Opinion ID: 1835563
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Ohio v. Roberts Standard

Text: In Ohio v. Roberts, 448 U.S. 56, 63-64, 100 S.Ct. 2531, 65 L.Ed.2d 597 (1980), the Supreme Court held that the Confrontation Clause establishes a rule of admission of evidence by necessity that accommodates the interests embodied in the centuries old rule against admitting hearsay evidence and that rule's traditional exceptions. [2] Both the Confrontation Clause and the hearsay rule advance the interest of the criminal defendant not to be incriminated by evidence untested in the crucible adversarial of cross-examination. Id. at 63, 100 S.Ct. 2531 (citing Douglas v. Alabama, 380 U.S. 415, 85 S.Ct. 1074, 13 L.Ed.2d 934 (1965)). Both the Confrontation Clause and the hearsay rule also advance the interests of the People in effective law enforcement, and in the development and precise formulation of the rules of evidence applicable in criminal proceedings. Id. at 64, 100 S.Ct. 2531. Thus, both the Confrontation Clause and the hearsay rule balance the competing interests of the criminal defendant and the People in determining whether prior statements by an absent witness may be admissible in a criminal trial. Id. at 64, 100 S.Ct. 2531 (This Court, in a series of cases, has sought to accommodate these competing interests.). In Roberts, 448 U.S. at 65, 100 S.Ct. 2531, the Supreme Court struck the balance between the competing interests of the criminal defendant and the People by framing a two-pronged test for the admissibility of out-of-court statements made in judicial proceedings by a witness who is subsequently absent from the trial. First, the prosecution must show that the witness who made the out-of-court statement is unavailable for trial despite good-faith efforts to locate and present that witness. Id. at 65, 74, 100 S.Ct. 2531. Accord Barber v. Page, 390 U.S. 719, 724-25, 88 S.Ct. 1318, 20 L.Ed.2d 255 (1968) (a witness is not `unavailable' for purposes of the ... exception to the confrontation requirement unless the prosecutorial authorities have made a good-faith effort to obtain his presence at trial). Second, the out-of-court statement must be supported by indicia of trustworthiness. Roberts, 448 U.S. at 65, 100 S.Ct. 2531. Accord Mancusi v. Stubbs, 408 U.S. 204, 216, 92 S.Ct. 2308, 33 L.Ed.2d 293 (1972). These fact-based determinations are entrusted to the sound discretion of the trial court. Nolen v. State, 469 So.2d 1326, 1328 (Ala.Crim.App.1985). In Roberts, 448 U.S. at 75-76, 100 S.Ct. 2531, the Supreme Court held that an out-of-court statement of an absent witness was admissible. The prosecution presented the testimony of one person, the mother of the witness, who stated that she could not find or contact the witness, and presented evidence that the prosecution had made several unsuccessful attempts to subpoena the absent witness. Id. The Supreme Court quoted portions of the opinion of the state court of appeals, which had held that the prosecution had not sufficiently proved a good-faith effort to procure the witness: ` [W]e have no witness from the prosecution to testify ... that no one on behalf of the State could determine [the absent witness's] whereabouts, [or] that anyone had exhausted contact with [a] social worker [who had seen the witness].' Unavailability would have been established, the court said, `[h]ad the State demonstrated that its subpoenas were never actually served on the witness and that they were unable to make contact in any way with the [absent] witness.... Until the [defendants'] voir dire, ... the State had done nothing, absolutely nothing, to show the Court that [the absent witness] would be absent because of unavailability, and they showed no effort having been made to seek out her whereabouts for purpose of trial.' Id. at 60, 100 S.Ct. 2531 (emphasis added) (citation omitted). Despite the prosecution's failure to produce testimony from a member of the prosecution team, and despite other purported deficiencies, the Supreme Court held that the prosecution had sufficiently proved a reasonable good-faith effort by subpoenaing the absent witness and by asking the absent witness's mother about her whereabouts. Id. at 76, 100 S.Ct. 2531. The Supreme Court noted that although the prosecution could have followed up with the social worker by telephone, it was not reasonably required to do so. Id. Thus, the Supreme Court held that the testimony of one witness, who was not a member of the prosecution team, was sufficient to support the admission of the prior testimony of the absent witness, even though all the follow-up leads to find the absent witness had not been exhausted. In this case, not only did the State present more evidence of a good-faith effort to secure the witness than did the prosecution team in Roberts, it also presented evidence that Roberts expressly held goes beyond the requirements of the Confrontation Clause. [3] As the prosecution did in Roberts, 448 U.S. at 76, 100 S.Ct. 2531, the State subpoenaed the absent witness in this case without success. As the prosecution did in Roberts, id. at 75, 100 S.Ct. 2531, the State talked with various members of the absent witness's family in an effort to determine his whereabouts for trial. The State's investigator also talked to people who lived in Williams's neighborhood, Williams's probation officer, a utility company, and the police, in an effort to find Williams. Prior to trial, when the investigator discovered that Williams was wanted by the police, he had a hold put on Williams so that if the jail authorities incarcerated Williams they would contact the investigator. When Williams was arrested, however, the juvenile authorities inadvertently released him before contacting the investigator. [4] Further, unlike the prosecution in Roberts, the State's investigator made follow-up telephone calls in an effort to track down Williams on the day before trial. Moreover, unlike the prosecution in Roberts, the State took the additional step of placing its investigator on the stand for examination and cross-examination. Although the State could have placed one more telephone call or could have sought to obtain a warrant for Williams's arrest, the great improbability that such efforts would have resulted in locating the witness, and would have led to [his] production at trial, neutralizes any intimation that a concept of reasonableness required their execution. Roberts, 448 U.S. at 76, 100 S.Ct. 2531. Thus, the State more than met its burden, as defined by the Supreme Court in Roberts, to show a reasonable good-faith effort to locate the absent witness. The State also met its burden under the second prong of the Confrontation Clause test of admissibility by showing that Williams's out-of-court testimony was supported by indicia of trustworthiness. As with the absent witness's prior statement in Roberts, 448 U.S. at 71-73, 100 S.Ct. 2531, Williams's prior statement was given in open court at a preliminary hearing, and defense counsel was given the opportunity to cross-examine him. As with the defense counsel in Roberts, id. at 71, 100 S.Ct. 2531, Scroggins's defense counsel took advantage of the preliminary hearing to ask Williams questions pertinent to the issue sat trial. Defense counsel thoroughly cross-examined Williams about Scroggins's shooting the victim and about Scroggins's actions immediately thereafter. Thus, as in Roberts, the preliminary-hearing testimony of the absent witness in this case was supported by indicia of trustworthiness ample under the Sixth Amendment's Confrontation Clause to support its admissibility. Accordingly, the trial court did not abuse its discretion in admitting the prior testimony of Williams.