Court Opinion

ID: 9607625
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 03:00:56.300875+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:28:48.725039
License: Public Domain

STEWART, Justice
(concurring in result).
Although I concur with much of the majority opinion and with the result reached, I disagree with the majority’s position that the out-of-court statements that Frances Schreuder allegedly made to her son Marc Schreuder, who related them to Dr. Louis Moench during a psychiatric evaluation pri- or to Marc’s earlier trial for murder, were admissible through Dr. Moench against Mrs. Schreuder. I submit those statements violate the hearsay rule.
I. CONFRONTATION
The numerous exceptions to the hearsay rule, and sometimes even out-of-court statements defined to be non-hearsay, stand in inherent tension with the constitutional right of confrontation. See, e.g., Ohio v. Roberts, 448 U.S. 56, 66 n. 9, 100 S.Ct. 2531, 2539 n. 9, 65 L.Ed.2d 597 (1980). By and large, exceptions to the hearsay rule do not violate the constitutional right of confrontation because they are founded on considerations deemed to provide sufficient reliability to substitute for the oath, cross-examination, and observation of a witness’ demeanor. Ohio v. Roberts, supra, 448 U.S. at 66, 100 S.Ct. at 2539; but see, e.g., Barber v. Page, 390 U.S. 719, 88 S.Ct. 1318, 20 L.Ed.2d 255 (1968). But evidence that is admissible as an exception to the hearsay rule may still violate the confrontation clause, as the United States Supreme Court has recently reiterated. Lee v. Illinois, — U.S. —, 106 S.Ct. 2056, 90 L.Ed.2d 514 (U.S.1986). See also Ohio v. Roberts, supra, 448 U.S. at 65, 100 S.Ct. at 2538. Whether the evidence in question violated Mrs. Schreuder’s right of confrontation under the Sixth Amendment of the United States Constitution and Article I, § 12 of the Utah Constitution is a question that need not now be resolved, but the constitutional backdrop of those hearsay issues should not be ignored.
II. HEARSAY
The majority relies upon the hearsay exception found in Rule 803(4) of the Utah Rules of Evidence, “Statements for purposes of medical diagnosis or treatment,” as authority for admitting Dr. Moench’s testimony of Marc Schreuder’s assertions of his mother’s out-of-court statements. The majority also relies upon Rule 703, which permits an expert to testify to a conclusion based in whole or in part on a hearsay foundation if the hearsay is “of a type reasonably relied upon by experts in the particular field in forming opinions or inferences upon the subject.”
This Court has held, even before the adoption of our present rules of evidence, that out-of-court statements made to a psychologist or psychiatrist were admissible to establish the foundation for an opinion as to an examinee’s mental state. Kallas v. Kallas, 614 P.2d 641, 644-45 (Utah 1980) (statements made to a psychologist); Lemmon v. Denver & Rio Grande Western Railway, 9 Utah 2d 195, 200-01, 341 P.2d 215, 218 (1959) (statements made to a psychiatrist). In Edwards v. Didericksen, 597 P.2d 1328 (Utah 1979), we discussed the general rule concerning admissibility of expert opinions based in part on hearsay of a kind that is used regularly in the expert’s trade. or profession, but we also warned against the impropriety of using an expert merely as a conduit to place otherwise inadmissible hearsay before a jury.
*1231Under the most recent version of our rules of evidence, which werp adopted in 1983 and follow generally the Federal Rules of Evidence, the hearsay exception for out-of-court statements made to a physician for medical purposes has been expanded. That exception, contained in Rule 803(4), now admits a declarant’s out-of-court statements to a physician, whether for diagnosis or treatment of the declarant. Although a patient’s “history” may be helpful in making a diagnosis, a “history” cannot be made a conduit for the admission of all kinds of hearsay, especially to establish the truth of some proposition of fact about a third person. The patient’s declarations are admissible only for the purpose of diagnosis or treatment; that is as far as the rationale for the rule extends.
Assuming that Rule 803(4) applies in the instant case, a psychiatrist or psychologist should be allowed to testify to statements made to him by a patient, but only to establish the patient’s character, personality traits, or state of mind, not to establish the truth of a factual proposition about another person. The potential for unreliable evidence is incalculable when a patient reports to a psychiatrist or psychologist the declarations of a third person and those declarations are then used to establish the .truth of the matter asserted to incriminate the third party. In this case, Dr. Moench’s testimony went beyond a “history”; his testimony included statements made by Mrs. Schreuder to Marc that pertained directly to Mrs. Schreuder’s guilt.
Whether the evidentiary analysis proceeds under Rule 803(4) or Rule 703, the result should be the same, although there is a difference in the effect of applying the two rules. When hearsay is admitted under Rule 703, it is not admitted for the truth of the matter asserted, but only as a foundation for an expert’s opinion. It is generally, although not always, less likely to bear upon the adjudicative facts at issue in the case and more likely to relate to broader concepts and principles which the expert utilizes to form an opinion. Rule 703 should not be construed to allow assertions about a third person to be admitted purportedly to establish a foundation for an expert’s opinion, but in reality for the truth value of the assertions against the third person. Under Rule 803(4), the hearsay evidence qualifies as an exception to the hearsay rule and is accepted as evidence of the truth of the matter asserted and usually will bear on the adjudicative facts. For that reason, the Rule 803(4) exception should be confined to its purpose so that the exception does not exceed its rationale and create an expansive loophole for unreliable evidence.
In my view, the admission of Dr. Moench’s testimony which referred to what Mrs. Schreuder told Marc Schreuder did not fall within Rule 803(4) or Rule 703. Nevertheless, the errors in this regard were harmless because the evidence of Frances Schreuder’s declarations that bore on the important issues in the trial was supported by other cumulative evidence; however, the error should be recognized as such and not dealt with as if no error had occurred.1
Finally, Justice Durham’s analysis of Marc’s testimony as nonhearsay requires a comment. She asserts that it was nonhear-say because it was adduced “to rebut implications raised by the defense that Marc’s trial testimony was improperly influenced or motivated.” There is no rule that admits what would otherwise be inadmissible hearsay for purposes of rebuttal generally. Certainly, the statements were not admissible as prior consistent statements to rebut an attack of “recent fabrication.” In fact, the evidence was not admitted in rebuttal at all; it came in as a part of the prosecution’s case in chief. Justice Durham also *1232asserts that Mrs. Schreuder’s out-of-court statements were not hearsay because they were not offered for the truth of the matter asserted, but “merely to prove they were made.” I disagree. Dr. Moench was allowed to testify, for example, that Marc left Midland, Texas, where he purchased the murder weapon, because of plans and conversations that Marc and Mrs. Schreu-der had entered into. That and other statements, one of which was excluded by the trial court, were plainly based on statements Mrs. Schreuder made to Marc.
III. PROSECUTOR MISCONDUCT
The record discloses what I think was clearly improper conduct on the part of the prosecutor. When Marc Schreuder was on the stand as a prosecution witness, he testified that the prosecution had made no promises to him; and the prosecution allowed that statement to stand. In fact, that testimony was false. The prosecutor had promised to appear with Marc at his first Board of Pardons appearance. Marc was also promised immunity from prosecution for any crimes to which he admitted. Notwithstanding the prosecutor’s conduct, Marc’s perjurious statements were eventually cleared up on cross-examination by defense counsel, and therefore form no basis for reversal. However, the prosecutor’s conduct appears to have violated Disciplinary Rule 7-102(A)(4) of Rule IY of the Revised Rules of Professional Conduct of the Utah State Bar. Cf Nix v. Whiteside, — U.S. —, 106 S.Ct. 988, 89 L.Ed.2d 123 (U.S.1986).
In addition, prior to trial an investigator from the Salt Lake County Attorney’s office had Marc released from prison and took him to a hotel to visit his father and also took Marc and his girlfriend to a movie and to the University of Utah where she was to be inducted into an honor society. I submit that the extraordinary treatment afforded Marc by the prosecution was wrong, as was the prosecution’s failure to disclose to the court Marc Schreuder’s false testimony.
HOWE, J., concurs in the concurring opinion of Justice STEWART.

. The evidentiary issue involves what was double hearsay prior to the adoption of our present rules of evidence. Even though double hearsay is admissible if both aspects qualify under an exception to the hearsay rule, the confrontation issue that is involved still exists. Cf. Lee v. Illinois, — U.S. —, 106 S.Ct. 2056, 90 L.Ed.2d 514 (U.S.1986). Furthermore, the confrontation issue, to the extent it may exist in a case, cannot be resolved by the mere redefinition of hearsay as nonhearsay. See id.