Opinion ID: 1660525
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Was an admission by a police officer improperly excluded to the prejudice of the defendant?

Text: At the trial in response to a question by his own counsel, Smith stated:  A. Well, the two officers that arrested me, they told me, `well, you know you broke in this place,' and I said `no, I didn't,' and a few minutes later another police officer came down there and looked around for fingerprints, that's what I was told. But I don't know whether they found any or not, I haven't seen any. And I heard one of the police officers state that the person who broke into the place must have got cut, or something.  Mr. McCann: I will object to this as hearsay. The state's objection on grounds of hearsay was sustained. Defendant now contends that the statement should have been admissible as an admission. It is argued that the statement has probative value because Smith was not cut, and hence the admission would exclude him as a suspect. His argument is that the policeman who allegedly made the admission is an agent of the state, the party adversary to the defendant in this action. We find his argument deficient in several respects. We cannot in the absence of some factual underpinning, which the defendant has not attempted to furnish, conclude as a matter of law that a municipal police officer is the agent of the state in its adversary capacity as a party in criminal prosecution. Moreover, under the interpretation placed upon the admission rule by this court, the statement is not permitted in evidence. We have held in Rudzinski v. Warner Theatres (1962), 16 Wis. 2d 241, 114 N. W. 2d 466, and Grunwald v. Halron (1967), 33 Wis. 2d 433, 147 N. W. 2d 543, that for an agent's statement to be admissible against his principal it must have been spoken within the scope of his authority to speak for the principal. There is no evidence of any authority for the police officer to speak for his principal, and in fact, as pointed out above, we cannot conclude on the basis of the record that an agency relationship existed. We cannot therefore conclude that the statement should have been admitted as an admission of an agent. The defendant also argues that the statement was admissible as part of the res gestae. We agree. In Rudzinski, supra, page 247, we stated our acceptance of the principles embodied in Rule 512 of the American Law Institute Model Code of Evidence, and concluded that it properly stated the law of Wisconsin with regard to statements admissible under the concept of res gestae. Rule 512 states (p. 262): Evidence of a hearsay statement is admissible if the judge finds that the hearsay statement was made (a) while the declarant was perceiving the event or condition which the statement narrates or describes or explains, or immediately thereafter; or (b) while the declarant was under the stress of a nervous excitement caused by his perception of the event or condition which the statement narrates or describes or explains. It is apparent that exception to the hearsay rule that the defendant urges is not the excited utterance described in (b) ; rather, it is the hearsay statement made contemporaneously, or nearly contemporaneously, with the observation of an event or condition. We conclude that the statement of the police officer was admissible under (a). The statement of the officer while examining the broken window falls within the first section of the American Law Institute Rule. The trustworthiness of such hearsay statements is explained by McCormick in his treatise on Evidence (hornbook series), p. 584, sec. 273: Another brilliant generalization by Morgan has led to an advance in clear thinking about statements accompanying non-startling events or relating to a condition which the declarant is observing. Such statements though unexcited usually possess a high degree of trustworthiness. If a person observes some situation or happening which is not at all startling or shocking in its nature, nor actually producing excitement in the observer, the observer may yet have occasion to comment on what he sees (or learns from other senses) at the very time that he is receiving the impression. Such a comment, as to a situation then before the declarant, does not have the safeguard of impulse, emotion, or excitement, but as Morgan points out there are other safeguards. In the first place, the report at the moment of the thing then seen, heard, etc., is safe from any error from defect of memory of the declarant. Secondly, there is little or no time for calculated misstatement, and thirdly, the statement will usually be made to another (the witness who reports it) who would have equal opportunities to observe and hence to check a misstatement. We thus conclude that it would not have been error for the trial judge to admit the hearsay statement of the police officer. [1] However, this court recognizes that a trial court is vested with a broad discretion in determining whether to admit utterances as part of the res gestae. State v. Dunn (1960), 10 Wis. 2d 447, 457, 103 N. W. 2d 36; Kressin v. Chicago & N. W. R. R. (1928), 194 Wis. 480, 486, 215 N. W. 908; Johnson v. State (1906), 129 Wis. 146, 152, 108 N. W. 55; Rudzinski v. Warner Theatres (1962), 16 Wis. 2d 241, 114 N. W. 2d 466. The usual question for the trial judge to determine in this respect is whether the statement was, in terms of time, so related to an exciting event as to be trustworthy. 6 Wigmore, Evidence (3d ed.), p. 135, sec. 1747; 31A C. J. S., Evidence, p. 982, sec. 403 (1); Rudzinski, supra, page 247. However, similar discretion should be vested in the trial judge when determining the admissibility of a res gestae statement not uttered as the consequence of an exciting event, but as an unexcited declaration of a present sense impression. Though otherwise admissible, it is within the discretion of the trial court to exclude such evidence if the circumstances surrounding the utterance are indicative of factors that may result in lack of trustworthiness or if the hearsay statement otherwise admissible is of such low probative value that it would not aid a judge or jury in the quest for the truth. [2] We conclude that the statement was properly excluded for the latter reason. The opinion of the declarant that the person who broke into the place must have got cut does not square with the fact that there was no evidence of blood at the scene or with common knowledge that a person does not necessarily get cut when a window is broken. He does not have to break it with his hands, and in the instant case there was evidence that the defendant was wearing gloves and a long trench coat. Moreover, the police officer was not identified. In view of the known circumstances of the incident, the hearsay statement was of such low probative value as to be almost valueless to a fact finder and likely to lead to jury confusion and the devotion of an undue amount of time and testimony to an issue of relatively minor importance. Under the circumstances it was not an abuse of discretion to exclude the statement. By the Court. Judgment affirmed.