, 539 F.2d 244, 253 (1st Cir.1976), statements which are inherently untrustworthy or statements which were made under circumstances such that a reasonable person would doubt their veracity should be excluded. See United States v. Guillette, 547 F.2d 743 (2d Cir.1976), cert. denied, 434 U.S. 839, 98 S.Ct. 132, 54 L.Ed.2d 102 (1977); United States v. Bagley, 537 F.2d 162 (5th Cir.1976), cert. denied, 429 U.S. 1075, 97 S.Ct. 816, 50 L.Ed.2d 794 (1977). The Supreme Court in Chambers v. Mississippi, 410 U.S. 284, 93 S.Ct. 1038, 35 L.Ed.2d 297 (1973), referred to a number of general considerations that are relevant to an inquiry as to the trustworthiness of declarations against penal interest: (1) the time of the declaration and the party to whom the declaration was made; (2) the existence of corroborating evidence in the case; [and] (3) the extent to which the declaration is really against the declarant's penal interest. . . . [ United States v. Guillette, supra at 754, citing Chambers v. Mississippi, supra, 410 U.S. at 300-01, 93 S.Ct. 1038.] We now discuss each of those considerations in turn.
A number of courts have focused on the time of the declaration in determining whether the statement is trustworthy. This focus on time is based on the notion that declarations made shortly after the crime for which an accused is charged are often more reliable than those made after a lapse of time. Courts therefore have been more solicitous of those declarations because the absence of reflection under some circumstances may lessen the opportunity for fabrication. For example, in Chambers v. Mississippi, supra , the Court observed that the fact that the declaration was made shortly after the crime was a strong indication of reliability. Id. at 300, 93 S.Ct. 1038. In contrast, the court in United States v. Guillette, supra , found that the declarant's inculpatory statement which was made some four months after the crime was too attenuated and remote to provide assurance of reliability. Id. at 759. See United States v. Satterfield, 572 F.2d 687, 690 (9th Cir.1978) (two year lapse between crime and declaration casts doubt on reliability of statement). [14] Of course the mere fact that the declaration was made after a lapse of time does not in and of itself render the statement unreliable. Reflection may also generate a trustworthy statement. The existence of a close relationship between the declarant and the witness also may provide indications of trustworthiness. When the declarant reveals the inculpatory statement to close friends and relatives, some courts have found this to be a sufficient indication of reliability, see, e. g., Chambers v. Mississippi, supra, 410 U.S. at 300, 93 S.Ct. 1038; Debinder v. United States, supra, 112 U.S.App.D.C. at 344, 303 F.2d at 204, because it indicates that the declarant was aware of his potential criminal liability and therefore revealed the statement only to those persons whom he thought he could trust. The guarantee of trustworthiness stems from the existence of no motive on the part of the declarant to falsify. [15] However, the declarant may make an inculpatory statement to an individual or public official with whom he has no close relation, yet the statement may display strong indications of reliability. See, e. g., United States v. Thomas, 571 F.2d 285, 290 (5th Cir.1978) (fact that inculpatory declaration was made to the United States Magistrate presents strong assurance of reliability); Thomas v. State, supra, 186 Md. at 447-48, 47 A.2d at 44 (the declarant confessed to police officers during the course of their investigation of the crime for which the accused was later charged). An inculpatory statement made to a police officer may be distinctly trustworthy because the declarant may be assumed to have been immediately aware of the consequences of such a statement. At the same time, a motive to falsify and exculpate oneself may be present in communicating with the police, and a trial judge will take this possibility into consideration when initially determining the inculpatory nature of the proffered statement.
Where the evidence in the case suggests that the declarant and not the accused may have committed the crime, a number of courts have found that the statement should be admitted. See People v. Lettrich, supra, 413 Ill. at 178-79, 108 N.E.2d at 491-492; Hines v. Commonwealth, supra, 136 Va. at 750, 117 S.E. at 844. In Hines the third party declarant who had admitted committing the crime for which the defendant was charged appeared to be as closely linked to the crime as the defendant. He had a weapon that was of the same caliber as the murder weapon; he was the same size as the man seen running from the scene of the crime; and prior to the crime he had threatened to kill a police officer. The court found that this other evidence tended to corroborate the statement of the declarant. Id. Not every case in which an accused proffers a declaration against penal interest will present such strong evidence linking the declarant to the crime. [16] Nor should such strong evidence be required; the trial court should not place the accused in the role of a prosecutor, having to prove the declarant's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Where such evidence does exist, it should be viewed as strong corroborating circumstances tending to indicate the trustworthiness of the statement. [17]
In determining whether a declaration against penal interest is trustworthy, the trial court must ascertain the extent to which the statement is against the declarant's penal interest. See Henson v. United States, supra . Some proffered declarations will no doubt be excluded because the statement, although facially against the declarant's penal interest, could not subject the declarant to criminal liability. Under these circumstances, the non-existence of potential criminal liability poses no deterrent to falsification. Where the declarant has already been convicted of a crime before making the declaration and only the possibility of a longer period of incarceration exists as a deterrent to fabrication, some courts have deemed the extent of the penal interest insufficient to guarantee the accuracy and trustworthiness of the statement. See Henson v. United States, supra ; United States v. Dovico, 380 F.2d 325 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 389 U.S. 944, 88 S.Ct. 308, 19 L.Ed.2d 302 (1967). Similarly, where the declarant makes a statement after acquittal and double jeopardy is a bar to further prosecution, penal liability may not be sufficiently implicated to be admissible. Moreover, a statement rendered under a grant of immunity presents similar weaknesses. See United States v. Gonzalez, 559 F.2d 1271, 1273 (5th Cir.1977) (statement made under offer of immunity lessens reliability). See Note, Declarations Against Penal Interest: Standards of Admissibility Under an Emerging Majority Rule, supra at 157-58. Undoubtedly there will be proffered declarations in which portions are inculpatory, other portions are neutral or collateral as to the declarant's penal interest, and still other portions are self-serving or exculpatory. As a preliminary matter, the trial judge must determine that the statement is not so colored by the exculpatory portions as to render the statement as a whole exculpatory, i. e., not so far tended to subject him to . . . criminal liability, Fed.R.Evid. 804(b)(3). After this initial inquiry, the extent to which the relevant portions of the statement are against the declarant's penal interest must be determined. While we are not called upon here to decide whether all of a statement containing a declaration against penal interest is admissible, compare 5 Wigmore, supra § 1465, at 271 (would allow in full statement) with McCormick, supra § 279, at 675-77 (would allow in only disserving and collateral portions), at a minimum the disserving portions are admissible. United States v. Barrett, 539 F.2d 244, 252 (1st Cir.1976) (admitting collateral portion along with inculpatory portion); People v. Leach, 15 Cal.3d 419, 441, 124 Cal.Rptr. 752, 767, 541 P.2d 296, 311 (1975) (excluding any portion of a statement against penal interest not itself specifically disserving to the interests of the declarant); State v. Abrams, 140 N.J.Super. 232, 356 A.2d 26 (App.Div.1976), aff'd 72 N.J. 342, 370 A.2d 852 (1977) (whole statement admissible). Factors to be considered include the extent to which collateral portions are tied up with or implied by the inculpatory portions. See Note, Declarations Against Penal Interest: Standards of Admissibility Under an Emerging Majority Rule, supra at 165-68. Examination of the above considerations reveals that the corroboration requirement of the rule we announce today involves no fixed criteria. The three factors discussed above are not exhaustive and no one factor will be dispositive. Often the presence of one factor will be instructive as to whether there exists a sufficient guarantee of trustworthiness. In other cases a more complete inquiry will be required. Beyond the preceding discussion, we find it unnecessary to set forth the myriad of factual alternatives which may satisfy the corroboration requirement of declarations against penal interest. Such judgments are better left to the determination of the trial court. The circuits have expressed conflicting views as to the proper scope of appellate review of trial court rulings on the admissibility of declarations against penal interest. The Fifth Circuit has adopted a clearly erroneous standard. See United States v. Bagley, supra at 166-67. The Second and Ninth Circuits have adopted an abuse of discretion standard. See United States v. Guillette, supra at 745; United States v. Satterfield, supra at 690. We are in agreement with the views expressed in the Fifth Circuit. The trial court's conclusion that a statement is against the declarant's penal interest is clearly a legal question. However, the determination of whether a statement was made and whether the declaration is trustworthy both involve the application of a legal standard to factual findings. The trial court must assess the credibility of the witness repeating the statement and examine all the evidence before ruling. Such a procedure is not unlike the factual and legal findings the trial court must make when considering issues such as voluntariness of a waiver of Miranda rights, see, Peoples v. United States, D.C.App., 395 A.2d 41, 43 (1978), voluntariness of confessions, see Taylor v. United States, 380 A.2d 989, 992 (1977), and the consent to search, see Crisafi v. United States, D.C.App., 383 A.2d 1, 4 (1978). Accordingly, in reviewing the trial court's ruling on the admissibility of declarations against penal interest, we will not disturb the trial court's findings unless they are clearly erroneous. See D.C.Code 1973, § 17-305(a).