Court Opinion

ID: 9728502
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 14:09:39.123835+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:25:49.182664
License: Public Domain

CHIEF JUSTICE FREEMAN, dissenting: I strongly disagree with the majority’s overly restrictive interpretation of section 115 — 10, an evidentiary rule primarily designed to facilitate prosecutions of sexual acts committed against children under 13 years of age by providing for admission of those victims’ outcry statements as statutory exceptions to the hearsay rule. Under the majority’s holding, section 115 — 10 now automatically precludes the admission of a child’s outcry statement concerning sexual acts committed upon her when she was under 13 years of age, if she chances to reach 13 years of age either by the time of her outcry or by the time for her trial testimony about that outcry (see Ill. Rev. Stat. 1991, ch. 38, par. 115 — 10(a)(1)). Quite anomalously, however, under the majority’s interpretation, her outcry statements could be admitted through the testimony of a third person, if she does not testify, so long as she was under 13 years when she made her statements (see Ill. Rev. Stat. 1991, ch. 38, par. 115— 10(a)(2)). In reaching its conclusion that the statute is ambiguous, the majority merely pays lip service to the established rules of statutory construction and struggles mightily to rationalize unwarranted judicial legislation that serves only to subvert clear public policies. The resulting interpretation of section 115 — 10 is not only internally inconsistent, but illogical in terms of the majority’s own stated premises. Further, the interpretation is likely to produce absurd results in prosecutions of sexual acts perpetrated on pre-adolescent children. Accordingly, I must dissent. Section 115 — 10(a) states that "[i]n a prosecution for a sexual act perpetrated upon a child under the age of 13, including but not limited to prosecutions for violations of Section 12 — 13 through 12 — 16 of the Criminal Code of 1961,” certain testimonial evidence shall be admitted as an exception to the hearsay rule. 111. Rev. Stat. 1991, ch. 38, par. 115 — 10(a). Subsection (a) essentially sets out the type or character of criminal prosecutions in which the hearsay may be allowed. As such, the terms of subsection (a) are not personally descriptive of the victim so much as they characterize a particular type of criminal sexual conduct which is the subject of prosecution under section 115 — 10. When one reads the plain language of sections 115— 10(a)(1) and (a)(2) then, in their entirety, giving the term "such child” its ordinary meaning, it becomes clear that the term was intended merely as a short-hand reference to the victimized individual. The majority posits, however, that it is equally reasonable for the expressly stated 13-year limitation concerning the victim’s age found in subsection (a) to apply, implicitly, at every juncture where the term "such child” is employed within section 115 — 10. The result then is that not only must the prosecution itself concern a sexual act upon a child under 13 years, but the child must have made the subject out-of-court statement as well as testify to it, if she so chooses, before she reaches 13 years of age. Where an enactment is clear and unambiguous, the court is not free to depart from the plain language and meaning of the statute by reading into it exceptions, limitations, or conditions that the legislature did not express, nor is it necessary for the court to search for any subtle or not readily apparent intention of the legislature. People v. Woodard, 175 Ill. 2d 435 (1997). Notably, the two "consistent” appellate decisions cited by the majority (Bridgewater, 259 Ill. App. 3d 344; E.Z., 262 Ill. App. 3d 29) do not address the necessary correlative restriction flowing from their holdings that the child must also testify before reaching 13 years in order for admission of the outcry. In my view, transposing the crime victim’s age limitation to every instance where "such child” appears in section 115 — 10 represents an overly rigid and, therefore, less reasonable response to the statute’s plain language, to say nothing about the fact that transposing the age limitation results in not one, but a trio of implications. In my view, section 115 — 10, in this respect, is not capable of two equally reasonable interpretations and is therefore not ambiguous. Even assuming, however, that the provision is ambiguous as drafted, I disagree with the conclusions drawn by the majority from its review of the provision’s legislative history to support construction. Section 115 — 10 was clearly enacted to put statutory teeth into an accepted common law hearsay exception for outcry or complaint by victims of rape. See People v. Leamons, 127 Ill. App. 3d 1056, 1068 (1984). The basis for admission of outcry evidence at common law was to establish that the victim did, in fact, speak out regarding the sexual assault, thereby refuting any presumption arising from evidence of her silence that nothing untoward occurred. See People v. Damen, 28 Ill. 2d 464, 472-73 (1963). There was no fixed or definite period of time within which the complaint must have been made, but a complaint was properly shown without inconsistent or unexplained delay. Damen, 28 Ill. 2d at 473. Under the common law rule, for the statement to be admissible, the complainant had to be a witness and therefore subject to cross-examination. Only the fact of the outcry or complaint was admissible, but not the details of the offense or the identity of the perpetrator. Section 115 — 10 in its earliest form extended this common law exception for outcry complaint, limited to the fact that it occurred, to outcry complaint by child victims of sexual offenses in general. This early form of the statute assumed that the child victim would testify at trial and be subject to cross-examination. The 1988 version of the statute, in effect at the time of trial in the instant matter, allowed for admission of the child’s outcry through the testimony of a third person if the child did not testify, and also allowed for admission of details concerning, the offense, as well as the identity of the perpetrator. Significantly, the amended 1994 version, effective after the instant case, further expanded the scope of the statute beyond prosecutions for sexual offenses to a variety of offenses, and included as well acts committed against certain institutionalized mentally retarded persons. Legislative debate surrounding the enactment of sectian 115 — 10 indicates that the rationale which supports the traditional common law hearsay exception in rape cases also supports section 115 — 10. See 82d Ill. Gen. Asem., House Proceedings, March 25, 1982, at 87 (statements of Representative Jaffe) (bill "deals with corroboration that a child has been sexually molested and testimony that *** [she] complained of such an incident”). That is, such hearsay is admissible to corroborate the fact of an assault as subsequently reported. The majority, nonetheless, seizes upon a single comment by Representative Stearney as an indication that the intended significance of allowing such hearsay is for the limited purpose of corroborating the trial testimony of young child victims. See 177 Ill. 2d at 9 ("Representative Stearney questioned whether the age of 17 was 'rather high’ and whether there was any need for corroboration of a 17-year-old”). There is absolutely no indication, however, that Representative Stearney’s question was directed towards the victim’s age at the time of her trial testimony rather than her age at the time that the sexual acts were perpetrated on her. 82d Ill. Gen. Assem., House Proceedings, March 25, 1982, at 88 (statements of Representative Stearney). Neither is there indication that the Representative’s question was directed to the age of the victim as a hearsay declarant. (Actually, there is negative indication that a declarant’s age was under discussion.) In fact, it should be presumed that Representative Stearney’s question concerned the age of the victim at the time of the sexual offense since that was the aspect of the statute which actually was amended as a result of the debate. That Representative Stearney might question the need for corroboration under the statute in the case of an individual victimized at age 17 comports with the hearsay’s significance as corroborative evidence of a sexual offense perpetrated sometime previously on a young child. Very young children are often too frightened to report or testify about such offenses, which are oftentimes committed by relatives or friends. Cf. People v. Soler, 228 Ill. App. 3d 183, 199 (1992); People v. Foley, 206 Ill. App. 3d 709, 716 (1990). Society now recognizes that sexually abused children are often secretive about the abuse they suffer, and that they may be severely conflicted concerning the abuse and delay reporting it for considerable periods of time. Cf. People v. Dempsey, 242 Ill. App. 3d 568, 579 (1993); People v. Pollard, 225 Ill. App. 3d 970, 976 (1992); People v. Wasson, 211 Ill. App. 3d 264, 270 (1991). A young child is often likely not to disclose such abuse until years after it occurs or begins, thereby causing questions to arise regarding the veracity of the child. Admitting an outcry statement by such a child, provided the prosecution proves that it is reliable and trustworthy, in the process envisioned by section 115 — 10(b) allows the prosecution an opportunity to corroborate sexual abuse against a young child that might have occurred sometime previous to the victim’s unfortunately tardy report to adults or authorities. Representative Stearney could be expected to recognize that the same difficulties of proof would not more likely attend the sexual abuse of an individual aged 17 years. A 17-year-old individual, as opposed to a child under 13 years old, is more likely to immediately report commission of such acts to adults and authorities, thereby generating the likelihood of other forms of corroborativo evidence (witnesses, physical evidence) besides hearsay. Thus, the admissibility of hearsay statements in prosecutions of sexual acts committed against older teens is a less critical matter. Contrary to the majority, I do not read the legislative commentary cited as reflecting necessarily any underlying concern with the ability of the victim to adequately testify at trial. 177 Ill. 2d at 9. In my view, also, section 115 — 10(a)(2) clearly manifests the legislature’s intent that evidence of a victim’s outcry serve a purpose beyond corroboration of a possibly inarticulate and reluctant young child’s trial testimony. Such intent is manifest because subsection (b) allows admission of testimony concerning a victim’s outcry regardless of whether she provides it herself. The majority faults the State’s interpretation for failing to measure the statute’s applicability with regard to the age of the child at the time of a subsequent outcry. Yet, the majority measures the statute’s applicability with regard to the age of the child at the time of trial though the child need not testify, and then fails to explain any significance for the arbitrary age requirement of "under 13 years” it imposes on the child at the time of her outcry. I disagree with the majority’s view that the importance of allowing hearsay testimony of an outcry or complaint of a sexual offense is dictated necessarily by the victim’s ability to adequately testify at trial. 177 Ill. 2d at 9. The importance of allowing hearsay testimony of an outcry or complaint of a sexual offense is dictated by the victim’s ability to adequately and immediately report the offense. This was the important consideration underlying this hearsay exception at common law, and I see no indication of its change with enactment of the exception into statutory law. Furthermore, rather than facilitate prosecutions, the majority’s restrictive interpretation of section 115 — 10 is conducive of absurdities. For example, due possibly to judicial delay or outright procedural manipulations by a defendant, a child could be precluded from providing testimony of an outcry she made when she was under 13 years old, if she happens to turn 13 years old by the time the case is tried or retried following an appeal. In sum, in cases of children and teens sexually victimized when under 13 years of age, the fact that they were not likely to have adequately and immediately reported such offenses is an important concern which I believe the legislature considered in providing, statutorily, for admission of these types of outcry statements. The statute was designed to admit this evidence, regardless of either the victim’s age at the time of trial or the fact of her specific chronological age at the time of her outcry, provided that the court finds in camera that the time, content, and circumstances of her outcry provide sufficient safeguards of reliability, and she either testifies then or there is other corroborative evidence of the criminal act (see Ill. Rev. Stat. 1991, ch. 38, par. 115— 10(b)). Any issue regarding the trustworthiness of the hearsay statements made by a child victim after she turns 13 years old is addressed by the proviso that testimony regarding the hearsay shall only be admitted if: (1) the court finds in a hearing conducted outside the presence of the jury that the time, content, and circumstances of the statement provide sufficient safeguards of reliability; and (2) the child either testifies at the proceedings, or is unavailable as a witness and there is corroborative evidence of the act which is the subject of the statement. These reliability criteria assure admission of the out-of-court statements in compliance with the strictures found in Idaho v. Wright, 497 U.S. 805, 111 L. Ed. 2d 638, 110 S. Ct. 3139 (1990) (holding relevont factors are the totality of circumstances surrounding the making of the statement and which render the declarant particularly worthy of belief). In conclusion, I do not agree with the majority’s apparent view that the legislature intended for this hearsay exception to be limited to cases where third persons testify to the victim’s outcry statements made when she was under 13 years of age, or where she happens to be under 13 years of age at the time that she testifies to them. Given the prevailing environment concerning these crimes against children, and what we as a society have learned about these forms of childhood victimization, the only reasonable interpretation of the statute is that it means what it says and no more. This court should not turn a blind eye to the nature of childhood sexual abuse and prevailing public policies concerning such offenses.