Opinion ID: 1057346
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The excited utterance

Text: ¶ 8. Defendant next takes issue with the admission, as an excited utterance, of a hearsay statement by Justin K., one of the victims of the assault by menace. The statement was elicited by the State during the testimony of Officer Helrich. See V.R.E. 803(2) (allowing admission of statement, though declarant is available as a witness, when the statement relates to a startling event or condition made while the declarant was under the stress of excitement caused by the event or condition). Defendant contends that admitting the statement was error for two reasons: (1) it was not an excited utterance, and therefore its admission violated Rule 803(2); and (2) the statement was testimonial, and its admission violated the Sixth Amendment because defendant was given no opportunity at trial to confront the declarant, Justin K. We conclude that, although admitting the statement was error, it was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. ¶ 9. We first consider defendant's argument that the statement was not an excited utterance within the meaning of Rule 803(2). Our review of trial court evidentiary rulings is deferential, and we reverse only when there is an abuse of discretion resulting in prejudice. State v. Desautels, 2006 VT 84, ¶ 12, 180 Vt. 189, 908 A.2d 463. In order to be admitted as an excited utterance, a hearsay statement must relat[e] to a startling event or condition [and be] made while the declarant was under the stress of excitement caused by the event or condition. V.R.E. 803(2). A statement need not be made immediately after the startling event in order to qualify. State v. Shaw, 149 Vt. 275, 281, 542 A.2d 1106, 1109 (1987). The key inquiry is into the condition of the declarant. Id. No statement may be admitted under the exception unless the declarant's excitement is shown to have been caused by the startling event. State v. Lemay, 2006 VT 76, ¶ 9, 180 Vt. 133, 908 A.2d 430. ¶ 10. At the time of Justin K.'s statement to the police, he was described as [f]lummoxed and all anxious . . . hollering that, you know, somebody had come into the house and pointed a gun at him. As Justin never testified at trial, this statement by the police officer is the only direct evidence of Justin's condition at the time of his statement. The police officer also testified that before making the statement Justin had left the apartment, gone to the store down the block, and returned to the apartment. Upon his return, he told the officer I know what's going on here, I'll tell you. I gotta talk to you. Defendant contends, based principally on this prefatory statement, that the declarant's description of the events in the apartment was a product of reflection, and not a natural statement arising out of the event. We agree that it was error to admit the statement under the excited-utterance exception. ¶ 11. The facts here are different from those in the cases where we have allowed an excited utterance despite the passage of time between the precipitating incident and the statement about it. In Shaw, for example, we held that the trial court did not err by admitting a statement made by a sexual-assault victim more than two hours after the assault, where the evidence established that the victim was shaking, pale . . . hysterical . . . . crying and trembling as she recounted the assault to her neighbors. 149 Vt. at 280, 542 A.2d at 1109. At the time she made the statement, the victim in Shaw had just learned that her assailant had returned to the nearby apartment where the assault took place; upon learning of his return, she huddled in a ball on the floor, crying and screaming hysterically, `don't let him in.' Id. After being coaxed to stand up, she told the neighbors she had been sexually assaulted. ¶ 12. Similarly, in State v. Ayers, 148 Vt. 421, 423-24, 535 A.2d 330, 331-32 (1987), we upheld the trial court's admission of a hearsay statement made after the declarant ran into a police station following an incident in which her husband rammed her car with his and attempted to block her from driving into the station parking lot. ¶ 13. Here, by contrast, Justin left the apartment and went down the block to the store, returning to give his narrative to the police, who had arrived in the interim. His statement, as recounted by the police officer, came after a prefatory statement that evinces a measure of reflective thought different from that present in Shaw and Ayers. Further, the trial court made no factual findings on which to base its conclusion that the statement fit within the bounds of the excited-utterance exception. Admitting the statement as an excited utterance was error, but we will not reverse if it was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. See State v. Brochu, 2008 VT 21, ¶ 55, ___ Vt. ___, 949 A.2d 1035. ¶ 14. Here, we conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that admitting the statement was harmless. Officer Helrich's account of Justin's statements outside the apartment was cumulative to the testimony of Jodie S., who testified at trial. Officer Helrich's testimony on this point was, in its entirety, as follows: And then [Justin] comes up and tells us that he, and [Jodie], and Joanne are on the couch and [there is a] knock at the door, and . . . Joanne gets up, I believe, he said, and that she goes to the door and says, Who is it? And the guy identifies himself as Matt. So, she opens the door. They see that Matt goes off to the side and these two black men come in, as they described them, say, Who's Justin? Where's Justin? [Justin K.] says, I'm Justin. So, one of the taller of the two gentlemen that come in, points a gun at him and says, You're Justin? . . . And then he says, Justin Finnegan? And Justin says, No, Justin [K.] ¶ 15. Jodie S. testified that he, Justin, and Joanne were seated on the couch in Jodie's apartment when Matt M. knocked on the door. Joanne answered the door, and two black men came through the door, asking for Justin. One had a gun, which he pointed first at Jodie and eventually at Justin. When the men realized that the Justin they were looking for was not in the apartment, they left. ¶ 16. The defense contends that Justin K.'s statement was critical to the State's ability to establish that defendant intended to place Justin in fear of harm, as the assault-by-menace charge requires. See 13 V.S.A. § 1023(a) (A person is guilty of simple assault if he: . . . (3) attempts by physical menace to put another in fear of imminent serious bodily injury.). But Justin's testimony was not necessary to establish any element of the crime. The State did not need to prove that defendant actually placed Justin in fear of injury, but only that defendant had attempted to do so. The hearsay testimony was cumulative to Jodie's testimony, and we have no doubt that the outcome of the trial would have been the same without it. See State v. Burgess, 2007 VT 18, ¶ 9, 181 Vt. 336, 917 A.2d 528 (reasoning that, if wrongly admitted evidence is cumulative, error is harmless beyond a reasonable doubt). Thus, we will not reverse on that basis. ¶ 17. We now turn to defendant's Confrontation-Clause argument. The Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution provides that [i]n all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right . . . to be confronted with the witnesses against him. U.S. Const. amend. VI. The provision bars admission of testimonial statements of a witness who did not appear at trial unless he was unavailable to testify, and the defendant had had a prior opportunity for cross-examination. Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36, 53-54, 124 S.Ct. 1354, 158 L.Ed.2d 177 (2004). As the high Court recently noted in Davis v. Washington, [o]nly [testimonial] statements. . . cause the declarant to be a `witness' within the meaning of the Confrontation Clause. 547 U.S. 813, 821, 126 S.Ct. 2266, 165 L.Ed.2d 224 (2006). ¶ 18. We will uphold a conviction despite a Confrontation Clause error if we find that the error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. State v. Lipka, 174 Vt. 377, 384, 817 A.2d 27, 33 (2002). Our harmless-error analysis posits a trial without the disputed evidence. State v. Lynds, 158 Vt. 37, 42, 605 A.2d 501, 503 (1991). If there is no reasonable doubt that the outcome of the trial would have been the same without the evidence, we will not reverse. Id. ¶ 19. As discussed above, we are confident that Justin K.'s statement to the officer was not prejudicial, and conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that the outcome of the trial would have been the same without the disputed evidence. Accordingly, we do not decide whether the statement was testimonial or nontestimonial. See In re Sealed Documents, 172 Vt. 152, 156, 772 A.2d 518, 523 (2001) (noting this Court's tradition of addressing issues of constitutional significance only when the matter is squarely and necessarily presented).