Opinion ID: 2405680
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Ark R.Evid. 615

Text: The victim was permitted, without objection, to testify while seated at a table placed before the witness stand so that she faced the jury. As the examining attorney asked the victim each question, she wrote her response on a piece of paper and the attorney read the response aloud before proceeding to the next question. Appellant's second assignment of error is the trial court's ruling, over appellant's objection pursuant to Ark. R.Evid. 615, that Ms. McKuen would be permitted to sit with the victim while the victim testified. The state requested this seating arrangement to enable [the victim] to testify better[.] The trial court granted the state's request on the conditions that: (1) if Ms. McKuen was called as a witness by the state, she would testify prior to the victim, (2) Ms. McKuen would not make suggestions to the victim during the victim's testimony, and (3) Ms. McKuen would not be subject to recall by the state. Rule 615 governs the exclusion of witnesses from the courtroom so that they may not hear the testimony of other witnesses. The provisions of Rule 615 are mandatory. King v. State, 322 Ark. 51, 907 S.W.2d 127 (1995). Nonetheless, pursuant to exceptions set forth in Rule 615 and in Ark. R.Evid. 616, certain persons, including the victim of the crime, have the right to remain in the courtroom. Appellant does not argue and the record does not reflect that Ms. McKuen was qualified to remain in the courtroom under any exception. Therefore, Ms. McKuen should have been excluded from the courtroom, id., and the trial court erred in ruling otherwise. We do not find, however, that the trial court's error requires us to reverse its judgment because appellant fails to show that any prejudice resulted. Prejudice is not presumed and we do not reverse absent a showing of prejudice. Id.; Wallace v. State, 314 Ark. 247, 862 S.W.2d 235 (1993). Appellant argues, without authority, that he was prejudiced because Ms. McKuen's presence made it appear he was trying to intimidate the victim and that the victim had to have someone with her. The abstract does not support appellant's assertion, and, in fact, even fails to reflect whether Ms. McKuen was present in the courtroom during the victim's testimony. The abstract does show that Ms. McKuen testified prior to the victim and was not recalled to the stand. The purpose of Rule 615 is to expose inconsistencies in the testimonies of different witnesses and `to prevent the possibility of one witness's shaping his or her testimony to match that given by other witnesses at trial.' King, 322 Ark. 51, 55, 907 S.W.2d 127, 129 (quoting Fite v. Friends of Mayflower, Inc., 13 Ark.App. 213, 682 S.W.2d 457 (1985)). There is no abstracted evidence of such conduct as a result of the trial court's erroneous ruling. On this record, we cannot say that appellant has demonstrated reversible error.