Opinion ID: 1476693
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: CAC Videotape

Text: Williams argues that H.T. never adopted her CAC videotape statement and that therefore the trial court erred when it admitted the tape as substantive evidence. It is a well settled rule that [w]hen a witness testifies under oath and adopts a prior statement not made under oath, that prior statement becomes substantive evidence. Mercer v. United States, 724 A.2d 1176, 1195 (D.C.1999) (citations omitted). This rule is related to, but distinct from, our statutory scheme permitting the use of a prior inconsistent statement as substantive evidence at trial when the statement was made under oath and the declarant is available for cross-examination concerning the prior statement. D.C.Code § 14-102(b) (2001). The CAC videotape contained statements made while H.T. was not under oath. Because H.T. testified, after being impeached with the CAC videotape, that Williams had in fact done what the record reveals, she adopted those portions of the CAC video used to impeach her. Therefore, the trial court did not err in allowing the jury to consider the adopted statements for their truth. Mercer, supra . Williams also argues that the trial judge erred when he instructed the jury to consider whether or not H.T. had adopted the CAC videotape excerpts. Even assuming error, Williams does not show that he was impermissibly prejudiced in any way; having established that the statements were adopted, a conclusion we sustain, the fact that the jury could have reconsidered whether adoption occurred or not only stood to benefit Williams.