Court Opinion

ID: 9836889
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-02 03:15:23.107492+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:45:19.159828
License: Public Domain

EFFRON, Judge
(dissenting):
As indicated in the majority opinion, this ease'does not involve the question of whether appellant’s sentence was appropriate; rather the question is whether erroneous admission of a hearsay statement during the sentencing proceeding was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. I agree with the framework of the majority’s analysis but not with the result.
Erroneous admission of a hearsay statement that a person is “predatory in nature” can have a devastating impact on sentencing, particularly when the statement is characterized as a medical record. Taking into account the positive and negative evidence cited by the majority, I do not agree that the error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt in the context of sentencing a sailor with almost 16 years of service for the offense of using indecent language.