Opinion ID: 2326611
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Mary's Competency

Text: The defendant alleges that the trial justice abused his discretion in finding Mary competent to testify in light of her cognitive and communicative limitations, impairment of intellectual abilities, and the conflicting testimony at her competency hearing. Rule 601 of the Rhode Island Rules of Evidence requires that a witness be competent to testify. The trial court must make four determinations in evaluating a witness's competency: the witness must be able to observe, recollect, communicate, and appreciate the necessity of telling the truth.  Seabra v. Trafford-Seabra, 655 A.2d 250, 252 (R.I.1995) (citing State v. Cabral, 122 R.I. 623, 629, 410 A.2d 438, 442 (1980)). This Court will overturn a competency decision only for abuse of discretion. Id. (citing State v. Ranieri, 586 A.2d 1094, 1098-99 (R.I.1991)). The trial justice is afforded considerable deference in making a competency ruling since he is in the best position to assess the witness's present ability to comprehend the obligation of this oath, and to give a correct account of what he may have seen or heard. Id. (citing State v. Franklin, 103 R.I. 715, 724, 241 A.2d 219, 225 (1968)). In the case at hand, the trial justice conducted a voir dire of Mary, and was sufficiently satisfied that she had the ability to observe, recollect, and communicate, and that she appreciated the necessity of telling the truth. We agree. Mary's testimony demonstrated her ability to observe. She testified that at the time of trial she lived with two housemates, and that they had their own rooms. She testified that she had a television in her room and a computer that didn't work because it was not connected. Additionally, she testified about the details concerning the multiple times that defendant sexually assaulted her. Mary's testimony of the sexual assaults demonstrates that she had the ability to remember. The defendant notes, however, that Mary did not know what day her favorite television programs were on or whether she had any books in her room. It was recognized at the trial that Mary does have cognitive limitations. A sexual assault, however, is a traumatic event and thus may be more clearly memorable than other everyday normal occurrences. See State v. Girouard, 561 A.2d 882, 887 (R.I.1989). It is reasonable to believe that even though Mary may not have a clear recollection of the exact times and places that the alleged multiple assaults took place, she is still cognizant of the fact that the assaults occurred. Mary demonstrated an ability to communicate by relating facts of the sexual assaults, pointing to her body parts when asked, and identifying defendant in the courtroom. This level of communication meets the requirements for competency to testify before the court. See id. (ability to communicate adequately demonstrated by witness relating the facts of the crime, pointing to body parts on a diagram, and identifying defendant in the courtroom). Although defendant noted that Mary could not adequately communicate whether she was going to graduate from high school that year, or what grade she currently was in, we conclude that her overall responses indicated her capacity to understand questions and to furnish intelligent answers. The transcripts also evidence Mary's knowledge of the necessity of telling the truth. THE COURT: And, if he asks you a question, what are you supposed to do? THE WITNESS: I'm supposed to talk in here. THE COURT: And, what are you supposed to tell us? THE WITNESS: Everything.    THE COURT: All right. Now are you going to tell us any lies? THE WITNESS: No. THE COURT: Why not? THE WITNESS: Because its [ sic ] very important to tell the truth. A child need not articulate magic words that he or she knows the difference between a lie and a truth as long as the child understands the definitions of both and was there to tell the truth. Girouard, 561 A.2d at 886 (citing In re Gerald, 471 A.2d 219, 220-21 (R.I.1984)). We defer to the judgment of the trial justice, who upon hearing this exchange, was confident that Mary in fact did understand the difference between the truth and a lie. After reviewing the four testimonial capacities required for a finding of competency, we conclude that the trial justice did not err in finding Mary competent to testify. Though she suffered from cognitive and communicative limitations, she met the standard of competency set forth by this Court. We also note our established rule that any doubt concerning minimum credibility of the witness should be resolved in favor of allowing the jury to hear the testimony and judge the credibility of the witness themselves. State v. Marr, 673 A.2d 452, 453 (R.I.1996) (per curiam) (citing 1 McCormick On Evidence, § 62 at 91 (4th ed. Strong Prac. Treatise Series 1992)).