Court Opinion

ID: 9757095
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 22:18:42.88351+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:28:34.805345
License: Public Domain

SPAETH, Judge,
concurring:
I reach the same result as the majority, but I cannot join its opinion, for two reasons.
_1_
Appellant does not argue that the drawing was inadmissible hearsay. To the contrary, he concedes that “[ojbjection was not made to its use by victim in identifying [appellant] ..” Appellant’s Brief at 3. Accordingly, we should not discuss whether the drawing was inadmissible hearsay. As a general rule we should only respond to issues raised by the parties.
Appellant does argue about the drawing; he raises two issues: that the drawing “serve[d] no legitimate purpose except to prejudice the jury”; and that the drawing “was not relevant.” Appellant’s Brief at 3. The majority does not respond to these issues—not that I much blame it, for the issues are close to trivial, given appellant’s concession that it was proper for the victim to use the drawing. An exhibit should be excluded as prejudicial if for some reason, its gruesomeness for example, it will result in the jury being unable to appraise the evidence in a level-headed manner. See generally McCormick, Evidence § 185 (Cleary ed. 1974). Appellant offers no reason to suppose that the drawing here had that result. As for relevance, the central issue was identification; the drawing was relevant to that whether or not it depicted someone who resembled appellant.
*384-2-
If for some reason it were appropriate to discuss whether the drawing was inadmissible hearsay, I should not say, as the majority does, that it “fulfills the requirements of the ‘res gestae’ exception . . . .” Majority opinion at 382.
We ought to stop saying that there is a “ ‘res gestae’ exception.” See Morgan, A Suggested Clarification of Utterances Admissible as Res Gestae, 31 Yale L.J. 229,--(1922) (“a Latin phrase to serve as a substitute for reasoning”); McCormick, supra, § 228 (“The ancient phrase can well be jettisoned . . ..”); 6 Wigmore, Evidence § 1767 (Chadbourn ed. 1976) (“The phrase has nothing to entitle itself ... to preservation.”); Moylan, Res Gestae, Or Why Is That Event Speaking and What Is It Doing in This Courtroom? 63 A.B.A.J. 968 (July 1977). As these commentators note, the phrase “ ‘res gestae’ exception” has been used in two situations: first, to justify the admission of a spontaneous declaration that is not hearsay at all, because it is not offered for its truth but for the mere fact of its utterance; and second, to justify the admission of statements that come within one of four distinct exceptions to the general rule against hearsay evidence, namely, declarations of present bodily condition, declarations of present mental state, excited utterances, and unexcited declarations of present sense impressions. McCormick, supra §§ 288-298. The danger in using the phrase “ ‘res gestae’ exception” is that the court’s analysis of a given evidentiary problem, and consequently, the scope of its holding, will be rendered obscure. The present case illustrates this danger, for one cannot tell from the majority’s opinion how it regards the drawing; the label “spontaneous” does not even tell one whether the drawing is or is not hearsay, much less explain why it was properly admitted.
My own analysis might go somewhat as follows (I say “might” because, since the point was not argued to us, I regard what I am about to say as dictum, offered only by way of responding to the majority’s dictum).
*385First, the drawing should be defined as hearsay. Suppose a victim says to his friend, “I was attacked by a man with a mustache.” If the friend testifies in court to this statement, the testimony is hearsay, for it is a statement made out of court, being offered for the truth (that the man did have a mustache). Now suppose the friend draws a picture of the mustache, and then, in response to instructions from the victim, alters it until the victim says, “That’s what his mustache looked like.” The drawing then becomes the victim’s statement; the mere fact that the statement is in picture form instead of in words does not alter its character as a statement, made out of court, and being offered for the truth.
Second, since the drawing is hearsay, the question arises whether it fits within one of the recognized hearsay exceptions. In my judgment, it does not.
The drawing was not a declaration of present bodily condition, as for example where the declarant complained of blackouts, or a tight feeling in the chest, or dizziness. McCormick, supra § 291.
Neither was the drawing a declaration of present mental state. At least, it was not within the cases usually involving this exception. Typically, these cases involve a declaration of an emotion, or of an intention. Among the examples cited by McCormick are these: “I don’t like being away from my wife”, admissible to prove intent that absence be temporary; “I am trying to see what is the matter with the gas”, admissible to prove motive of person seen tampering with meter; “I expect to leave Wichita with Mr. Hillman”, admissible to show intent to leave. McCormick, supra §§ 294-295.
Neither was the drawing an excited utterance. To the contrary, it was elicited by the artist, who drew a partial impression, and then altered it, step by step, as instructed by the declarant over a period of time. The excited utterance exception has two basic requirements: “an occurrence or event sufficiently startling to render normal reflective *386thought processes of an observer inoperative”, and “the statement of the declarant must have been a spontaneous reaction to the occurrence or event and not the result of reflective thought.” McCormick, supra § 297.
Finally, neither was the drawing an unexcited declaration of a present sense impression. This exception requires that the declarant must see the event, must make an observation about the event to another person also present at the scene, and that the observation must be made at the time of the event, or so shortly afterwards that it is unlikely that the declarant had the opportunity to form the purpose of misstating his observation. McCormick, supra § 298.
None of this is to suggest that the drawing was not properly admitted. The rule against hearsay evidence should not be narrowly defined, and rigidly enforced. It has repeatedly been changed, in response to experience with its application and analysis by scholars, and it should always be interpreted in light of the dangers it is intended to guard against. Here, if the victim were unavailable, I should have considerable difficulty in deciding whether the artist alone should be allowed to testify to his drawing. With the victim available, however, and present to testify about what she told the artist, and how accurately the drawing depicted her attacker, it seems to me that the drawing was properly admitted. The principal reason for excluding hearsay is the danger that the declarant’s credibility cannot be assessed. That danger was not present here, for defense counsel had the opportunity to cross-examine the declarant, and the trier of fact the opportunity to observe her reaction to the examination. Given these circumstances, I believe the drawing was properly admitted. See McCormick, supra § 251, especially at p. 603.
I concur in the majority’s order affirming the judgment of sentence.
HOFFMAN, J., joins in Part I of this opinion.