Opinion ID: 2508156
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: The Victim's Competency to Testify

Text: [¶ 14] Everyone is competent to be a witness except as otherwise provided by the Wyoming Rules of Evidence. W.R.E. 601; English v. State, 982 P.2d 139, 145 (Wyo.1999). A person is generally competent to testify if he can understand, receive, remember and narrate impressions and is sensible to the obligations of the oath taken before testifying. [ Simmers v. State, 943 P.2d 1189, 1199 (Wyo.1997)]; Larsen v. State, 686 P.2d 583, 585 (Wyo.1984). Intelligence, not age, is the guiding criteria in determining the competency of a witness. Baum v. State, 745 P.2d 877, 879 (Wyo.1987). It is a well-established principle of law that competency of witnesses to testify is a question within the sound discretion of the trial court. Selby v. Savard, 134 Ariz. 222, 655 P.2d 342, 347 (1982); People v. Estorga, 200 Colo. 78, 612 P.2d 520, 524 (1980); State v. Joblin, 107 Idaho 351, 689 P.2d 767, 771 (1984); State v. Howard, 247 Mont. 370, 806 P.2d 1038, 1039 (1991). However, when children are called into the courtroom to testify, we have held that once the child's competency is called into question by either party, it is the duty of the court to make an independent examination of the child to determine competency, and that determination will not be disturbed unless shown to be clearly erroneous. Burt v. Burt, 48 Wyo. 19,41 P.2d 524, 525 (1935) ( quoting 5 Jones Commentaries on Evidence 3958, 3959, § 2107 (2d. Ed.)). See also Punches v. State, 944 P.2d 1131, 1136 (Wyo.1997); Trujillo v. State, 880 P.2d 575, 579 (Wyo.1994); Baum, 745 P.2d at 879; and Larsen, 686 P.2d at 585. We have directed the district courts to utilize a five-part test for determining the competency of child witnesses: (1) an understanding of the obligation to speak the truth on the witness stand; (2) the mental capacity at the time of the occurrence concerning which he is to testify, to receive an accurate impression of it; (3) a memory sufficient to retain an independent recollection of the occurrence; (4) the capacity to express in words his memory of the occurrence; and (5) the capacity to understand simple questions about it. Larsen, 686 P.2d at 585 ( quoting State v. Allen, 70 Wash.2d 690, 424 P.2d 1021 (1967)). English, 982 P.2d at 145 (emphasis in original). Although TD was twenty-one years of age at the time of the charged incident, both parties agree that the analysis for determining the competency of a child should apply here given her mental disabilities. A direct comparison between the mental capacities of a child and mentally disabled adult cannot be precise, but we agree that the competency considerations applicable to a child witness are the appropriate criteria for determining the testimonial competency of a mentally disabled adult given their similarities. See Commonwealth v. Anderson, 381 Pa.Super. 1, 552 A.2d 1064, 1067-69 (1988). [¶ 15] Initially, Watters posits that the issue of competency encompassed both [the victim's] ability to testify and her legal capability to have consented, or withheld consent, to the sexual activity in question. He claims that the State's position was contradictory: Because of the way in which it charged the offense, citing W.S. § 6-2-302(a)(iv), the state was faced with the problem of having to prove that Mr. Watters knew or should have known that TD was incapable of appraising the nature of her conduct (engaging in sex with him) while simultaneously showing that this same incapable person had a sufficiently independent and reliable recall of events occurring months before trial to convict Mr. Watters of a very serious crime. Counterintuitive as it is to consider that a complaining witness can be sufficiently mentally challenged to place her in a specially protected category of victims and at the same time as competent as any other person to supply (uncorroborated) linchpin testimony, that is what the state was faced with. Watters complains that the trial court did not consider the incongruity of the State's position and that it proceeded to actually only determine the witness's capacity to testify at trial. [¶ 16] Watters' argument conflates two distinct concepts. The question of a witness's competency to testify is one determined by the trial judge. English, 982 P.2d at 145. The question of a victim's competency to consent to sexual activity is one determined by the jury because it is an element of the crime charged. See Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 6-2-302(a)(iv). The trial court only determined TD's competency to testify at trial because that was the only question that was within its purview to answer. Furthermore, Watters' attack upon the State's position that the victim was competent to testify at trial, but not to consent to sexual activity, cannot withstand scrutiny. In his brief, Watters states that the victim functioned at the level of a sixth grader. The State's argument is that TD is the equivalent of a child witness. We do not find it unreasonable or counterintuitive for the State to argue that a person who functions at the level of a sixth grader is competent to testify but does not possess the capacity to consent to sexual relations. [¶ 17] Watters goes on to contend that the trial court failed to allow a full and fair competency hearing. He complains that at the competency hearing, the examination of TD by the district court merely consisted of leading questions that did nothing to elicit anything other than a willingness on the part of the victim to please an authority figure like the judge. Watters insists that the trial court just recited the factors set out in English to determine witness competence without revealing specific facts upon which its conclusion of competency rested. Watters alleges prejudice from the district court's erroneous conclusion in that the jury was asked to reach the critical conclusion that consent did not exist on April 24, 2002, based entirely upon the unreliable, uncorroborated testimony of TD, an incompetent witness with a low IQ, diminished mental age, impaired memory, and a pronounced desire to please her questioners. [¶ 18] The transcript of the competency hearing supports the trial court's ruling. At the outset of the hearing, TD acknowledged that an oath was a promise to tell the truth and that she was willing to take one. TD's answers were generally responsive to the questions asked. She was able to give correct replies to general information questions asking for her name, age, and the address of the group home where she lived. In response to questions about the incident on April 24th, TD was able to give responses that exhibited an ability to recall the incident and express it in a coherent manner: She identified the people present at the home at the time of the incident, what happened between her and Watters, and that she contacted her mother after the incident. Contrary to Watters' assertion, we find that the record reveals that the trial court did not just gloss over the factors set out in English; rather, it specifically referenced its examination of TD. We also perceive Watters' allegation of prejudice to go toward witness credibility and the weight to be accorded to the victim's testimony and not to her competency to take the stand to testify. Kavanaugh v. State, 769 P.2d 908, 911 (Wyo.1989) (weight and credibility of a witness's testimony is determined by the jury). Our review of the record leads to the conclusion that the trial court's decision that TD was competent to testify was not clearly erroneous and was within the court's sound discretion.