Opinion ID: 3033162
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: False Imprisonment Violation.

Text: [10] In contrast to the substantial nonhearsay evidence supporting the domestic violence charge, Officer Gross’ account of Hawkins’ statements regarding false imprisonment were undoubtedly significant to the court’s ultimate finding. Under California law, false imprisonment is “the unlawful violation of the personal liberty of another.” Cal. Penal Code § 236. The evidence of false imprisonment in this case primarily UNITED STATES v. HALL 10635 comes from Hawkins’ account of the evening as testified to by Officer Gross. 1) Nature of facts to be proven by hearsay evidence. [11] The hearsay evidence relevant to the court’s decision to sustain the false imprisonment allegation were the “[u]nsworn verbal allegations” of Hawkins to Officer Gross and are thus “in general, the least reliable type of hearsay.” Comito, 177 F.3d at 1171. Unlike in Comito, however, Hawkins’ statements bear indicia of reliability. Hawkins’ statement to the police was supported by Gross’ discovery of the golf club where she said it would be. Her statement is also corroborated by the consistency with which she reported the events of the evening to multiple people shortly after the incident, Red’s testimony, Dr. Glover’s medical conclusions, Hawkins’ documented physical bruising, and even Hall’s own statements to Officer Bergland. Finally, the reliability of the domestic violence aspect of her statements to the police gives credence to the rest of her account of the evening, including Hall’s threats to injure her if she left the apartment. See Martin, 382 F.3d at 846 (finding, under the Eighth Circuit’s balancing test, no due process violation, in part because the corroboration of the hearsay evidence made it inherently more reliable). This is not the end of the inquiry, however. Simply because hearsay evidence bears some indicia of reliability does not render it admissible. See Martin, 984 F.2d at 313-314 (even urinalysis testing conducted by a laboratory is not sufficiently reliable to create a blanket rule that releasee has no interest in contesting the results). Hall’s otherwise strong interest in confrontation is somewhat lessened by the reliability of the hearsay evidence, but it is not defeated. Because Hall has a serious interest in confronting Hawkins as to the false imprisonment allegation, we must turn our attention to the other side of the scale to determine whether 10636 UNITED STATES v. HALL the government had good cause in failing to produce Hawkins, and whether that good cause outweighs Hall’s right to confrontation. 2) The government’s good cause. In determining the government’s good cause in not producing a witness, we look to “both the difficulty and expense of procuring witnesses and the traditional indicia of reliability borne by the evidence.” Id. at 312 (citation and quotations omitted). [12] The government has provided a good reason for not producing Hawkins—despite substantial efforts to locate her, the government was unable to find her. Hawkins is a homeless woman who left the shelter where she was staying after the attack without leaving a forwarding address and has not been heard from since. Hall’s probation officer tried to find her through the shelter. The government ran checks on Hawkins’ social security number and birth date, the only identifying information it possessed, and were unable to locate her. The district court determined that the government had done all it could do to locate Hawkins. See Martin, 382 F.3d at 846 (finding that the government had good cause not to produce the witness because the witness refused to testify out of fear of retaliation by defendant).6 This effort stands in stark contrast to cases where we have found that the government did not have good cause for failing to produce a witness. See, e.g., Comito, 177 F.3d at 1172 (noting that the witness was readily available to the government, was in contact with the defendant almost daily, and the government offered no explanation for not producing her). 6 The difficulty of securing the testimony of domestic violence victims, like Hawkins, against their batterers is well recognized. See Tom Lininger, Prosecuting Batterers After Crawford, 91 Va. L. Rev. 747, 769 (2005) (citing research which showed that “the most common reason for dismissal of domestic violence prosecutions . . . was victims’ failure to make court appearances or to testify against the defendants”). UNITED STATES v. HALL 10637 In addition, as discussed, the hearsay testimony regarding the false imprisonment bears some indicia of reliability. Hawkins statement to the police was supported by Gross’ discovery of the golf club where she said it would be, the consistency with which she reported the events of the evening, the testimony of Red and Dr. Glover, the bruises on her body documented by the police photographs, and even Hall’s own statements. [13] Although Hall had a strong interest in confronting Hawkins with regard to the false imprisonment charge, on balance, that interest is outweighed by the government’s good cause for not producing Hawkins as a witness and the independent indicia of reliability that support Hawkins’ statements to Officer Gross.