Opinion ID: 2604587
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: The Babysitter

Text: Hayes claims he was denied a fair trial when he was not allowed to fully question the victim's babysitter. On the third day of trial, Hayes filed notice of his intent to call the victim's babysitter as an additional witness. Hayes argued that he had been unable to locate the babysitter, who was mentioned in his ex-girlfriend's journal. The journal indicated that the victim told the babysitter that the victim's mother had touched her private parts. In his affidavit, Hayes indicated that the babysitter would testify about the victim's statement to her as reported in the ex-girlfriend's journal. The State objected to the additional witness. Hayes claimed that the babysitter believed the mother was the true perpetrator based on these types of statements. The trial court allowed the babysitter to testify, but only to those matters regarding which Hayes had given the State notice, i.e., the information in the journal. In refusing to allow Hayes to expand the scope of the babysitter's testimony, the court noted that the avenue Hayes used to locate the witness had always been available and he could have discovered her much earlier. We find no abuse of discretion in the trial court's decision to limit the babysitter's testimony. Hayes was allowed to present evidence that the mother, not the father, may have been the perpetrator, the witness could have been discovered earlier and the court merely limited the testimony to that which Hayes gave the State notice.