Opinion ID: 1196239
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: testimony of stephanie ryan

Text: Ryan also claimed in a pretrial motion that Stephanie Ryan (Stephanie), his five-year-old daughter, was incompetent to testify. Stephanie inaccurately stated during her deposition that she heard her mother say Please don't kill me when the police were in the trailer. As Keri was dead at the time the officers arrived, this statement was verifiably inaccurate. Additionally, Ryan claimed that Keri's parents, who took custody of the children after the shootings, bore undisputed malice toward Ryan and had influenced Stephanie's proposed testimony. The trial judge read Stephanie's deposition and found that while there were some inconsistencies in the child's testimony, she was competent to testify. At trial, Stephanie demonstrated that she knew her birthday, her age, where she went to school, her address, her telephone number, and the names and ages of the people and animals with whom she lived. She remembered that she used to live in Green River in a trailer with her parents. She remembered her teacher and fellow students from her time in school in Green River. She stated that she knew the difference between the truth and a lie and gave examples of each. She also stated that she understood the oath to be a promise to God. Stephanie then testified that on December 11, 1996, her parents had been fighting throughout the day. She remembered that her mother made her Spaghettios for dinner. She testified that Ryan telephoned his employer and stated that he could not come to work that evening. This testimony was corroborated by Ryan's employer. Stephanie then testified that she heard Ryan say, We're going to work this out until we both die. At some point later in the evening, Stephanie also heard Keri say, Please don't kill me. Consistent with her deposition testimony, Stephanie stated that officers were present when she heard her mother beg for her life. The State also presented testimony from Keri's parents and a counselor from Southwest Counseling Service who interviewed Stephanie in April of 1997, which showed that Stephanie's testimony had remained consistent throughout the period between the shootings and trial. The competency of child witnesses is determined by the application of a five-part test. The child must demonstrate: (1) an understanding of the obligation to speak the truth on the witness stand; (2) the mental capacity at the time of the occurrence concerning which he is to testify, to receive an accurate impression of it; (3) a memory sufficient to retain an independent recollection of the occurrence; (4) the capacity to express in words his memory of the occurrence; and (5) the capacity to understand simple questions about it. English v. State, 982 P.2d 139, 145 (Wyo. 1999), (quoting Larsen v. State, 686 P.2d 583, 585 (Wyo.1984)). Moreover, we have said that, Intelligence, not age, is the guiding criteria in determining the competency of a witness. Id. (quoting Baum v. State, 745 P.2d 877, 879 (Wyo.1987)). Stephanie demonstrated an understanding of the obligation to speak the truth by her statement that the oath was a promise to God. The accuracy with which she recalled the verifiable details about the night her mother was shot demonstrates that she had sufficient mental capacity to receive an accurate impression of the event. That Stephanie's memory proved fallible on one point does not demonstrate the absence of an independent recollection. Her memory of the event as a whole must be considered in ascertaining whether she actually had an independent recollection of the events. Clearly, she did. Her recitation of the events to which she was privy on that night has not changed since her initial interview, and much of her testimony has been corroborated without her knowledge. There is no question that Stephanie has been able to communicate what she recalled and to understand simple questions about the event. Regarding Ryan's claims that Stephanie has been tainted by her grandparents, we find no evidence supporting such a claim. Recently, in English, supra, we stated that a party claiming that a child's testimony has been tainted by improper influences must show some evidence of improper influence before a competency hearing is necessary. English, 982 P.2d at 146. Ryan has failed to present any evidence that Stephanie's maternal grandparents, the prosecution, or anyone else, influenced her testimony by either undue suggestiveness or outright coercion. We find that the district court's determination that Stephanie was competent to testify was proper.