Opinion ID: 2184368
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Statements Admitted Under the Protected Person Statute

Text: Pierce challenges the trial court's decision to admit statements K.D. made at Wal-Mart to her mother, Officer Dickerson and Sheriff Rice. Pierce also contests the admissibility of the videotaped interview with K.D. If admitted and credited, this evidence shows that Pierce took K.D. to his car, unbuckled her belt, and put his hand down her pants. The testimony and videotape are hearsay, and therefore generally inadmissible, because the disputed statements were all made outside the courtroom and were offered to prove that Pierce molested K.D. The trial court relied on the protected person statute to admit each of these pieces of evidence.
The Legislature has created special procedures for introducing evidence that is not otherwise admissible in cases involving crimes against children and the mentally disabled. See IND.CODE § 35-37-4-6 (1993 & Supp.1994). [6] To admit evidence under the protected person statute, the court must make a number of findings in hearings conducted outside the jury's presence. The statement or videotape must be made by a person who at the time of trial is a protected person, i.e., a person who is either under the age of fourteen or mentally disabled at the time of trial. § 6(b). The protected person must be found to be unavailable either because of incompetence by reason of inability to understand an oath or for reasons related to the well being of the witness based on professional testimony. § 6(d)-(e). The statement or videotape must concern an act that is a material element of the charged offense. § 6(c). The protected person must attend the hearing and either testify at trial or, if found to be unavailable as a witness, be available for cross-examination either at the hearing or when the statement was made. § 6(d)-(e). The time, content, and circumstances of the statement or videotape must be found to provide sufficient indications of reliability. § 6(d)(1). [7] In many child molestation prosecutions, as in this case, the account of the victim is importantand sometimes the onlyevidence as to the occurrence of a crime or the identity of the perpetrator, or both. The victim is often an incompetent witness if the statute comes into play. Trial courts consequently must use special care when making findings of sufficient indications of reliability under the statute because these findings act as the sole basis for finding the trustworthiness that permits introduction of otherwise inadmissible hearsay. Considerations in making the reliability determination under the statute include the time and circumstances of the statement, whether there was significant opportunity for coaching, the nature of the questioning, whether there was a motive to fabricate, use of age appropriate terminology, and spontaneity and repetition. See Idaho v. Wright, 497 U.S. 805, 821-22, 110 S.Ct. 3139, 3149-50, 111 L.Ed.2d 638 (1990) (listing factors bearing on whether hearsay statements exhibit particularized guarantees of trustworthiness for Sixth Amendment purposes). [8] Lengthy and stressful interviews or examinations preceding the statement may cast doubt on the reliability of the statement or videotape sufficient to preclude its admission. Miller v. State, 531 N.E.2d 466, 470 (Ind.1988) (Miller II ). There are undoubtedly many other factors in individual cases. Finally, although the original version of the statute required corroborative evidence before admitting out-of-court statements, see 1984 Ind. Acts, P.L. 180, § 1, it is now clear that corroboration should not be considered in evaluating the reliability of the statement. The current version of IND.CODE § 35-37-4-6, unlike its predecessors, does not limit admission of out-of-court statements to cases in which there is independent corroborative evidence of the crime. See 1990 Ind. Acts, P.L. 37, § 22, codified at IND.CODE § 35-37-4-6 (1993). [9] In light of all these factors, and for the reasons set forth below, we find no reversible error in this case.
Pierce contends the testimony recounting K.D.'s statements to her mother and to Dickerson and Rice failed to exhibit sufficient indications of reliability as the statute requires, and therefore was erroneously admitted. [10] The morning of the trial, the court conducted a combined competency and admissibility hearing. After finding K.D. incompetent competent to testify, the court found that K.D.'s statements as reported in the police officers' and mother's testimony were sufficiently reliable to be admitted under the statute. Specifically, the court concluded that these statements were spontaneous and occurred a very short time after the alleged molestation. The court found that K.D. was still excited when the statements were made and that there was no time for an adult to plant a story in her head. This Court has observed that [p]erhaps the greatest weakness of children as prosecuting witnesses may be their susceptibility to leading questions.... Miller v. State, 517 N.E.2d 64, 69 (Ind.1987) (Miller I). The trial court's finding that K.D.'s answers were not prompted or suggested is supported by the record. Officer Dickerson testified both at the admissibility hearing and at trial that K.D. interrupted his interview with her mother to tell the officer what Pierce had done to her. K.D. repeated essentially the same account to her mother and Sheriff Rice shortly thereafter. The mother, who was the only person alone with K.D. between the events reported and K.D.'s spontaneous statements, was available for cross-examination at the hearing as to the potential for any implantation or cleansing of K.D.'s story. The trial court made a judgment call based on its overall assessment of witness credibility and the substance of the mother's and the officers' testimony. We see no abuse of discretion. [11]
The videotape of K.D. at the police station is a different matter. Several factors could call into question the reliability of this evidence. K.D.'s videotaped interview with Rice did not occur until several hours after the alleged molestation. This passage of time tends to diminish spontaneity and increase the likelihood of suggestion. The interview took place after K.D. went through a potentially disorienting physical examination at a doctor's office. Moreover, K.D.'s mother suggested several answers to K.D. during the interview and asked her leading questions. Despite these considerations, the trial court found that K.D.'s statements were reliable because they were consistent with what she had said before, were sufficiently spontaneous and were in the victim's own words. Pierce compares Rice's and the mother's questioning of K.D. to the exhausting, stressful, and coercive interview setting we condemned in Miller II, 531 N.E.2d at 470. However, Pierce points to nothing on the videotape that would brand K.D.'s statements as untrustworthy. Indeed, Pierce offers nothing to question the trial court's conclusions and does not include the videotape in the record. Assuming without deciding that the videotape should not have been admitted, there is also no showing that the videotape was more than cumulative of the statements K.D. made immediately following the incident. Unlike Miller I, the tape is not the only direct evidence of the events. Moreover, it is impossible on this record to conclude that the tape was even intelligible, much less straightforward and convincing as in Miller I, 517 N.E.2d at 74. Pierce has not established reversible error on this point. In this case there was no cross-examination of the victim at the hearing. If that cross-examination takes place and a videotape is to be admitted, it is within the trial court's discretion, and we believe the better practice, to permit the cross-examination to be videotaped and shown with the tape of the victim's statements. The basis for admitting the tape of the victim's statement is its reliability as determined by the trial court, not the cross-examination. In this respect the tape is qualitatively the same as testimony recounting out-of-court statements. Nonetheless use of a tape of the victim smacks of permitting the victim to become a witness, albeit an electronically reproduced witness. Although the statute does not explicitly speak to the point, under those circumstances fairness to the defendant will normally require giving the defendant the option to display to the trier of fact a tape of any cross-examination done either during the hearing or during the taping of the statement itself. As with any tape offered at trial, the trial court may order or the parties may agree to editing of objectionable portions of the tape. The points made in this paragraph are in exercise of our supervisory powers and are not derived from constitutional jurisprudence. They are not applicable to proceedings conducted before publication of this opinion.