Opinion ID: 656636
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The threat statement

Text: 37 The government asserts that the threat statement also is admissible under the exception to the hearsay rule contained in Rule 803(4). We disagree. Ms. Joe told Dr. Smoker that she was afraid sometimes because her husband had threatened to kill her if he ever caught her with another man. This statement is inadmissible under Rule 803(4) because it fails to satisfy the rule's requirements--the statement does not describe medical history, symptoms, pain, sensations, or the inception or general character of the cause of the alleged rape injury for which Ms. Joe was being treated. See Fed.R.Evid. 803(4). Because the threat statement does not fall under any other hearsay exception, we conclude that the district court erred in admitting it over the defendant's objection. 38 This does not end our analysis, however, because we must determine whether the erroneous admission of the threat statement was harmless. Because Joe contends that the admission of the threat statement violated his rights under the Confrontation Clause, we apply the constitutional harmless error standard of review. A constitutional error may be deemed harmless only if it was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. Chapman v. California, 386 U.S. 18, 24, 87 S.Ct. 824, 828, 17 L.Ed.2d 705 (1967). 39 Based on our careful review of the record, we conclude that the error in admitting the threat statement was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. In addition to the threat statement, the record is replete with evidence from which the jury could infer Joe's intent to commit the murders. Moreover, the prosecution did not focus on the threat, referring to it only one time in the rebuttal portion of his closing argument. In this larger context, we find that the erroneous admission of the threat statement was harmless even under the constitutional harmless error standard.