Opinion ID: 2184368
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Was K.D. Available for Cross-Examination?

Text: Pierce also contends that he was denied an opportunity to confront K.D. at the hearing. Specifically, Pierce argues that the statute required the trial court affirmatively to offer him a pretrial opportunity to cross-examine K.D. after finding her to be incompetent. K.D. testified at the combined admissibility and competency hearing held the day before the trial. Pierce and his attorney were present. At the hearing the State briefly examined K.D. but was unable to elicit many cogent answers. Pierce's counsel made no effort to question K.D. when she was on the witness stand and did not object to the State's proceeding to the next witness. At the conclusion of the State's questioning of K.D., the court neither affirmatively offered nor affirmatively denied Pierce the chance to cross-examine her. The record is simply silent on this point. At the end of the hearing, the court found K.D. to be incompetent because she was unable to understand the nature and obligation of an oath. K.D. was therefore deemed unavailable within the meaning of the statute. K.D.'s mother and the two police officers also testified at the hearing. Pierce's attorney cross-examined both Sheriff Rice and Officer Dickerson, but declined to cross-examine the mother. The court then began voir dire and the trial started later that day. In a brief filed the day after the hearing (the first full day of trial), Pierce argued that the videotape and hearsay statements were inadmissible because the court had not affirmatively offered Pierce a pretrial opportunity to cross-examine K.D. after finding her incompetent. After the State had called all its witnesses and entered all its exhibits, the court took up the issue Pierce raised in his brief. The court ruled that K.D. would be made available for cross-examination, outside the presence of the jury, regarding all her statements. The State produced K.D. the following morning for this purpose but Pierce declined to cross-examine her, contending that the questioning came too late to cure the alleged error. The State rested its case, the defense offered no evidence, both sides made closing arguments, and the jury returned guilty verdicts on both counts.
IND.CODE § 35-37-4-6 has been amended several times since its enactment in 1984, often in response to judicial decisions. A cursory review of this history reveals that Pierce's argument about the timing of cross-examination is unpersuasive. Until 1990, the statute prescribed only that the protected person attend the hearing and imposed no explicit requirement that the child testify or be subjected to cross-examination at the hearing. In Miller I, we held that cross-examination was nonetheless implicit in the statutory scheme. Miller I, 517 N.E.2d at 72. We reaffirmed this holding a year later in Miller II, where we reiterated that if a pretrial statement of an unavailable child victim is to be used at trial, the defendant and defense counsel must be afforded full right to cross-examine and confront the witness. This would include the opportunity for a physical, immediate, face-to-face confrontation. Miller II, 531 N.E.2d at 470. The Court of Appeals in Shoup v. State, 570 N.E.2d 1298 (Ind.Ct.App.1991) dealt with a question left open by Miller I and Miller II: at what point in the proceeding must this opportunity for confrontation be afforded? In Shoup, the trial court conducted the hearing in two stages, the first dealing with competence and the second with admissibility of the reports of the child's statements. After the State examined the child as to competence the court gave the defendant the same opportunity, but his lawyer declined. The court then declared the child incompetent and held the admissibility stage of the hearing. Shoup held that some time after the court determines that the child is incompetent or unavailable for trial, the defendant must affirmatively be given the opportunity to cross-examine the child concerning the substance of the out-of-court statement or videotape. Id. at 1303. Pierce relies exclusively on Shoup and the Miller decisions to support his argument that he was denied his statutory right of confrontation. Pierce contends the trial court should have affirmatively offered him the chance to cross-examine K.D. after the competency determination. However, Pierce's reliance on Miller I, Miller II and Shoup is misplaced because all these decisions construed a version of the statute that was no longer in effect at the time of Pierce's trial. In 1990, the Legislature deleted the requirement that the child attend the hearing and instead prescribed that evidence could be admitted under the statute only if the unavailable child either testifies at the hearing or was available for cross-examination when the statement was made. See 1990 Ind. Acts, P.L. 37, § 22. The testifies language was changed in 1994 to provide that the child must be available for cross-examination either at the hearing or when the statement or videotape was made. See 1994 Ind. Acts, P.L. 142, § 7 (effective July 1, 1994); codified at IND.CODE § 35-37-4-6(e) (Supp.1994). To the extent Shoup 's reference to an opportunity to cross-examine at some time after the competency determination suggested that confrontation must take place after the combined hearing, that case is no longer good law. The 1994 amendment, which went into effect two months before Pierce's trial began, [12] effectively overruled Shoup in that respect. The statute clearly says the child must be available for cross-examination at the hearing described in subsection (d)(1). IND.CODE § 35-37-4-6(e)(1) (1993 & Supp.1994). This hearing is clearly the admissibility hearing, if separate hearings are conducted, or the combined hearing if that procedure is followed. A combined hearing was held without objection in this case. We do not find a requirement that K.D. should have testified more than once. Multiple examinations of the child are not only not required; they are to be avoided unless necessary: The goal of the statute is to reduce the child's emotional trauma caused by numerous court appearances, not to guarantee that the child will never have to face the defendant. Miller I, 517 N.E.2d at 73. These humanitarian considerations, as well as judicial economy, favor cross-examination of the child when the child takes the stand at the combined hearing, if there is one or at the admissibility hearing if not. If the child does not testify at the hearing, the child must nonetheless be available. Trial courts are of course free to determine the need for and appropriateness of separating the phases of the hearing or of recalling the witness. But the language of the current statute requires no more than one appearance.
It is apparent from the record that both the parties and the court were unaware of the 1994 amendments. Pierce cited the 1990 version of the statute in his brief asserting a Shoup right to cross-examination before trial but after the competency determination. In response, the court affirmatively gave Pierce the opportunity to cross-examine before conclusion of the trial but not at the hearing contemplated by the statute. Nonetheless, because the 1994 statute was in effect at the time of trial, there was no error if K.D. was available for cross-examination at the hearing as required by the then controlling version of IND.CODE § 35-37-4-6. K.D. testified at the hearing. There are no signs in the record, and Pierce does not contend, that the court blocked Pierce from questioning K.D. or suggested that cross-examining her would not be allowed. Rather, there simply was no cross-examination of K.D. without any statement by the court or counsel as to why or whether that was required. Pierce's counsel did not interpose an objection at the hearing or ask to examine K.D. before the next witness was called. In this respect, this case is in sharp contrast to Miller I, where the trial court made clear no examination of the child would be permitted. Miller I, 517 N.E.2d at 73. Under these facts, we conclude that K.D. was available for cross-examination and that Pierce waived his right to question her. Courts have significant leeway in determining how, and to what extent, they allow witnesses to be questioned on cross-examination. Evid.R. 611; Fox v. State, 506 N.E.2d 1090, 1093 (Ind.1987). Here, K.D. was on the witness stand and the court did not prevent the defense from questioning her. This satisfies the statutory requirement of availability. Notwithstanding K.D.'s availability, Pierce conducted no cross-examination. Exercise of cross-examination is primarily the prerogative of the defendant. In general, failure to request the opportunity to cross-examine a witness at trial called by the opposing party waives the right. Webb v. State, 266 Ind. 554, 555, 364 N.E.2d 1016, 1018 (1977); Trout v. Trout, 638 N.E.2d 1306, 1308 (Ind.Ct.App.1994), trans. denied. As we have stated, [a] trial judge has no affirmative duty to ascertain whether a defendant is passing up cross-examination because of tactical considerations or through oversight or error. Webb, 364 N.E.2d at 1018. The same rule has been applied in the federal courts, e.g., United States v. Cook, 530 F.2d 145, 153 (7th Cir.1976), and with good reason. It is common knowledge that a witness called by the other side in any judicial proceeding can usually be cross-examined. Indeed, Pierce's counsel questioned two of the three other witnesses for the State that took the stand during the hearing. When K.D. was examined, however, Pierce chose to do nothing. Pierce claims he was relying on Shoup and was waiting for the court to offer him a pretrial opportunity for cross-examination. This decision to decline questioning is as readily explainable as a tactical judgment that nothing useful could be accomplished with such a small child. See Brookhart v. Janis, 384 U.S. 1, 8, 86 S.Ct. 1245, 1249, 16 L.Ed.2d 314 (1966) (calling decision to cross-examine specific witness very clearly one for counsel alone and a tactical choice) (Harlan, J., concurring). Indeed, Pierce also declined to cross-examine K.D.'s mother at the hearing. Whatever his motives, Pierce's failure to request an opportunity to question K.D. at the hearing, and his failure to interpose an objection to the closing of the hearing without cross-examination, constituted a waiver of the right. The State contends that Pierce once more waived any right to cross-examination near the end of the trial when K.D. was produced for this explicit purpose and he declined to question her. We cannot agree. First, the statute provides for cross-examination at the hearing. Second, at that point in Pierce's trial the jury had already heard the statements admitted under the authority of the statute. Cross-examination at that stage, even if effective or revealing a basis for excluding the statements, would come too late. However, no reversal is required because K.D. was available at the hearing within the meaning of the statute for the reasons we have explained.