Court Opinion

ID: 9703676
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 00:04:23.639837+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:12:41.386355
License: Public Domain

BROSKY, Judge,
concurring.
I concur with the majority in concluding that, to the extent 42 Pa.C.S. § 5985.1 is interpreted and applied in a fashion that does not offend the concepts espoused in the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Idaho v. Wright, 497 U.S. 805, 110 S.Ct. 3139, 111 L.Ed.2d 638 (1990), the statute in question should be regarded as constitutionally acceptable.
I note also that subsection (a)(2)(h), which appears to validate a statement where the child declarant “is unavailable as a witness and there is corroborative evidence of the act” would seem to offend the decision in Idaho v. Wright; at least to the extent the statement is not otherwise accompanied by the “particularized guarantees of trustworthiness” sufficient to satisfy the confrontation clause. With this particular exception, and in reliance upon the decision in Idaho v. Wright, I would agree that the statute in question does not compromise the accused’s constitutional rights under the confrontation clause.