Bobadilla v. Carlson

• Decision Date: 06 August 2009
• Docket Number: No. 08-3010.,08-3010.
• Citation: 575 F.3d 785
• Parties: Orlando Manuel BOBADILLA, Petitioner-Appellee, v. Terry CARLSON, Warden, Respondent-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

575 F.3d 785

Orlando Manuel BOBADILLA, Petitioner-Appellee, v. Terry CARLSON, Warden, Respondent-Appellant.

No. 08-3010.

United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit.

Submitted: May 12, 2009.

Filed: August 6, 2009.

Kelly O'Neill Moller, AAG, argued, St. Paul, MN, for appellant.

Lynne Torgerson, argued, Minneapolis, MN, for appellee.

Before LOKEN, Chief Judge, BYE, Circuit Judge, and MILLER, District Judge.¹

BYE, Circuit Judge.

Warden Terry Carlson appeals the district court's² order granting Orlando Manual Bobadilla's petition for writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254. Bobadilla was convicted in Minnesota state court of sexually assaulting T.B., his three-year-old nephew. The district court concluded Bobadilla's rights under the Sixth Amendment's Confrontation Clause were violated and the Minnesota Supreme Court unreasonably applied United States Supreme Court precedent in concluding otherwise. For the following reasons, we affirm.

I

At the time of Bobadilla's conviction, T.B. lived with his mother. T.B.'s father lived separately with his mother, his stepfather, and his brother Bobadilla. On Friday, May 2, 2003, T.B. spent the weekend with his father, grandmother, and other relatives. T.B.'s mother picked him up on Sunday, and, while preparing him for bed, noticed a red area near his anus. In response to his mother's inquiry, T.B. said Bobadilla had inserted a finger into his rectum. T.B.'s mother called T.B.'s father, and they agreed to take T.B. to the emergency room at once. At the hospital, T.B. was examined by a physician, who determined the results were consistent with the abuse described by T.B. A police officer was dispatched to the hospital, where he interviewed T.B.'s parents and an emergency-room nurse.

Five days later, Detective Matthew L. Akerson of the Willmar Police Department conducted an interview with T.B. Detective Akerson contacted Cherlynn Molden, a social worker employed by the Kandiyohi County Family Service Department and asked her to assist with the interview. According to Molden, "Detective Akerson from the Police Department asked me to assist him in interviewing [T.B.]. I wasn't involved in that part of the investigation [that is, the criminal investigation], but he asked me to assist him."

Molden contacted T.B.'s mother and asked her to bring T.B. to the police department. T.B. was escorted to a room specifically designed to make children comfortable while being questioned about allegations of sexual abuse. A camera hidden behind a one-way mirror recorded the interview. Molden sat next to T.B. and asked him questions, while Akerson sat across from T.B. and observed. Molden utilized a "forensic" technique known as the "CornerHouse technique," which consists of asking questions in a structured manner to ascertain the nature of any sexual abuse. In response to the questions, T.B. confirmed the abuse he had first reported to his mother.

Bobadilla was charged in Minnesota state court with first- and second-degree criminal sexual conduct. After speaking to T.B. at length, the trial court judge found him not competent to testify. In lieu of his testimony, the state sought to introduce Molden's testimony recounting her interview with T.B., as well as the video of the interview. Bobadilla objected to the admission of such evidence as a violation of the Confrontation Clause.

The Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment provides: "In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right ... to be confronted with the witnesses against him." U.S. Const. Amend. VI. Such right is implicated whenever a statement by an unavailable declarant is introduced into evidence at trial, and the defendant has not had an opportunity to cross-examine the declarant. At the time of Bobadilla's trial, the admission of such evidence was governed by the standard set forth in Ohio v. Roberts, 448 U.S. 56, 100 S.Ct. 2531, 65 L.Ed.2d 597 (1980). In Roberts, the Supreme Court held the admission of such statements did not violate the Confrontation Clause so long as the evidence bore "indicia of reliability" by falling "within a firmly rooted hearsay exception" or showing "particularlized guarantees of trustworthiness." Id. at 66, 100 S.Ct. 2531.

The trial court, applying Roberts, allowed Molden to testify and permitted the state to introduce the video of T.B.'s interview with Molden. In addition, the jury heard testimony from T.B.'s mother concerning T.B.'s initial report of abuse, as well as testimony from the doctor who initially examined T.B. Bobadilla was convicted and sentenced to 144 months in prison.

On appeal, Bobadilla once again challenged the admission of the video of T.B.'s interview, as well as Molden's testimony concerning the interview, as a violation of the Confrontation Clause. While his appeal was pending, the Supreme Court issued its decision in Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36, 124 S.Ct. 1354, 158 L.Ed.2d 177 (2004), which set forth a materially different analysis for Confrontation Clause claims. In Crawford, the wife of a suspect was placed in police custody, given Miranda warnings, and asked a series of questions. The wife's statement implicated her husband, and the government sought to introduce the wife's statement at trial. Because the defendant's wife invoked the state marital privilege and did not testify at trial, the defendant objected to the admission of her statement as a Confrontation Clause violation. The trial court admitted her statement, finding it bore particularlized guarantees of trustworthiness under Roberts. In Crawford, however, the Supreme Court abandoned the Roberts test, concluding the Confrontation Clause had nothing to do with the reliability of the statement at issue. Rather, the Confrontation Clause served to prevent people from bearing testimony against a defendant without the defendant having an opportunity to cross-examine the bearer of the testimony. Id. at 50-51, 60-65, 124 S.Ct. 1354. Thus, the Supreme Court held the "reliability" of a statement was immaterial. The Court held a Confrontation Clause violation exists whenever a "testimonial" statement is admitted against a defendant, regardless of the statement's reliability, when he or she has had no opportunity to cross-examine the declarant. Id. at 68-69, 124 S.Ct. 1354.

While the Court declined to provide a comprehensive definition as to which statements are testimonial, it did note an "accuser who makes a formal statement to government officers bears testimony in a sense that a person who makes a casual remark to an acquaintance does not." Id. at 51, 124 S.Ct. 1354. The Court discussed various possible formulations of statements which are testimonial: (1) "ex parte in-court testimony or its functional equivalent—that is, material such as affidavits, custodial examinations, prior testimony that the defendant was unable to cross-examine, or similar pretrial statements that declarants would reasonably expect to be used prosecutorially"; (2) "extrajudicial statements contained in formalized testimonial materials, such as affidavits, depositions, prior testimony, or confessions"; and (3) "statements that were made under circumstances which would lead an objective witness reasonably to believe that the statement would be available for use at a later trial." Id. at 51-52, 124 S.Ct. 1354 (internal citations and quotation marks omitted).

In Crawford, the Court found it unnecessary to adopt one of the aforementioned formulations of testimonial statements because "[s]tatements taken by police officers in the course of interrogations are ... testimonial under even a narrow standard." Id. at 52, 124 S.Ct. 1354. Furthermore, the Court used the term "`interrogation' in its colloquial, rather than any technical legal, sense." Id. at 53 n. 4, 124 S.Ct. 1354. Recognizing that many definitions of "interrogation" may exist, the statement at issue in Crawford, "knowingly given in response to structured police questioning, qualifie[d] under any conceivable definition." Id.

Because of Crawford, the Minnesota Court of Appeals unanimously reversed Bobadilla's conviction, concluding his Confrontation Clause rights were violated. State v. Bobadilla, 690 N.W.2d 345, 349-50 (Minn.Ct.App.2004). The court determined T.B.'s statements made during the course of his interview with Molden were testimonial, and that, because Bobadilla did not have an opportunity to cross-examine T.B., the admission of those statements violated the Confrontation Clause. The Minnesota Supreme Court reversed, concluding T.B.'s statements were not testimonial. State v. Bobadilla, 709 N.W.2d 243, 256 (Minn.2006). In doing so, the Minnesota Supreme Court applied an eight-factor test, with the most important factors being "whether either a declarant or government questioner is acting, to a substantial degree, in order to produce a statement for trial." Id. at 252.³

The court went on to conclude, because Molden's interview was conducted pursuant to Minnesota Statute § 626.556, neither Molden nor T.B. were acting with the predominant purpose of producing a statement for trial. The stated purpose of § 626.556 "is to protect children whose health or welfare may be jeopardized through physical abuse, neglect, or sexual abuse." Minn.Stat. § 626.556(1). The statute allows social workers to interview suspected victims of sexual or physical abuse and, notably, provides that if a report of abuse alleges a violation of a criminal statute, "the local law enforcement agency and local welfare agency shall coordinate the planning and execution of their respective investigation and assessment efforts to avoid a duplication of fact-finding efforts and multiple interviews." Minn.Stat. § 626.556, subd. 10(a). Furthermore, the statute requires, in cases involving alleged sexual abuse, that an audio-video recording be made of any interviews of the alleged victim. Minn.Stat. § 626.556, subd. 10(j).

First, the court noted the express purpose...