LaChappelle v. Moran
| Decision Date | 02 February 1983 |
| Docket Number | No. 82-1308,82-1308 |
| Citation | 699 F.2d 560 |
| Parties | Francis E. LaCHAPPELLE, Petitioner, Appellant, v. John MORAN, Director, Department of Corrections, Respondent, Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — First Circuit |
Paula Rosin, Asst. Public Defender, Appellate Div., Providence, R.I., with whom William F. Reilly, Public Defender, Providence, R.I., was on brief, for petitioner, appellant.
Anthony F. Del Bonis, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., Providence, R.I., with whom Dennis J. Roberts, Atty. Gen., Providence, R.I., was on brief, for respondent, appellee.
Before CAMPBELL, BOWNES and BREYER, Circuit Judges.
In February 1978, Francis LaChappelle was tried and convicted in Rhode Island Superior Court of assault with attempt to rape. He appealed his conviction to the Supreme Court of Rhode Island, claiming that the trial judge's in camera questioning of his minor daughter, the complaining witness, violated his rights under the sixth and fourteenth amendments to the Constitution. After the Supreme Court of Rhode Island rejected these arguments, State v. LaChappelle, R.I., 424 A.2d 1039 (1981), LaChappelle petitioned the United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island for a writ of habeas corpus. The district court ruled that the in camera questioning violated LaChappelle's constitutional rights, but that the error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. LaChappelle appealed.
The facts are as follows. LaChappelle's sixteen-year-old daughter, Cynthia LaChappelle, was the complaining witness at LaChappelle's trial. The first witness called by the prosecution, she testified that her father attempted to rape her while they were alone in a parked automobile in June 1977. She testified that LaChappelle "reached an orgasm" during the attempted rape. In a signed statement she had given to the state police at an earlier date, she had stated that LaChappelle reached a "climax" during the alleged attack.
The defense attempted to undermine her credibility by eliciting and pointing out inconsistencies between her present and certain past testimony and statements. Towards the end of the lengthy cross-examination, defense counsel tried to demonstrate that neither her testimony nor her police statement consisted of her own words. Counsel asked her what the words "orgasm" and "climax" meant. She did not respond to the question. Counsel then withdrew the question and went on to other matters for some time. He later repeated the question, but again she did not respond. When the complainant did not answer the question for a third time, the judge ordered the jury out of the courtroom and reminded the witness of her obligation to answer the questions posed by defense counsel. The judge stated that he would have "no alternative" but to strike all of her testimony and dismiss the case if she continued to be unresponsive.
The judge then asked the complainant whether there was any particular reason for her not answering the question. When she did not answer, he asked, "Is it because of embarrassment?" She did not respond, but he told her that there was no reason to be embarrassed and allowed her some time alone to think over matters. Neither the prosecutor nor defense counsel were to speak to her during this period.
When the complainant returned to the courtroom, the judge repeated the warning that he would have to dismiss the case if she failed to answer the question. The witness then asked the judge if she could tell the prosecutor what her answer would be. The judge said, "You can tell the Court," and then asked her if she wished to confer with him alone. She replied yes. The judge then spoke to her in his chambers over the defense's objection. A court reporter was present during the in camera conference, and the transcript was later made available to the defendant.
The transcript shows that the following conversation took place in chambers:
[The complainant] you leave the Court no alternative if you do not answer the question but to dismiss this case.
They're all adults, and we only have another five minutes to go today. Once you testify, I will resume the hearing tomorrow. Then you will have sufficient opportunity to discuss your testimony, if necessary, with your attorney, Mr. Renaldo [the prosecutor]. But we have to have a response.
You see, this is a very difficult situation. I am sure it is very difficult for you, but you must recognize that if Mr. LaChappelle is found guilty, he could spend the rest of his life in jail and it all comes down to your testimony, and the Jury has the right to know everything about you--about your testimony--they have that right. If you were on trial for something, you have the right to have the Jury know everything about what happened. So I am sure if we go out there and you just make that response to the Jury, they will understand what you mean. They are all adults, as the Court, and you are a young adult now.
I am going to call the Jury up now, and it's 4:23 p.m. and we're supposed to be out of here at 4:30. The prosecutor will--or the defendant will ask the question one more time. If you care to answer, you just answer as you have answered me if that is the truth, and that's it.
You can step outside. -- One second, I will have the sheriff accompany you--one second, if you will.
When the in camera conference was completed, the cross-examination of the complainant resumed. This time she answered the question with the words, "I meant he come'd." Defense counsel then went on to other matters in his questioning. The next day, just after two more prosecution witnesses had concluded their testimony and when the state was ready to rest, the judge read the transcript of the in camera discussion into the record, and also read into the record his reasons for the in camera interview as follows:
[T]he Court took the unusual action of conversing with the witness because of her age, her apparent reluctance to testify, and her demeanor, itself, suggested to the Court that her testimony was critical. She was quite embarrassed, quite upset, and the Court took the unusual action of conversing with her out of the presence of the parties for the sole reason of determining whether or not she understood the consequences of not testifying and, frankly, to find out just what caused her reluctance to respond to the question.
Because of the delicate situation of father and daughter, because of the delicate offense that has been alleged, because of the age, because of the demeanor of the witness the Court took that action ....
I.
LaChappelle claims that the in camera conference with the complainant violated the confrontation clause of the sixth amendment because he was not permitted to be present. The district court agreed that LaChappelle had a constitutionally protected right to have been present, although it found it unnecessary to decide whether the right was founded upon the confrontation clause or only upon the more general due process clause. The court believed that either provision entitled him to be present.
We analyze the case differently. We do not believe that the in camera conference with the judge violated the confrontation clause of the sixth amendment. We think it a much closer question whether it violated the due process clause of the fourteenth amendment, but conclude, upon review of...
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