Opinion ID: 1657549
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Photo Lineup

Text: At approximately 3:30 p.m. on the afternoon of April 2, 1993, Officer McWhirter, accompanied by Cynthia Emerson, a supervisor with the Department of Human Services, went to Ashley's grandparents' home to visit with Ashley. They took Ashley outside, and she told them what happened to her mother, which was related by Officer McWhirter at trial. After the statement, the police officer showed her seven photographs, one of whom was Johnson. She was told to look closely at the photographs. She went through the photographs carefully and selected Johnson's picture. Officer McWhirter then retrieved the photographs, shuffled them, and showed them to Ashley a second time. He asked her to look carefully again. She went back through the pictures and again she selected Johnson as the culprit. The trial court permitted testimony of the selection by the police officer as an excited utterance. We conclude that allowing this hearsay testimony as an excited utterance was an abuse of discretion. Rule 803(2) of the Arkansas Rules of Evidence defines the excited utterance exception to the hearsay rule: A statement relating to a startling event or condition made while the declarant was under the stress of excitement caused by the event or condition. This court has, on numerous occasions, applied this exception to cases involving the testimony of young children who may, or may not, eventually testify at trial. The basic requirements of the excited utterance exception are as follows: First there must be an occasion which excites the declarant. Second, the [s]tatement must be uttered during the period of excitement and must express the declarant's reaction to the occasion. In practice, these tend to merge together. If there was a sudden event which startled the declarant, his ensuing utterance will be assumed to be his reaction to the stimulus; if the statement appears to be excited, it will be assumed the occasion was exciting. Smith v. State, 303 Ark. 524, 529-30, 798 S.W.2d 94, 97 (1990) (quoting 4 D. Louisell, Federal Evidence § 439 (1980)). By allowing Officer McWhirter to testify about Ashley's photo selection, Johnson contends he was denied his right to confront Ashley as guaranteed under the Sixth Amendment. The right of confrontation provides two types of protection for a criminal defendant: the right physically to face those who testify against him and the opportunity to conduct effective cross-examination. Delaware v. Fensterer, 474 U.S. 15, 106 S.Ct. 292, 88 L.Ed.2d 15 (1985); Suggs v. State, 317 Ark. 541, 879 S.W.2d 428, reh'g denied, 317 Ark. 547-A, 879 S.W.2d 432 (1994); Bowden v. State, 301 Ark. 303, 783 S.W.2d 842 (1990). Johnson's counsel contends that he was foreclosed from asking Ashley questions such as: how was she able to see Johnson, how long did she see him, was her view blocked by furniture, were the lights on, and so forth. The United States Supreme Court discussed the Confrontation Clause and exceptions to the Hearsay Rule in Idaho v. Wright, 497 U.S. 805, 110 S.Ct. 3139, 111 L.Ed.2d 638 (1990): In Ohio v. Roberts, 448 U.S. 56, 100 S.Ct. 2531, 65 L.Ed.2d 597 (1980), we set forth a general approach for determining when incriminating statements admissible under an exception to the hearsay rule also meet the requirements of the Confrontation Clause. 448 U.S., at 65, 100 S.Ct. at 2538-39. We noted that the Confrontation Clause operates in two separate ways to restrict the range of admissible hearsay. Ibid. First, in conformance with the Framers' preference for face-to-face accusation, the Sixth Amendment establishes a rule of necessity. In the usual case ..., the prosecution must either produce, or demonstrate the unavailability of, the declarant whose statement it wishes to use against the defendant. Ibid. (citations omitted). Second, once a witness is shown to be unavailable, his statement is admissible only if it bears adequate `indicia of reliability.' Reliability can be inferred without more in a case where the evidence falls within a firmly rooted hearsay exception. In other cases, the evidence must be excluded, at least absent a showing of particularized guarantees of trustworthiness. Id., at 66, 100 S.Ct. at 2539 (footnote omitted); see also Mancusi v. Stubbs, 408 U.S. 204, 213, 92 S.Ct. 2308, 2313, 33 L.Ed.2d 293 (1972). Wright, 497 U.S. at 814-815, 110 S.Ct. at 3145-47 (emphasis added). The description by Officer McWhirter of how Ashley studied the photographs and made her two selections of Johnson's photograph smack of a deliberate and reflective act by the young girl and not of conduct we associate with spontaneity, excitement, or impulsiveness. Officer McWhirter testified at the omnibus hearing that he handed the photographs to Ashley like a deck of cards. He stated that she went through them once or twice and that he told her to make sure she looked at them good. She chose Johnson's photograph, and Officer McWhirter repeated the exercise. The evidence was a critical cog in the State's case, and the defense was completely thwarted in its ability to explore the matter through cross-examination of the declarant. This is not a case where a declarant is shown a picture by a family member and shrieks an identification. See United States v. Napier, 518 F.2d 316 (9th Cir.1975), cert. denied, 423 U.S. 895, 96 S.Ct. 196, 46 L.Ed.2d 128 (1975). We know of no case in any jurisdiction which stands for the proposition that a request to identify followed by a deliberate choosing of an offender from a lineup such as we have here qualifies as an excited utterance. The testimony by Officer McWhirter of Ashley's selection from the photo lineup should have been excluded as unreliable hearsay and as running contrary to Johnson's right to confront the witnesses against him. We reverse the trial court on this point and remand for a new trial. Because many of the points raised in this appeal may occur again at retrial, we will address them. However, since we hold that the testimony of the photo lineup is inadmissible hearsay, we need not address the issue raised concerning the reliability of that lineup. There is the possibility that Ashley will be deemed competent to testify at a retrial of this matter, which would bring the lineup's legitimacy back into play. Nevertheless, we view that contingency as too speculative for us to consider the point.