Opinion ID: 1717911
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Hearsay testimony of victim's statement

Text: The trial occurred on March 21, 1990. On the previous day, the prosecution notified Leshe's counsel that the victim might not be present to testify and thus the state would rely on the testimony of Ms. Weindorf. When the trial began, Leshe's lawyer moved in limine to disallow Ms. Weindorf's testimony on the ground that it was hearsay. He asserted that the state could not show that the witness was unavailable and claimed that Leshe's right to confront the witness was at stake. At a hearing on the motion, Ms. Weindorf stated she knew the victim and her mother had moved from Ashley County, where the offense allegedly occurred, to Desha County, where the victim's mother had married a man named Streeter, and then to the State of Mississippi. She had this information a month before the trial date. Ms. Campbell, a Desha County social worker to whom the case file had been transferred, testified that she obtained the address of the victim and her mother in Leland, Mississippi, and had a Mississippi social worker check on the family. She said the Mississippi social worker said she went to the address where she found the victim, her mother, and Leshe. Ms. Campbell's information was, however, that Leshe was living in Greenville, Mississippi. Ms. Campbell notified the prosecutor of the vietim's Mississippi address around February 12, 1990. The case had been set for trial in mid-February but was continued at the defendant's request. An employee of the prosecutor testified that in February the victim's mother called the office to say she wanted to drop the charges. At a hearing in connection with the first trial setting, the prosecution asked the court to require Leshe's counsel to assure the presence of the victim when the trial was reset. The request was refused. It was clear that the prosecutor knew more than a month before the second trial date that his witness had moved out of the state and he might have a problem getting her to appear. A Deputy Circuit Clerk for Ashley County testified that the prosecutor's office requested that a subpoena for the victim and her mother be mailed to a middle school in Mississippi. It was placed in the U.S. mail, without a request for a receipt upon delivery, on March 16, 1990. The prosecutor stated that the school principal had agreed to deliver the subpoena but it was not received by him. The prosecutor also stated that he knew from talking to Mississippi officials that Leshe was living with the victim and her mother and would show that Leshe's influence was the reason the victim was not present to testify. A deputy sheriff from Mississippi testified that he was told by the victim's mother that Leshe was living with her in Mississippi. The court found that the victim was living in a household with her mother and Leshe and was thus not in a position to exercise her desire to testify. He also stated the Confrontation Clause was not a problem because the victim had made statements to different persons, and that to me, constitutes reliability.