Opinion ID: 1973414
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Complaints extracted through questioning

Text: At issue here is whether the trial court properly admitted into evidence under the fresh-complaint rule the statements M.K. made to Valerie McCabe and to Detective Hoffman. Defendant argues that those statements are not spontaneous and voluntary but the result of vigorous coercive questioning by Ms. McCabe and the detective. Courts have allowed fresh complaints made in response to general non-coercive questioning. (In cases dealing with young children, the courts have shown more latitude in the type and extent of questioning they have allowed to precede fresh complaint. We do not deal with the issue of a young child complainant in the present case but do so in State v. Bethune, 121 N.J. 137, 578 A. 2d 364 (1990), also decided today.) In People v. Harris, 134 Ill. App. 3d 705, 89 Ill.Dec. 446, 480 N.E. 2d 1189, appeal denied, (1985), the Illinois court ruled that the fact that a statement is made in response to questions will not necessarily deprive an utterance of the spontaneity necessary for it to qualify as fresh complaint. In People v. Hood, 59 Ill. 2d 315, 319 N.E. 2d 802 (1974), the Supreme Court of Illinois ruled admissible as fresh-complaint evidence statements made by a victim in response to general questions. The victim in that case ran to the house of friends after having been raped, and when asked what was wrong, began to cry and told them she had been raped. In People v. Damen, 28 Ill. 2d 464, 193 N.E. 2d 25 (Illinois 1963), the victim was bleeding after having been raped. The victim told of the rape after the police asked her what had happened. The court held her statements admissible as fresh complaint. Similarly, in People v. Evans, 173 Ill. App. 3d 186, 201-02, 122 Ill.Dec. 950, 960, 527 N.E. 2d 448, 458 (Ill. App. 1988), and State v. Stevens, 289 N.W. 2d 592, 594-96 (Iowa 1980), the courts held admissible statements made in response to general, or non-coercive, questioning. We agree with those courts that statements made after non-coercive questions have the necessary spontaneity and voluntariness to qualify as fresh complaint. On the other hand, statements that are procured by pointed, inquisitive, coercive interrogation lack the degree of voluntariness necessary to qualify under the fresh-complaint rule. The line, however, between non-coercive questioning and coercive questioning depends on the circumstances of the interrogation. We leave it to the trial court to determine in each case when that line is crossed. State v. Bethune, supra, 121 N.J. at 145, 578 A. 2d at 368. Among the factors a court should consider in making that determination are the age of the victim; the circumstances under which the interrogation takes place; the victim's relationship with the interrogator, i.e., relative, friend, professional counselor, or authoritarian figure; who initiated the discussion; the type of questions asked  whether they are leading and their specificity regarding the alleged abuser and the acts alleged. Ibid. D.R., Ms. McCabe, and Detective Hoffman gave fresh-complaint testimony. M.K.'s statement to D.R. that she had been raped is indisputably covered under the fresh-complaint rule because it was not preceded by questioning and met all the criteria for admissibility. It is, however, a close call whether M.K.'s statements to Ms. McCabe and Detective Hoffman have the necessary voluntariness to qualify as fresh complaint. M.K. was not a young child. She was questioned several times by Detective Hoffman and Ms. McCabe before she stated she had been raped. Although it is clear that Ms. McCabe occupied a position of power in the Home, it is unclear whether she was a friendly house mother in whom the girls normally would confide or a stern disciplinary figure. Likewise, Detective Hoffman, a police officer, was an authoritarian figure, but it is unclear whether M.K. perceived him as a threatening cop or a helpful police officer. In this case, the State presented little evidence other than fresh complaint testimony, so the evidence may have had a great impact. McCabe and Detective Hoffman were persons in authority whom jurors would respect and to whom they would listen. Instead of merely negating the inference that M.K. had not complained (achieved by D.R.'s fresh complaint testimony), the evidence could easily have served as the lynchpin of the prosecution's case. Accordingly, to be fair to the defendant and the victim, on remand the trial court at the new trial must consider whether Ms. McCabe's and Detective Hoffman's testimony is properly admissible as fresh-complaint evidence or whether M.K.'s complaint to them was inadmissible under the fresh-complaint rule because it was elicited by coercive questioning.