Opinion ID: 6928543
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Relevant factors and impermissible bootstrapping

Text: We consider first the girls’ initial statements to the day-care workers. In evaluating the admissibility of these remarks, the trial court made three reliability findings of the type explicitly approved by the Court in Wright: (1) neither girl had a motive to lie; (2) both girls described sexual acts in specific terms, using age-appropriate language; and (3) most of the statements were spontaneous responses to open-ended questions or to no questions at all. The court also found that the girls had a reputation for truthfulness and that the disclosures were made to adults who had relationships of trust with the girls. These latter factors do not seem inappropriate, given Wright’s emphasis that trial courts have considerable leeway in making reliability determinations. But the court relied improperly upon one additional factor. It observed that the girls “made the statements on two consecutive days without the children having discussed the matter and giving basically the same content to the statements, I think is a strong indicator of reliability.” This is impermissible bootstrapping as the court referenced other evidence in finding cross-corroboration of each child’s statements. 5 “To be admissible under the Confrontation Clause, hearsay evidence used to convict a defendant must possess indicia of reliability by virtue of its inherent trustworthiness, not by reference to other evidence at trial.” Id. at 822, 110 S.Ct. at 3150 (emphasis added). We do not analyze separately the findings of the Washington Supreme Court as it agreed generally with the trial court’s determinations. See Swan, 790 P.2d at 628-30. The district court conducted an independent review of the transcripts. It agreed with the state courts that (1) the statements were spontaneous; (2) neither girl had a motive to lie; (3) they did not have a tendency to lie; and (4) most significant to the district court, the statements included “a description of oral intercourse which was so  specific, and showed such inappropriate and precocious knowledge, that it would be difficult to see this knowledge as anything other than the result of personal experience.” But the court also made the same bootstrapping mistake as did the state courts. It found relevant that “[t]he allegations made by the girls were consistent, both with one another’s reports and with each girl’s later reports of the same activities.” (emphasis added). ■ Nevertheless, we do not conclude that the bootstrapping errors of the state courts and the district court tainted their reliability determinations. Neither the state courts nor the district court indicated that cross-corroboration was a primary reason for finding the statements reliable; indeed, the district court found most significant the knowledge of sexual acts unexpected of children of that age.