Opinion ID: 658172
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Statement Admitted as an Excited Utterance

Text: 39 Ignacio also objects to the trial court's admission of the victim's statements to Melinda Ignacio under the excited utterance exception. Under this exception, 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 may be admitted. 6 Guam Code Ann. Sec. 803(2). In evaluating whether or not the victim's statements to her babysitter come within this exception, we consider the nature of the startling event and the time-frame within which the statements were made. Fed.R.Evid. 803(2), Advisory Committee's Note. 40 In this case, the molestation of the victim by an adult male family member was likely extremely traumatic and we can assume that the child still would have been under the stress of it when Melinda Ignacio returned. United States v. Nick, 604 F.2d 1199 (9th Cir.1979) (holding that a three-year-old victim's statements to his mother within hours of the act of molestation were admissible under the excited utterance exception, Fed.R.Evid. 803(2)). Cf. Morgan v. Foretich, 846 F.2d 941, 947 (4th Cir.1988) (finding that a four-year-old victim's statements to her mother about molestation which occurred the previous night should have been admitted under the excited utterance exception to hearsay). Since the excited utterance exception is firmly rooted, White, --- U.S. at ----, 112 S.Ct. at 742-743, the Confrontation Clause was not violated by the admission of this evidence.