Opinion ID: 1096207
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Whether the trial court erred in admitting out-of-court statements made by the complainant.

Text: Baine contends that statements Susie made to her mother on the day of the alleged last incident should not have been admitted as excited utterances, especially the statements made at home later in the evening. The state contends the trial court properly admitted the statements under evidence rule 803(2), the hearsay exception for excited utterances. According to the record, Susie first began attending Bobbie's Day Care in August, 1984. On the evening of January 29, 1988, Mrs. Daley picked Susie up from the day care at 6:00 p.m. Within two blocks of the day-care center, Susie said, Mom, if I tell you something, do you promise I won't get in trouble? When Ms. Daley assured her daughter that she would not be in trouble, Susie said, Mom, Mr. Red has been playing with my bad spot. Ms. Daley asked her daughter how long this activity had been occurring; her daughter replied that the abuse had occurred throughout the duration of her attendance at the day-care center. Susie told her mother that, on this particular day, Baine had hurt her. Once Ms. Daley and Susie arrived home, Mr. and Ms. Daley asked Susie if the touching could have been an accident. Susie replied, No, not under my clothes. Susie also indicated that Baine had touched her inside her shirt, on her breasts. Later that night, when Susie went to bed, Ms. Daley lay down beside her daughter and talked. Susie related that she hated Christmas at the day-care center because every time she got near the mistletoe Baine would grab her and kiss her. When questioned by her mother, Susie said, Well, mom, it's not like we kiss. Susie further explained, It's like married people kiss. The defense raised no objection to Ms. Daley's recounting Susie's statements. Further, the Court found Susie's statements to be spontaneous and without indication of manufacture. The Court agreed that Ms. Daley could not relate other people's sides of the conversations. At trial, Susie testified. Mississippi's evidentiary rule 803(2) states that, even with the declarant available to testify, the hearsay prohibition does not apply to an excited utterance, [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. Miss.R.Evid. 803(2) (1988). Recently, this Court observed that a child's statements made to her mother on the same day that sexual abuse occurred could arguably have been admissible as excited utterances had they not been given only in response to the mother's questions. In the Interest of C.B., 574 So.2d 1369, 1372 (Miss. 1990); see also Griffith v. State, 584 So.2d 383, 387 (Miss. 1991) (remanding for an 803(2) determination); Mitchell v. State, 539 So.2d 1366, 1369-71 (Miss. 1989) (discussion of rule in other jurisdictions). But see Sanders v. State, 586 So.2d 792, 795 (Miss. 1991) (fact that child makes statements in response to questions does not ipso facto disqualify statements from being considered excited utterances). In Morgan v. Foretich, 846 F.2d 941, 946-48 (4th Cir.1988) the court concluded that a child's description of his abuse three hours after the incident should have been admitted whether or not the child would be competent to be a witness. See also United States v. Iron Shell, 633 F.2d 77, 85-86 (8th Cir.1980), cert. denied, 450 U.S. 1001, 101 S.Ct. 1709, 68 L.Ed.2d 203 (1981) (nine-year-old assault-with-intent-to-rape victim's declarations made 45 to 75 minutes after assault were admissible under 803(2)). According to the Advisory Committee's Note on the equivalent federal rule, for a declaration to instill the confidence required by 803(2), it must have been uttered in a condition of excitement which temporarily stills the capacity of reflection and produces utterances free of conscious fabrication. Fed.R.Evid. 803, Advisory Committee's Note (citing 6 Wigmore § 1747, p. 135) cited in S. Saltzburg & M. Martin, Federal Rules of Evidence Manual, v.1 at 374 (1990). Thus, the weight of authority supports the characterization as an excited utterance of a child's allegations of abuse volunteered within hours after the abuse allegedly occurred. While authorities do not fix a particular time period, the key indicia of trustworthiness appear to be evidence of excitement, voluntariness of statement, and closeness in time of the statement to the alleged incident. In this case, regarding preservation for review, the defense specifically stated, in chambers, that it did not object to Ms. Daley's relating Susie's declarations. At trial the defense objected only to Ms. Daley's testimony about Susie's comments unrelated to the crime or other people's comments. Thus, Baine has not preserved this point for review by this Court. Notwithstanding the defense failure to preserve the error and although the trial court did not specifically mention evidence rule 803(2), the court effectively satisfied the rule's requirements in its finding that Susie's declarations met the Williams v. State, 427 So.2d 100 (Miss. 1983) requirements of spontaneity and non-manufacture. Thus, the court properly admitted Ms. Daley's recitation of Susie's declarations, and the court made its proper ruling of admissibility plain on the record. On both procedural and substantive grounds, the appellant's allegation of error fails in this issue.
The defendant asserts that the trial court improperly allowed as inadmissible hearsay Welfare Department employees, Anita Reginelli and Terri Haltom, psychometrist [3] , Lisa Lilly, and psychologist, Dr. Timothy Sisemore, to relate out-of-court statements Daley had made to them. Baine urges that, because the complaining witness herself, testified, her hearsay declarations cannot have a sufficiently probative value to be admitted under evidence rule 803(24), the residual hearsay exception. Baine contends that the state introduced the hearsay declarations in order to bolster Daley's testimony, thus violating evidence rule 613. Baine asserts that, regarding the testimony of a psychometrist, Lilly, and psychologist, Sisemore, the trial court did not make a finding of trustworthiness before admitting the testimony. Baine also urges that the testimony cannot be considered admissible under 803(4), regarding medical diagnoses and treatment. On July 19, 1988, the defense moved to suppress all of Susie's out-of-court statements as inadmissible hearsay. On July 22, 1988, the trial court held a hearing in order to establish the reliability of the child victim's hearsay declarations. Ms. Lilly, a psychometrist who performs therapy and psychological testing with special emphasis on child abuse, testified that she believed Susie's statements of abuse to be true. Lilly stated that she arrived at this conclusion based upon the details provided by Susie, the manner in which Susie recalled more memorable incidents, the consistency of Susie's account over several recitations, Susie's accompanying display of emotions, Susie's ability to easily recall without delivering a rote, fixed-sequence narrative, and the child-like terms Susie used to describe the incidents. In addition to the manner in which Susie described the abuse, Lilly remarked that Susie's self-image and behavior represented the classic characteristics of a sexually abused child. Terry Haltom, a social-work supervisor with the Welfare Department and an expert in child sexual abuse, testified that she considered Susie's account truthful, based on the child's language, emotion, tone of voice, and provision of details. Haltom stated, All of the various indicators made me believe that she fit this sexual-abuse syndrome and that she was, in fact, telling us the truth and that she had been sexually abused. Anita Reginelli, who works under the supervision of Haltom, also stated that she believed Susie. She stated that Susie appeared embarrassed but, through the use of general, non-leading questions, gave a believable account. The court ruled that the child victim's out-of-court statements, basically the ones that have been disclosed to the defense and made under the statutory requirements, (Miss. Code Ann. § 13-1-403 (1972) would be admissible. The court reserved ruling on the admissibility of Dr. Timothy Sisemore's testimony. In chambers, the trial court reviewed the testimony of Dr. Timothy Sisemore, a clinical psychologist specializing in child psychology of abused children. The court found Sisemore's testimony in compliance with section 13-1-403 of the Mississippi code. In court, Dr. Sisemore discussed the indicia by which he assesses the reliability of a child's complaint. He then described how Susie's statements met these indicia. Dr. Sisemore saw Susie eight times and formed the confident opinion that she had been sexually abused. He related Susie's detailed descriptions of her abuse. The current, relevant Mississippi rule appears in evidence rule 803(25), the tender years hearsay exception: A statement made by a child of tender years describing any act of sexual contact performed with or on the child by another is admissible in evidence if: (a) the court finds, in a hearing conducted outside the presence of the jury, that the time, content, and circumstances of the statement provide substantial indicia of reliability; and (b) the child either (1) testifies at the proceedings; or (2) is unavailable as a witness: provided, that when the child is unavailable as a witness, such statement may be admitted only if there is corroborative evidence of the act. Miss.R.Evid. 803(25) (1991); see also Griffith v. State, 584 So.2d 383, 386 (Miss. 1991). Also relevant is Rule 803(4) of the 1991 Mississippi Rules of Evidence, which governs statements made for the purposes of medical diagnosis or treatment: Statements made for purposes of medical diagnosis or treatment and describing medical history, or past or present symptoms, pain, or sensations, or the inception or general character of the cause or external source thereof insofar as reasonably pertinent to diagnosis or treatment, regardless of to whom the statements are made, or when the statements are made, if the court, in its discretion, affirmatively finds that the proffered statements were made under circumstances substantially indicating their trustworthiness. For purposes of this rule, the term medical refers to emotional and mental health as well as physical health. (emphasis reflects 1991 amendment); see Baine v. State, 604 So.2d 249, 253-254 (Miss. 1992) Baine I; See also United States v. Renville, 779 F.2d 430 (8th Cir.1985). As was noted in a companion case, Baine v. State, 604 So.2d 249, the trial court in 1988 did not have the benefit of the 1991 amendment to Rule 803(4) or the 1989 cases decided by this Court on this issue. Hall v. State, 539 So.2d 1338 (1989); Mitchell v. State, 539 So.2d 1366 (Miss. 1989); Leatherwood v. State, 548 So.2d 389 (Miss. 1989). This Court holds that the instant case is controlled by the same legal analysis and conclusion as in Baine I, i.e., that the trial court did not commit reversible error in admission of this testimony of Reginelli, Haltom, Sisemore, and Lilly. It constituted properly admitted evidence. If this case were remanded, the new 1991 amendment, tender-years exception, 803(25), would support the admission of their testimony. The testimony as admitted in this trial meets the requirements of the rule: the trial court, outside of the jury's presence, found substantial indicia of the declarations' reliability, and Susie testified. Despite the fact that the court reached its conclusions under a now-void statute, [4] the record shows that the court considered criteria which support a conclusion of admissibility under the current amended rules of evidence. In addition to admissibility under 803(25), the 1991 amended medical diagnosis and treatment exception, 803(4), supports the admission of the testimony of Sisemore and Lilly.