Court Opinion

ID: 9519036
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 01:07:44.39763+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:40:59.683790
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE HARRISON, specially concurring: Contrary to my colleagues, I would hold that the trial judge erred in permitting nurse Williams to testify that the victim had identified defendant as her abuser. Nurse Williams’ testimony was plainly hearsay. As such, it was admissible only to the extent that it fell within the hearsay exception set forth in section 115 — 13 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963 (725 ILCS 5/115 — 13 (West 1992)). That exception, however, cannot be invoked here. Section 115 — 13 does authorize medical personnel to testify as to statements made by a victim of sexual assault, but only when the statements were made by the victim to the medical personnel "for purposes of medical diagnosis or treatment.” This is a codification of a common law rule (see People v. Giles, 261 Ill. App. 3d 833, 841-42 (1994)) which was based on the notion that an injured individual is presumed not to "prevaricate at the very instant of his injury or while he is stating his physical condition to a physician from whom he expects and hopes to receive medical aid” (Greinke v. Chicago City Ry. Co., 234 Ill. 564, 572 (1908)). In this case, the challenged statement was not made at the time of the victim’s injury and had nothing to do with her "diagnosis and treatment.” Dr. St. Germaine was not the victim’s physician, and the victim did not go to her office because she needed help in identifying some medical condition so that it could be cured. The victim was taken to Dr. St. Germaine’s office, accompanied by an assistant State’s Attorney according to the doctor’s account, for the sole purpose of bolstering the State’s case against the defendant. No genuine medical purpose can reasonably be imputed to the examination. By the time nurse Williams interviewed the victim in Dr. St. Germaine’s office, any physical trauma had long since healed. There was nothing medically wrong with the victim, she had no physical symptoms requiring treatment, and she did not claim that she needed to be treated. The interview with nurse Williams was likewise unrelated to care of the victim’s mental health. While identification of the perpetrator is undeniably important in dealing with the child’s psychological condition, there was no uncertainty as to who was responsible here. The victim had already identified defendant as her abuser, he had already admitted the abuse and the police had already arrested him for it. Because the victim was examined for investigatory purposes and not to obtain medical care, the presumption of trustworthiness underlying the exception to the hearsay rule was absent and the statute, by its terms, did not apply. To hold otherwise would mean that the State could evade the prohibition against hearsay testimony in every child abuse case simply by using licensed medical professionals to conduct its interrogations. In my view, such a result was not intended by the legislature and represents a radical and unwarranted departure from established principles of evidence. Although the circuit court should not havé admitted nurse Williams’ hearsay testimony, I agree that the appellate court was correct in affirming the circuit court’s judgment. This court has held that reversal is mandatory when the trial court has erroneously admitted evidence unless the record clearly shows that the error was hot prejudicial. People v. Lawler, 142 Ill. 2d 548, 562 (1991); People v. Carlson, 92 Ill. 2d 440, 449 (1982). I believe that the record before us does clearly show that admission of nurse Williams’ testimony did not prejudice the defendant. As the majority’s review of the facts indicates, the properly admitted evidence was so overwhelming that no fair-minded jury could reasonably have voted to acquit. JUSTICE McMORROW joins in this special concurrence.