Opinion ID: 1577090
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Defendant's Sixth Amendment Confrontation Rights.

Text: Complainant's mother, Betty Slyter, testified for the State at defendant's 1978 trial. At the retrial, the State was permitted to read into the record her prior testimony on the basis of the prosecutor's statement she was then outside the state, would not voluntarily return, and the State had attempted to have her served without success. Defendant's objection that his sixth amendment confrontation and cross-examination right would be infringed was overruled. Trial court noted defendant had enjoyed full cross-examination rights at the first trial, but made no finding on the validity of the State's claim of unavailability. When the State seeks to introduce prior testimony of an unavailable witness, it must show that the witness is in fact unavailable, despite a good faith effort to produce the witness at trial. Ohio v. Roberts, 448 U.S. 56, 74, 100 S.Ct. 2531, 2543, 65 L.Ed.2d 597, 613 (1980); Barber v. Page, 390 U.S. 719, 724-25, 88 S.Ct. 1318, 1322, 20 L.Ed.2d 255, 260 (1968); see State v. Holderness, 191 N.W.2d 642, 648 (Iowa 1971) (witness physically unable to testify). The prosecution bears the burden of establishing the good faith effort. Ohio v. Roberts, 448 U.S. at 75, 100 S.Ct. at 2543, 65 L.Ed.2d at 613. The rule of necessity that Roberts noted was mandated by the sixth amendment, id. at 74, 100 S.Ct. at 2538, 65 L.Ed.2d at 613, and must now be applied as limiting the scope of Iowa Code section 622.97 and certain language found in our older decisions interpreting that statute, including State v. Washington, 160 N.W.2d 337, 338-40 (Iowa 1968). Supreme Court decisions have staked out the scope of the effort required of the State. In Barber v. Page , the Court found a lack of good faith effort. The state knew the witness was incarcerated in a federal institution in a neighboring state, procedures existed for securing his presence at trial, yet it took no action to produce him. 390 U.S. at 723-24, 88 S.Ct. at 1321, 20 L.Ed.2d at 259-60. In Mancusi v. Stubbs, 408 U.S. 204, 92 S.Ct. 2308, 33 L.Ed.2d 293 (1972), the Court held the state had made a good faith effort. It had sent a subpoena to the witness's last-known out-of-state address and learned that the witness was then residing in a foreign country. The state had no power or procedures available to compel the presence of a witness residing abroad. Id. at 212, 92 S.Ct. at 2313, 33 L.Ed.2d at 300-01. In Ohio v. Roberts , the transcribed testimony was admitted upon a finding of good faith effort to produce the witness in court. The prosecutor repeatedly had issued subpoenas for service at the witness's last-known address over a four-month period prior to trial. Conversations with the witness's parents indicated this lack of knowledge regarding her whereabouts, despite their affirmative attempt to locate her. 448 U.S. at 75, 100 S.Ct. at 2544, 65 L.Ed.2d at 613. Here, the State introduced no evidence regarding its efforts in attempting to produce the witness for trial. Rather, the record reflects only unsubstantiated arguments and statements of counsel. See State v. Watson, 114 Ariz. 1, 5-6, 559 P.2d 121, 126 (1976), cert. denied, 430 U.S. 986, 97 S.Ct. 1687, 52 L.Ed.2d 382 (1977); State v. Smith, 58 Ohio St.2d 344, 348, 12 Ohio Op.3d 313, 316-17, 390 N.E.2d 778, 781 (1979) (per curiam), vacated, 448 U.S. 902, 100 S.Ct. 3041, 65 L.Ed.2d 1132 (1980); see Valenzuela v. Griffin, 654 F.2d 707, 709-10 (10th Cir.1981) (per curiam); State v. Dreiling, 601 S.W.2d 660, 661-62 (Mo.Ct.App.1980); Allison v. State, 562 P.2d 883, 885 (Okla. Crim.App.1977). Lack of evidence notwithstanding, counsel's arguments indicate the State was put on notice by a deposition taken approximately fourteen months before retrial commenced that the witness had moved out of state. Nonetheless, the State simply sent out subpoenas in the immediate county area, and took no action regarding the out-of-state lead until use of the Uniform Act to Secure Witnesses From Without the State was precluded by time constraints. See Iowa Code ch. 819 (1979). Both Colorado, the state referred to in the deposition, and Texas, the state where the witness ultimately was located, have adopted the uniform act. See Colo.Rev.Stat. §§ 16-9-201-204 (1973); Tex.Code Crim.Proc.Ann. Art. 24.28 (Vernon Supp.1982). We observe in passing that the State's failure to launch timely inquiries and processes to obtain an out-of-state witness is a risky oversight. See People v. Enriquez, 19 Cal.3d 221, 237, 561 P.2d 261, 270, 137 Cal.Rptr. 171, 180 (1977); People v. Brown, 47 Ill.App.2d 616, 621-22, 365 N.E.2d 15, 19, 7 Ill.Dec. 730, 734 (1977). Upon retrial, however, the State may well have this witness available to take the stand. We therefore are not required to determine whether admission of the transcribed testimony was error as depriving defendant of his right to confront the witness, or if so, whether it was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. Chapman v. California, 386 U.S. 18, 24, 87 S.Ct. 824, 828, 17 L.Ed.2d 705, 711 (1967).