Opinion ID: 1986204
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Victim's Friend's Status as a Juvenile Offender on Probation

Text: The defendant complains that it was an abuse of discretion and a denial of his constitutional right to confront his accusers for the court to preclude him from utilizing the victim's knowledge of her friend's involvement with juvenile probation for the purpose of impeaching the victim and her friend. When the evidence, as here, is proffered by a criminal defendant, and the State argues that the admission of the evidence would unfairly prejudice its case, the defendant's constitutional right to confront [2] and cross-examine the witness against him significantly circumscribes the court's discretion to exclude the evidence. State v. Graves, 638 A.2d 734, 737 (Me.1994), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 115 S.Ct. 90, 130 L.Ed.2d 41 (1994). Here, the defense asserted the theory that the thirteen year old victim believed, albeit mistakenly so, that she could be sent to the Youth Center for truancy, and that this belief was corroborated in her mind by the belief that her friend who was on probation could be sent to the Youth Center for her truancy on the day at issue. Because of this belief, the defendant theorized, the victim was motivated to fabricate the offense with which the defendant was charged. The defendant argued that the victim's knowledge of her friend's probationary status and her knowledge of the potential that her friend would be confined to the Youth Center go right to the heart of the victim's need to fabricate. A fundamental component of the right to confront one's accuser secures for the criminal defendant the right to cross-examine to explore the motivations of the witness to testify. Davis v. Alaska, 415 U.S. 308, 316, 94 S.Ct. 1105, 1110, 39 L.Ed.2d 347 (1974); State v. Graves, 638 A.2d at 738. In this case it was not an abuse of discretion when the court precluded the defendant from utilizing the victim's knowledge of a friend's involvement with juvenile probation for the purpose of impeaching the victim. Prior to proffering the evidence, the defendant had not established, nor did he represent or suggest he could establish, what the victim believed would be the consequence of her unexcused absence from school. The court properly applied the balancing test contained in M.R.Evid. 403 and excluded the evidence of the victim's knowledge of her friend's probationary status. Moreover, through the victim's own testimony, the defendant established the victim knew that her mother had contacted the police to report her missing, and she was also aware that she would be punished by her mother for running away. Thus, by alternative means, the defense was able to establish its theory that the victim was motivated to fabricate the sexual contact with the defendant. Because the trial court was never presented with an opportunity to rule on whether the victim's friend could be questioned about her probationary status, we find no merit in the defendant's contention that he was denied the right to cross-examine the victim's friend on that issue. We review for obvious error affecting substantial rights, M.R.Crim.P. 52(b), and on this record, that error was not established. See Davis, 415 U.S. at 317-18, 94 S.Ct. at 1110-11 (holding state trial court deprived defendant of his constitutional right to confront when precluded from cross-examining witness as to his probation status; defense sought to establish that defendant's fear of probation revocation created bias).