Opinion ID: 2210475
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The confrontation clause issue

Text: Even if Lillian Dunn's out-of-court statements are admissible under the coconspirator exemption, defendant Roby contends admissibility of the statements violates his constitutional right to confront witnesses against him. U.S. Const. amend. VI; Minn. Const. art. 1, § 6. We disagree. We apply a two-step analysis to determine if a hearsay exception violates the confrontation clause: (1) Is admissibility of the out-of-court statement necessary? and (2) Does the statement bear significant indicia of reliability? State v. Hansen, 312 N.W.2d 96, 102 (Minn.1981); State v. Daniels, 380 N.W.2d 777 (Minn.1986). The first step is admittedly met here because Lillian Dunn asserted her Fifth Amendment right not to testify. It is the second step, the requirement of reliability, that is in dispute. In Daniels, we said that the reliability of hearsay statements can be inferred if they come in under a hearsay exception that is firmly rooted. 380 N.W.2d at 785, citing Ohio v. Roberts, 448 U.S. 56, 66, 100 S.Ct. 2531, 2539, 65 L.Ed.2d 597 (1980). Recently, in Bourjaily v. United States, 483 U.S. 171, 107 S.Ct. 2775, 97 L.Ed.2d 144 (1987), the United States Supreme Court held that the coconspirator exemption qualified as a firmly rooted hearsay exception for purposes of the federal confrontation clause. Under Bourjaily, therefore, no further inquiry into the reliability of the statements is needed to satisfy the federal confrontation clause once the hearsay statements fulfill, as they do here, the requirements of the coconspirator exemption. Id. at 183, 107 S.Ct. at 2782-2783. The state urges us to adopt the Bourjaily approach to determine whether Dunn's statements are reliable for purposes of the confrontation clause of our state constitution. We see no need to reach this question because we find the statements to be reliable without depending on the legitimacy of the coconspirator exemption itself to provide an inference of reliability. Factors relevant to determining reliability include: (1) whether the context of the statements and the persons to whom they were made suggest that they were reliable; (2) whether the declarant had a motive for lying or problems with memory; and (3) whether the declarant had personal knowledge of the identity and role of the participants in the crime. United States v. Massa, 740 F.2d 629, 639 (8th Cir.1984), cert. denied, 471 U.S. 1115, 105 S.Ct. 2357, 86 L.Ed.2d 258 (1985). Factors one and three are easily satisfied in this case. The first out-of-court statements were made about a week before the homicide, at the residence where the homicide occurred, and were heard by two individuals, Yearby and Jordon. The second statement was made at the same residence minutes before the homicide and was heard by Jordon and Bell. The statements also appear to have been made on firsthand knowledge. As to factor two, we are persuaded, particularly in view of the corroborating testimony of Kenneth Fisher, that Lillian Dunn's statements to Jordon and Bell moments before the shooting were not exculpatory in nature. In short, we find the evidence establishes Dunn's out-of-court statements to possess the requisite reliability for confrontation clause purposes under our state constitution without reliance on any possible inference of reliability which might obtain to statements falling under the coconspirator exemption. Even if admission of the statements were thought to be constitutional error, any such error in this case would be harmless beyond a reasonable doubt; the remaining evidence here is overwhelmingly persuasive of defendant's guilt. Daniels, 380 N.W.2d at 787, citing State v. Shotley, 305 Minn. 384, 387, 233 N.W.2d 755, 758 (1975).