Opinion ID: 1136887
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: did the trial court err by allowing the detective to testify to fisher's age obtained while recording fisher's personal history after arrest?

Text: Fisher also argues a) that the State must prove his age at trial and b) their only attempt to do so was inadmissable hearsay. Detective Eddie Williams testified that he obtained from Fisher his age of 26 while taking his personal history for the ongoing investigation.
The capital rape statute states in pertinent part: (1) Every person eighteen (18) years of age or older who shall be convicted of rape by carnally and unlawfully knowing a child of fourteen (14) years, upon conviction, shall be sentenced to death or imprisonment for life in the State Penitentiary; provided, however, any person thirteen (13) years of age or over but under eighteen (18) years of age convicted of such shall be sentenced to such term of imprisonment as the court, in its discretion, may determine ... Miss. Code Ann. § 97-3-65 (1972). The State argues that proof of age is not necessary at the trial phase but only at the sentencing phase. We discussed this issue concerning the fondling statute in Crenshaw v. State, 520 So.2d 131 (Miss. 1988). For comparison purposes that statute reads as follows: Any person above the age of eighteen (18) years, who, for the purpose of gratifying his or her lust, or indulging his or her depraved licentious sexual desires, shall handle, touch or rub with hands or any part of his or her body or any member thereof, any child under the age of fourteen (14) years, with or without the child's consent, shall be guilty of a high crime and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined ... or be imprisoned.. Miss. Code Ann. § 97-5-23 (1972). We ruled in Crenshaw that in proving gratification of lust pursuant to this statute the State bears the burden of proving the person so charged was over the age of eighteen years. Id. at 133. In a case involving the predecessor to the current fondling statute we also addressed this issue. See Love v. State, 211 Miss. 606, 52 So.2d 470 (1951). There we said that the accused must be over 18 is an affirmative fact which must be charged and proved by the state. It is not a mere formality. Id. at 471. The capital rape statute is written in similar fashion. We find the age of the accused to be a sine qua non of the crime of capital rape requiring proof by the State at trial.
The only evidence of Fisher's age came from the testimony of Detective Eddie Williams who had obtained this information from Fisher in an interview. Fisher contends this is hearsay and was improperly admitted. The State argues that a report prepared by a law enforcement agency as a regular exercise of its duty is admissible under M.R.E. 803(6), so long as the person who is the source of the information contained in the report was acting in the regular exercise of the agency's duty when he learned of the information. See Lentz v. State, 604 So.2d 243, 249 (Miss. 1992). However, in Lentz, the witness was a Mississippi Crime Laboratory employee testifying to the results of the defendant's urine samples taken by an Alabama lab at the Mississippi Crime Lab's instruction. The Court found that the person who performed the test was acting within the lab's regular scope of business. The source in the instant case is Fisher who was not acting within the regular scope of business. See Copeland v. City of Jackson, 548 So.2d 970 (Miss. 1989). In Copeland, this Court held that it was error on the part of the trial court in refusing to allow into evidence the accident report filed by the officer on the scene. Id. at 975. The Court quoted the comment to Rule 803(6) in its analysis: However, the source of the material must be an informant with knowledge who is acting in the course of the regularly conducted activity. This is exemplified by the leading case of Johnson v. Lutz, 253 New York 124, 170 N.E. 517 (1930), which is still the applicable law today under the rule. That case held that a police report which contained information obtained from a bystander was inadmissible; the officer qualified as one acting in the regular course of a business, but the informant did not. (Emphasis added). Therefore, police reports prepared during the investigation of an accident should be admissible into evidence. Id. at 975. The Court also stated that [i]n holding such report admissible we should not be understood as holding all the contents of the report were necessarily admissible. For example, there may be notations in such a report which are recitations of statements of others, and would be inadmissible even though the officer was present in court testifying. Id. at 975-976. Thus, even though the detective obtained Fisher's age during the regular course of investigation, the source was Fisher who was not routinely engaged in regularly conducted activity, and so the statement is not admissible under this exception. Yet, we find that the statement of age made by Fisher to the officer admissible for another reason. The statement qualifies as an admission and is not hearsay. We have defined an admission as a statement by the accused, direct or implied, of facts pertinent to the issue, and tending, in connection with other facts, to prove his guilt. Reed v. State, 229 Miss. 440, 91 So.2d 269, 272 (1956). As previously determined, age of the defendant is an essential element of the crime of capital rape. Fisher's statement of his age tends to prove in connection with other facts the elements of the capital rape statute. In this instance, the testimony of the detective was proper.