Opinion ID: 1135325
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Competency of Child Witnesses: Susan Y. and Patricia L.

Text: Appellants raise a threshold contention that the district court erred in finding Susan and Patricia competent to testify. This court has concluded that a child is competent if he or she has the capacity to receive just impressions and possesses the ability to relate them truthfully. Lanoue v. State, 99 Nev. 305, 307, 661 P.2d 874, 875 (1983) (competency determination held improper where trial testimony of five-year-old witness was not clear, relevant, and coherent and suggested a substantial amount of coaching). Although courts must evaluate a child's competency on a case-by-case basis, some relevant factors to be considered include: (1) the child's ability to receive and communicate information; (2) the spontaneity of the child's statements; (3) indications of coaching and rehearsing; (4) the child's ability to remember; (5) the child's ability to distinguish between truth and falsehood; and (6) the likelihood that the child will give inherently improbable or incoherent testimony. The district court considered the children's competency as it existed at several different points in time, including the times of the alleged crimes, the times of the hearsay statements, and the time of trial. See Comment, The Competency Requirement For the Child Victim of Sexual Abuse: Must We Abandon It?, 40 U. Miami L.Rev. 245, 262 & n. 75 (1985); see also State v. Justiniano, 48 Wash.App. 572, 740 P.2d 872, 875 n. 4 (1987). But even a finding of incompetency at trial (due, for example, to extreme nervousness) does not necessarily preclude the possibility that a child was competent at an earlier time. Id. 740 P.2d at 874. And, conversely, a child may be generally competent to testify, but not specifically competent to testify about a criminal event that occurred years earlier. See Gov't of V.I. v. Riley, 750 F.Supp. 727 (D.V.I.1990). The children's very young ages, the length of time between the alleged CSA and its disclosure, and the suggestive interviewing practices make the competency determinations difficult in this case.