Opinion ID: 2613357
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: taint on conviction for count i

Text: Giles and Wright next argue that the admission of the younger child's statements to Dr. Jambura, which was held to violate the Confrontation Clause in State v. Wright, 116 Idaho 382, 775 P.2d 1224, was prejudicial as to Count I as well as Count II when these statements are considered in context and in conjunction with all of the other errors made by counsel. Giles and Wright, without explicitly saying so, appear to be relying on the cumulative error doctrine. Petitioners assert that the strongest evidence for convicting Giles and Wright on Count I, abuse of the older child, was that her statements relative to the abusive treatment inflicted by her parents were corroborated by Dr. Jambura's hearsay testimony about the younger child's statements. After reviewing the record we conclude that this issue, Issue II, is before this Court only as to Giles because there is no discussion of it as to Wright by the district court. After the hearing at which the district court heard evidence presented only as to Giles on this issue, Wright requested leave to join in Giles' Motion for Summary Judgment and the district court granted her request. As a result, we find that we cannot review this issue as to Wright on appeal since she is not mentioned in the district court's order denying summary judgment. This portion of the opinion therefore pertains only to Giles. We dismiss Issue II as to Wright. In its unpublished opinion, the district court very lucidly explained why the admission of the tainted hearsay evidence attributed to the younger child constituted harmless error with respect to Giles' conviction on Count I, involving the older child. Harmless error is defined in Rule 52 of the Idaho Criminal Rules: Any error, defect, irregularity or variance which does not affect substantial rights shall be disregarded. The harmless error doctrine has been further defined by this Court: To hold an error as harmless, an appellate court must declare a belief, beyond a reasonable doubt, that there was no reasonable possibility that such evidence complained of contributed to the conviction. State v. Sharp, 101 Idaho 498, 507, 616 P.2d 1034, 1043 (1980) ( citing Chapman v. California, 386 U.S. 18, 24, 87 S.Ct. 824, 827, 17 L.Ed.2d 705 (1967)). The test for harmless error, as the district court stated, is whether a reviewing court can find beyond a reasonable doubt that the jury would have reached the same result without the admission of the challenged evidence. As the district court points out, the United States Supreme Court has indicated several factors to be considered in determining whether a denial of Confrontation Clause rights constitutes harmless error: the importance of the witness's testimony in the prosecution's case, whether the testimony was cumulative, the presence or absence of evidence corroborating or contradicting the witness's testimony, the extent of cross-examination permitted, and the overall strength of the prosecution's case. Delaware v. Van Arsdall, 475 U.S. 673, 684, 106 S.Ct. 1431, 1438, 89 L.Ed.2d 674, 686-87 (1986). The Supreme Court also stated: [A]n otherwise valid conviction should not be set aside if the reviewing court may confidently say, on the whole record, that the constitutional error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. Id., 475 U.S. at 681, 106 S.Ct. at 1436, 89 L.Ed.2d at 684. The district court found, and we fully agree, that the remaining evidence admitted at trial was overwhelming proof of Giles' guilt and sufficient beyond a reasonable doubt to convict him on Count I involving the older child. It appears to us beyond a reasonable doubt that, absent the hearsay testimony of Dr. Jambura, the result of the trial would have been the same. The record includes testimony by the older child which clearly implicates both defendants, physical evidence of abuse testified to by two other doctors, the psychological corroboration by two counselors of behavior consistent with sexual abuse, and police interviews with the older child. Given the extent of the corroborative evidence indicating Giles' guilt, we hold that the admission of Dr. Jambura's testimony about the younger child's statements was harmless error as to Count I.