Opinion ID: 1386258
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 12

Heading: Use of Secondary Evidence From an Unavailable Witness

Text: Since the testimony of Donna Engberg by direct examination had been denied, Engberg's counsel raised the subject again: [Defense Counsel]: Okay, now, Your Honor, we would have an offer of proof related to Donna Engberg. We would offer at this particular time  and I have Janet Garner here and I will put her on the stand with respect to hearsay evidence that Donna Engberg has told her. Would that be okay? After that I would move to admit it under the hearsay exception. THE COURT: [Prosecution Counsel], do you have any comment on that? [Prosecution Counsel]: Well, as far as they want to preserve the record on that, I don't know if that is the proper way of going about this or not, but  THE COURT: Well, I'll tell you what, Gentlemen. Donna Engberg has used her privilege. She is a spouse. It is her privilege and I'm not going to allow the hearsay evidence. The effort was supported by an offer of proof in chambers, outlining the proposed trial testimony from an investigator which, as presenting statements from Engberg's wife, would have factually attacked the State's case and specifically controverted the opening statement contentions of the prosecution. Following the offer of proof defining the prospective direct testimony of Donna Engberg, defense counsel pursued admissability in text substance as W.R.E. 804 evidence through testimony of an interviewing investigator: [Defense Counsel]: Your Honor, at this particular point, I will make a motion to admit the testimony of Janet Garner pursuant to Rule 804. Under 804(b)(6) and (b)(5), I would state at this time that Mrs. Engberg is an unavailable witness. She is unavailable because of 804(a)(1). She is exempted on the grounds of privilege or, secondly, she fits under 804(b)(5) as being admissible because it is a statement of recent perception. Also, she fits under 804(b)(6) under the other exceptions, the catch-all phrase to 804. It is a statement offered as evidence of a material fact. It is a statement more probative on the point to which it is being offered than any other evidence which a proponent can procure through reasonable effort and I would state at this time we have made other efforts to procure her testimony and on these particular facts, there is no way we can procure any other testimony. We believe that under (c), 804(b)(6)(c), the general purpose of the rules in the interest of justice will best be served by the admission of her statement to Janet Garner into evidence. THE COURT: Thank you. Would you respond to that, [Prosecution Counsel], please? [Prosecution Counsel]: Just briefly, Your Honor. We have discussed this matter previously. With respect to the recent perception, there has been no evidence that this matter is a recent perception. With regard to the other items, we have discussed this matter in that she has exercised her spousal privilege, a privilege she holds. She desires not to testify and there is abundant authority that when one exercises that privilege, that even hearsay would be inadmissible and we would request that the motion be denied. THE COURT: That is also my understanding. I'm going to deny the motion. The obvious justification for admission was provided by Simms, 492 P.2d 516, where defense counsel was faced with prior testimony of a witness in a preliminary hearing when the parties were not married. The actual testimony in court after which defendant waived his right not to have his wife testify against him was available for introduction, including both her live testimony and hostile witness examination from the prior transcript. This court in Simms, 492 P.2d at 521 (footnote omitted and citing 5 Wigmore, Evidence, § 1409 (Chadbourn rev. 1974)) said that a disqualification of a witness by exercise of a privilege makes the witness's present testimony unavailable and accordingly should allow resort to his former testimony, a doctrine which was not accepted by early English common law courts but was well established in chancery practice and would probably be generally followed in our courts. Why in this case similar evidence is not available to Engberg through the testimony of the witness investigator is not refined or defined, except in the context of what is good for the prosecution is frequently not available in defense. The State would ask us to ignore the phraseology of Simms. Having chosen to have his wife testify as a witness, defendant is in no position to argue about his `forced' election   . Simms, 492 P.2d at 521. See also Pike, 495 P.2d at 1189 n. 2. Whatever else might be said about the harmless error application in Pike as was impaled in dissent, the right of the defendant to foreclose the adverse testimony of the spouse was not in question. Overtly and explicitly stated, the decision of the trial court was based solely on the exercised privilege as first announced when Donna Engberg was called as a witness by the State to continue to be determinative for her status as a witness for Engberg, or his introduction of hearsay testimony and statements that were available. It should also be recognized that within the analysis of Simms, 492 P.2d 516, exercise of privilege resulted in the unavailability of the witness, permitting substitute evidence introduction under W.R.E. 804(b)(6) (the same as F.R.E. 804(b)(5)). See also State v. Fisher, 141 Ariz. 227, 686 P.2d 750, cert. denied 469 U.S. 1066, 105 S.Ct. 548, 83 L.Ed.2d 436 (1984). This decision, albeit consistent in denial, added a third error as directly contrary to our precedent in Simms. In citing that Wyoming case, Engberg claims that his wife became an unavailable witness by virtue of the privilege decision and that the hearsay was consequently admissible under W.R.E. 804(b)(6) and supported as well by the cases of Rhode Island v. Innis, 446 U.S. 291, 100 S.Ct. 1682, 64 L.Ed.2d 297 (1980); Faretta v. California, 422 U.S. 806, 95 S.Ct. 2525, 45 L.Ed.2d 562 (1975); and Brady v. State of Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963), which encompass a United States constitutional due process denial. In answer, the State now contends in appellate brief that the use of the hearsay evidence was properly denied because no subpoena by the defense for the spouse was ever obtained and she never became a witness. The validity of the response within the facts of the trial are so selfevident that further comment is unneeded to dispose of this contention. Simmons v. State, 313 Md. 33, 542 A.2d 1258 (1988). Next, argument is presented that the testimonial privilege exclusion was valid which continues to disregard the specific criteria of the Wyoming statute providing the right to access, W.S. 1-12-104. The more distinct and powerful argument supplied by the State for support of denial was procedural in failure of Engberg to give advance trial notice of intent to admit the hearsay. This basis was never considered by the trial court under the circumstances presented either before or at trial and is no more justified now. Finally, the State in appellate brief summarizes the evidence and contends that [t]here is no possibility based on the offer of proof made at trial that the excluded hearsay testimony of Janet Garner would have affected the outcome of the proceedings. Appellant was convicted by overwhelming evidence. In critical fact, the majority here again by this conclusion converts what was confused and confessed error into a non-argued and non-briefed issue decision based on separate evidentiary analysis. Heaping hyperbole on imposed justification, the substantive basis of the majority, which occasions my most severe rejection, is the present and now first time determination as an analysis of the evidence that there was no corroborating evidence presented which could be relied upon to enhance the trustworthiness of the version reported to the investigator and lacking circumstantial guarantees of trustworthiness, the hearsay testimony could not be admitted properly. 4 D. Louisell & C. Mueller, Federal Evidence § 491 (1980). It is possible, although not stated, that the majority now determines that the trial court should have determined that the investigator, Janet Garner, was herself untrustworthy. The more distinct problem with this conception is that it is unearthed for the first time. The trial court denied admissibility on the basis of privilege and no corroborative pursuit was possible or considered. What the majority now does is to determine, as a first-time judicial inquiry as if it might have been the trial court, what a present construction of the reliability of unavailable witness repeated statements of the wife may have been in order to justify the trial court inadmissibility decision. See Black, Federal Rules of Evidence 803(24) & 804(b)(5)  The Residual Exceptions  An Overview, 25 Hous.L.Rev. 13 (1988) and 4 D. Louisell & C. Mueller, supra, §§ 472 and 491. In factual content and authoritative relevance, the unavailability case of United States v. MacCloskey, 682 F.2d 468 (4th Cir.1982) is directly in point. It might be that the countervailing interests of justice attainment versus corroboration factors would weigh adversely to the criminal defendant's interest even where the evidence was not otherwise available. Such a decision may be sustained on appeal as exercised discretion of the trial court. That is not what occurred in this trial. The trial court did not rule on this basis and the objections by the State neither there, nor now here, were made on that basis. Consequently, the majority now presumes wrongly to exercise a nisi prius type discretionary evaluation of the evidence in denial of availability of testimony of a wife which was to be presented to support the trial posture of her defendant husband. Obviously, the premiere mistake made was in denial of the trial evidence. The second mistake made by appellate counsel was negligence and neglect to present this obvious trial court mistake on first appeal. Now, the majority compounds by extrapolation in utilizing its evidence weighing to determine by justification for what should have been considered and determined by the trial court. We again ignore the procedural posture long held by this court requiring discretionary decisions to be made by the trial court as repeated in Smith v. State, 715 P.2d 1164 (Wyo. 1986), involving the identical subject of W.R.E. 804(b)(6) in criminal case defense. The availability of W.R.E. 803(24) and 804(b)(6) to the criminal defendant is unquestionable for the prosecution. See MacCloskey, 682 F.2d 468 and 4 D. Louisell & C. Mueller, supra, §§ 472 and 491. The right to witness requirements of Wyo. Const. art. 1, § 10 and the Sixth Amendment of the United States Constitution are clearly presented. As the best possible proof available to a defendant facing death-conviction execution, the testimony should have been admissible for the weight to which it would have been justified to the jury. See 4 D. Louisell & C. Mueller, supra, § 491 and Black, supra, 25 Hous. L.Rev. 13. The subject should never have been reached since the wife should have testified when privilege was released by the husband. The principle where we find ourselves, however, which should be applied is found in the converse of the Morrison, Thomas and Hammond line of cases as stated in United States v. Carlson, 547 F.2d 1346 (8th Cir.1976), cert. denied 431 U.S. 914, 97 S.Ct. 2174, 53 L.Ed.2d 224 (1977), where the defendant scared the witness into taking the Fifth Amendment and the witness then became available to the state for prosecutorial use of other testimony. See Hammond, 598 F.2d 1008 and Thomas, 488 F.2d 334. Here, in exercised due process, this same right should apply in favor of Engberg. That result was afforded after reversal in MacCloskey, 682 F.2d 468, where denial of proffered prior testimony use by defendant was erroneously excluded when the witness took the Fifth Amendment under pressure from the prosecutor. See also United States v. Salerno, 937 F.2d 797 (2nd Cir.1991), where the prosecution withheld immunity and then opposed prior testimony under a hearsay objection resulting in a thirteen month megatrial reversal. Surely the majority would not intend that, in consideration of state constitutional rights, W.R.E. 803(24) or 804(b)(6) are only available to prosecute but never to defend. The substantive justice considerations of Williams v. Collins Communications, Inc., 720 P.2d 880 (Wyo. 1986) would justify usage and the right to present witnesses in criminal defense under the Wyoming and United States Constitutions. Rodriguez v. State, 711 P.2d 410 (Wyo. 1985); Faretta, 422 U.S. 806, 95 S.Ct. 2525. Cf. Smith, 715 P.2d 1164; Washington, 388 U.S. 14, 87 S.Ct. 1920, and Thomas, 488 F.2d 334. This court should take stock of the well reasoned analysis of rights of a defendant to secure testimony in Salerno, 937 F.2d 797, but then this is only what we have done for the prosecution in Cardenas v. State, 811 P.2d 989 (Wyo. 1991). This error alone substantively requires conviction reversal to provide a new trial.