Opinion ID: 505548
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Admission of Wendy's Out-Of-Court Identification

Text: 16 Defendant also challenges the district court's admission of Wendy's out-of-court statement to social worker Linda Heilman that Damian Azure was the individual who had abused her. Heilman was the government's first witness in its case-in-chief. She testified that Wendy and her sister Melissa were brought to social services personnel by their father, Daniel Lozensky, because he was concerned about their treatment. Heilman questioned Wendy about possible physical abuse; she then learned from Wendy about repeated sexual abuse. Heilman was allowed to testify, over defendant's objection, that Wendy identified Azure as the person who had sexually abused her. 17 In United States v. Shaw we observed that this Court has, on several occasions, approved the admission of testimony by an adult concerning what a child abuse victim told the adult about an abusive situation. See 824 F.2d at 609; United States v. Dorian, 803 F.2d 1439, 1443-46 (8th Cir.1986); United States v. Cree, 778 F.2d 474, 476-78 (8th Cir.1985); United States v. Renville, 779 F.2d 430, 439-41 (8th Cir.1985). In Shaw, we held that a social worker's testimony was admissible under the residual hearsay exception contained in Fed.R.Evid. 803(24) because it met the five requirements of the rule, 8 including the requirement that the evidence be more probative than the testimony offered by the victim. Id. at 608-10. 18 In reviewing defendant's initial conviction in this case, however, we had expressed doubt about the admissibility of Heilman's testimony under Rule 803(24). We directed the court to carefully reconsider the admissibility of Wendy's out-of-court statement, because we believed Wendy's testimony identifying Azure as the individual who had abused her would be more probative than Heilman's. See 801 F.2d at 342. On retrial, the government did not argue that Heilman's testimony was more probative than Wendy's on the issue of who had abused Wendy. Instead, the government contended the testimony was offered for a non-hearsay purpose, namely, to explain why the investigation focussed on Azure. The trial court accepted this argument and admitted the testimony, expressly cautioning the jury that Heilman's testimony cannot be considered by the jury as proof that Damian Azure was a person who sexually abused the child. 19 The government continues to argue on appeal that the statement was properly admitted for a non-hearsay purpose, but we cannot agree. The only possible relevance of Wendy's identification of Azure and of the government's subsequent investigation of him is that he in fact was the person who abused her. Having said this, however, we must consider whether the court's admission of the identification testimony requires a reversal of the defendant's conviction. In the circumstances of this case, we find it does not. 20 As we have previously noted, [t]he primary justification for the exclusion of hearsay is the lack of any opportunity for the adversary to cross-examine the absent declarant whose out-of-court statement is introduced into evidence. United States v. Bohr, 581 F.2d 1294, 1304 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, 439 U.S. 958, 99 S.Ct. 361, 58 L.Ed.2d 351 (1978), (citations omitted). [W]here the declarant is also a witness, the rationale of the hearsay rule does not apply. Id. In this case, Wendy was a witness and was subject to cross-examination by the defendant. Her statement to Heilman was corroborated by Wendy's own unimpeached testimony, by the testimony of her two sisters, and by the evidence in Dr. Keene's medical records that Wendy identified Azure as the individual who had abused her. See United States v. Shaw, 824 F.2d at 608; United States v. Renville, 779 F.2d 430, 435-39 (8th Cir.1985). 21 In other words, the government's case against the defendant was very strong, and Heilman's testimony was only one of several instances where Wendy identified Azure as her abuser. See United States v. Rabbitt, 583 F.2d 1014, 1029 (8th Cir.1978), cert. denied, 439 U.S. 1116, 99 S.Ct. 1022, 59 L.Ed.2d 75 (1979). The trial judge cautioned the jury that Wendy's out-of-court statement could not be considered as proof of Azure's guilt, and, in view of the entire record in this case, we conclude that its admission could not have had substantial influence on the outcome of the case. See United States v. Slader, 791 F.2d 655, 657 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 107 S.Ct. 464, 93 L.Ed.2d 409 (1986); United States v. Reed, 724 F.2d 677, 679 (8th Cir.1984). Accordingly, we hold that any error in admitting Wendy's out-of-court statement to Heilman was harmless. 22