Opinion ID: 2542670
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Testimonial Hearsay Statements under Davis

Text: Under the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution, testimonial hearsay must be excluded when the declarant is unavailable and there has been no prior opportunity for cross-examination by the defendant. Crawford, 541 U.S. 36, 124 S.Ct. 1354, 158 L.Ed.2d 177; People v. Vigil, 127 P.3d 916, 921 (Colo.2006). [6] It is the testimonial nature of the statement that subjects some hearsay statements to exclusion under the Confrontation Clause, while others are merely subject to the rules of evidence. Davis, 126 S.Ct. at 2273. Certain core testimonial statements are always subject to the limitations of the Confrontation Clause. [7] These core statements also form the perimeter of what may be considered testimonial statements for Confrontation Clause purposes. Id. at 2274. Testimonial statements subject to exclusion under the Sixth Amendment include statements taken by police officers during the course of interrogations, such as the statements at issue in Crawford itself. [8] Id. at 2273. Crawford used police interrogation in a broad colloquial sense, rather than a technical legal sense. Id. However, it is the statements themselves and not the interrogator's questions that must be evaluated to determine whether a statement is testimonial in nature. Id. at 2274 n. 1. To determine the nature of hearsay statements, the context and circumstances under which the statements are made are highly relevant. See Davis, 126 S.Ct. at 2273-74 (noting that the primary purpose of the statements, as determined by an objective view of the circumstances, generally determines whether or not statements are testimonial); see also Harkins v. State, ___ Nev. ___, ___, 143 P.3d 706, 714 (2006)(noting that when determining whether a statement is testimonial, it is necessary to look at the totality of the circumstances surrounding the statement); State v. Blue, 717 N.W.2d 558, 562-63 (N.D.2006)(noting that whether a declarant was acting as a witness and in essence testifying should be determined by the surrounding circumstances). When circumstances objectively indicate that the primary purpose of the interrogation is either to elicit statements that establish or prove past events, or to elicit statements that are potentially relevant to a later criminal prosecution, the statements elicited are testimonial. Davis, 126 S.Ct. at 2273-74. On the other hand, statements made during an ongoing emergency to assist police officers in their efforts to assess the present situation are nontestimonial. Id. Further, it is not relevant to the analysis whether the interrogating police officer either thought there was an ongoing emergency or acted as if responding to an ongoing emergency. See Davis, 126 S.Ct. at 2279 n. 6 (noting [a police officer] saying that an emergency exists cannot make it be so . . . neither can police conduct govern the Confrontation Clause; testimonial statements are what they are.). The proper perspective is whether there was an ongoing emergency from the point of view of an objective reasonable witness. Id. at 2276. The question then becomes whether, from the point of view of an objective reasonable witness, the declarant's statements were made in response to that ongoing emergency. Id. In two companion cases decided in the same opinion, the Supreme Court in Davis explored the boundary between police interrogation resulting in testimonial statements and an interrogation producing nontestimonial statements made during an ongoing emergency. The Court conducted a general inquiry that explored how the statements were made, what the statements were to be used for, whether there was an ongoing emergency, the formality of the interrogation, and what the statements themselves describe. Id. at 2276-80. In a fact-specific analysis, each case yielded a different result. The lead case, Davis v. Washington, [9] involved statements made during a recorded 911 emergency call where portions of the recording were played to the jury. The Supreme Court, per Justice Scalia, determined that the admitted statements from the 911 call were nontestimonial but other statements made during the same call could be readily described as testimonial. Davis, 126 S.Ct. at 2276-77. The nontestimonial statements were the initial statements made at the beginning of the 911 call. Id. However, the emergency ended when Davis drove away and the operator took control by telling the declarant to be quiet and answer questions. Id. The declarant's statements thereafter took on a testimonial nature not unlike the structured police questioning that occurred in Crawford.  Id. (internal quotations omitted). In determining that the initial statements were nontestimonial, the Court considered a number of circumstances and characteristics. First, the Court noted that the declarant described events as they were actually happening, rather than past events. Davis, 126 S.Ct. at 2276. The declarant told the 911 operator [h]e' s here jumpin' on me again and [h]e' s usin' his fists. Id. at 2271. Second, the statements were made during an ongoing emergency. Id. at 2276. As the Court explained, the declarant's call was plainly a call for help against bona fide physical threat. Id. Third, the statements were necessary to resolve the present emergency, not to learn what happened in the past. Id. The operator asked what's going on? and then asked the declarant if she was in a house or apartment, if there were any weapons, and was the assailant drinking. Id. at 2271. The operator's questions, and the declarant's answers, were all in the present tense. Id. Fourth, the Court considered the level of formality of the questions and answers, noting that the declarant provided frantic answers in an unstable or even unsafe environment. Id. at 2277. The Court concluded that the primary purpose of the initial questions posed by the 911 operator were to enable the police to meet an ongoing emergency. Id. Under these circumstances, the initial 911 statements were nontestimonial. Id. We note that the Davis decision does not stand for the proposition that all 911 calls are nontestimonial or even that all parts of a 911 call are nontestimonial. In Davis, the tipping point from when the nontestimonial statements became testimonial was reached when the 911 operator took control of the situation and cut off the declarant, telling her to stop talking and answer my questions. Davis, 126 S.Ct. at 2271. At that point in the conversation, the questions changed from gathering information about the emergency to gathering information about the suspect. Id. Thus, the Supreme Court in Davis clearly indicated that statements beginning as nontestimonial statements can later become testimonial. See id. at 2277 (noting that trial courts will recognize the point at which . . . statements . . . become testimonial, as they do . . . with unduly prejudicial portions of otherwise admissible evidence); see also State v. Kirby, 280 Conn. 361, 383, 908 A.2d 506 (2006)(finding statements made to a 911 operator by a woman who had just escaped from a kidnapping and assault were testimonial because she had already escaped, despite the fact that she might have needed emergency medical assistance at the time she made the 911 call); State v. Mechling, 219 W.Va. 366, 633 S.E.2d 311 (2006) (holding that once it becomes objectively apparent the emergency has passed, police questions are likely to elicit testimonial statements subject to the Confrontation Clause). After concluding the initial statements in Davis were nontestimonial, the Court then examined the admitted hearsay statements in Hammon v. Indiana, [10] and, in contrast, found them to be testimonial. Hammon presented an entirely different factual situation from Davis. Hammon involved statements made by a declarant who was initially contacted by police alone on the front porch. Davis, 126 S.Ct. at 2272. The declarant appeared frightened, but she told the police nothing was the matter and gave them permission to enter the home. Id. Inside, the police saw flames coming out of a gas heating unit and broken glass on the floor. Id. The defendant was inside the kitchen. Id. The police kept the two separated and began to question the declarant about what had occurred. Id. Determining that the declarant's statements were testimonial under these circumstances was a much easier task for the Supreme Court. Id. at 2278. In contrast to the statements in Davis, the Court's examination of Hammon noted that there was no emergency in progress despite the fact that there were flames coming out of a gas heater and that during the questioning of the declarant, the defendant became angry and even tried to participate in the police interrogation of the declarant. Davis, 126 S.Ct. at 2278. The Court also noted there was no immediate threat to the declarant's person. Id. In addition, the officer's questions elicited statements about what happened, not what was occurring at that moment. Id. The Court determined that, viewed objectively, the primary purpose of the interrogation was to investigate a possible crime. Id. The Court continued its analysis and noted that, though it was an onscene investigation, the declarant's interrogation was conducted in a separate room away from the defendant. Davis, 126 S.Ct. at 2278. The declarant's responses were for the officer's use in the investigation. Id. The declarant even made a formal written statement. Id. However, both the verbal and written statements were made in response to police questioning [about] how potentially criminal past events began and progressed. Id. The interrogation was formal enough that the statements were testimonial and thus subject to the limitations of the Confrontation Clause. Id. Such statements under official interrogation are an obvious substitute for live testimony, because they do precisely what a witness does on direct examination; they are inherently testimonial. Id. (emphasis in original); see Kirby, 280 Conn. 361, 385, 908 A.2d 506 (holding that when police interview a victim in her home who reported that she was just kidnapped and assaulted, the statements are testimonial because they are investigatory); Blue, 717 N.W.2d at 564 (holding that videotaped testimony of a child victim of sexual assault by a forensic interviewer was in preparation for trial and thus testimonial); Mechling, 633 S.E.2d at 323 (holding where police arrive on scene after being dispatched to a domestic violence call and interview the victim, those statements cannot substitute for the victim's live testimony because such statements are inherently testimonial). Having examined the Supreme Court's approach in Davis and Hammon, we now turn to the case before us today.