State v. Bobadilla, No. A03-1891.
| Citation | 709 N.W.2d 243 |
| Decision Date | 09 February 2006 |
| Docket Number | No. A03-1891. |
| Parties | STATE of Minnesota, Appellant, v. Orlando Manuel BOBADILLA, Respondent. |
| Court | Minnesota Supreme Court |
Mike Hatch, Atty. Gen., John Gallus, Kelly O'Neill Moller, Asst. Attys. Gen., St. Paul, Boyd Beccue, Kandiyohi Cty. Atty., Wilmar, for appellants.
John E. Mack, Mack & Daby, P.A., New London, for respondents.
Victor Vieth, Director, American Prosecutors Research Institute National Child Protection Training Center, Winona, for amicus curiae American Prosecutors Research Institute in Support of Appellant State of Minnesota.
Karen Long, Sexual Violence Justice Institute of Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault, Minneapolis, for amicus curiae Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault in Support of State.
John M. Stuart, State Public Defender, Lawrence Hammerling, Deputy State Public Defender, Sara L. Martin, Asst. State Public Defender, Minneapolis, for amicus curiae Minnesota State Public Defender's Office in Support of Orlando Manuel Bobadilla.
Teresa J. Nelson, American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota, St. Paul, Howard S. Carp, Volunteer Atty. on behalf of American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota, Minneapolis, for amicus curiae American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota.
Heard, considered, and decided by the court en banc.
Orlando Manuel Bobadilla was convicted of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and sentenced to 144 months in prison following a jury trial in Kandiyohi County. On appeal, the court of appeals reversed his conviction and remanded for a new trial, concluding that, pursuant to Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36, 124 S.Ct. 1354, 158 L.Ed.2d 177 (2004), the admission at trial of statements by a young child in a risk-assessment interview conducted by a child-protection worker had violated Bobadilla's rights under the Confrontation Clause of the United States Constitution. We conclude that the child's statements were not testimonial in nature, and that Bobadilla was not otherwise deprived of a fair trial. We therefore reverse the court of appeals' decision to remand for a new trial, and reinstate Bobadilla's conviction.
On Friday afternoon, May 2, 2003, 3-year-old T.B. was dropped off by his mother for a weekend visit with his father, who was then residing with several relatives, including T.B.'s uncle, 23-year-old respondent Orlando Bobadilla. T.B.'s mother worked a 3:00 p.m.-11:00 p.m. shift on weekends, and following the end of her shift on Sunday, May 4, 2003, she picked up T.B. sometime after 11:00 p.m.
As T.B.'s mother was readying T.B. for bed and changing his pull-up diaper, she "noticed that his bottom was a little red" and asked him what had happened. He became nervous and started playing with his hair. She told him that she was his mother and that he could tell her anything. T.B. then told her that "his Uncle Orlando had put his finger in his `booty,'" T.B.'s word for buttocks. T.B.'s mother said "okay," finished changing him, and sent him off to his room. She then phoned T.B.'s father and reported what T.B. had said. After hearing of T.B.'s story, T.B.'s grandmother decided that they should take him to the hospital. As T.B. and his mother were waiting to be picked up to go to the hospital by T.B.'s father and grandmother, T.B.'s mother asked him if he had asked Bobadilla to stop. T.B. indicated that he had, and that Bobadilla had said he was sorry.
T.B.'s parents brought T.B. into the hospital's emergency room where he was examined by an emergency-room physician. After talking to T.B.'s parents, the physician conducted a full-body examination of T.B., and observed an abnormal erythema, or redness, around his rectum. The physician saw no ulcerations or lesions, which would have indicated a chronic problem, and believed the erythema was consistent with what the child had disclosed.
A Willmar Police Department officer was dispatched to the hospital on an assault report. The officer initially met with the emergency room nurse and then with T.B.'s parents. After doing so, the officer forwarded his report to both the Investigations Unit of the police department and the Kandiyohi County Family Service Department. Over the next several days, a Kandiyohi County child-protection worker from the Family Service Department tried a number of times to contact T.B.'s mother by phone, finally connecting with her on May 9, 2003. The child-protection worker arranged to have T.B. interviewed that day at the law enforcement center.
T.B. and his parents arrived at the law enforcement center at approximately 1:30 p.m. The child-protection worker and a Willmar police detective, out of uniform, met the family and escorted them to the interview room. The interview room, called the "child friendly room," was specifically used for interviewing children and featured a video camera that recorded the exchange from behind a one-way mirror. The detective did not participate in the interview, but observed, sitting across from the child-protection worker and T.B. The child-protection worker conducted the interview using the CornerHouse protocol, which she described as a technique "specifically geared towards interviewing children who have been victims of sexual abuse." The protocol consists of establishing rapport with the child, ascertaining the child's terms for parts of the anatomy, ascertaining whether abuse occurred, and closing with a "safety message." The CornerHouse technique instructs the interviewer to ask nonleading questions, to use terms children would understand, and to progress quickly since young children have short attention spans.
The child-protection worker began the interview by asking T.B. about his parents and she then drew pictures of them. Next, using a diagram of a male, she had T.B. identify his names for various parts of the anatomy, starting with the head and moving down. Then the following exchange occurred:
Child-Protection Worker: [H]as anybody hurt your body?
T.B. then identified what he meant by "booty" by pointing to the buttocks area on the diagram the child-protection worker had provided.
The child-protection worker asked T.B. where he and Bobadilla were at the time of the incident, and T.B. said they were in his father's room. She asked where his father was while it happened. T.B. said that his father had gone downstairs and then come upstairs, but he also said "yeah" when asked if his father had seen it happen. Then the child-protection worker asked him if he would show her what had happened using an anatomically correct doll. He said he would, but ultimately did not. She also asked if Orlando touched him on his skin or on his clothes, and T.B. replied, "My skin." The child-protection worker then closed the interview by telling T.B. that what had happened was not okay, and that he should tell someone, like his mother, if something similar ever happened again.
Bobadilla was charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct, in violation of Minn.Stat. § 609.342, subd. 1(a) (2004) (), and second-degree criminal sexual conduct, in violation of Minn. Stat. § 609.343, subd. 1(a) (2004) ().
At trial, the district court found T.B. incompetent to testify, but ruled that his statements to his mother and his statements in the child-protection interview were sufficiently reliable to permit their admission as substantive evidence under the hearsay exception embodied in Minn. Stat. § 595.02, subd. 3 (2004). Therefore, the court allowed T.B.'s mother and the child-protection worker to testify about T.B.'s statements, and also allowed the state to show the videotape of T.B.'s interview. In addition to the evidence of T.B.'s statements, the emergency-room physician testified regarding her medical examination of T.B. T.B.'s father also testified, stating that he left his son alone with Bobadilla for only seconds when he went downstairs to retrieve the family cat, but that he might have told police that he was gone for 5 minutes or so. The detective testified that Bobadilla, in his police interview, said that T.B.'s father was gone for 15-20 minutes looking for the cat. Bobadilla testified on his own behalf and denied the allegations of sexual misconduct.
The jury found Bobadilla guilty as charged. The district court entered judgment of conviction for the first-degree criminal sexual conduct charge and imposed the 144-month presumptive sentencing guidelines term, together with 5 years of conditional release. On appeal, Bobadilla challenged certain evidentiary rulings and argued that T.B.'s statements in the child-protection interview were testimonial statements and therefore the admission of those statements without a prior opportunity for cross-examination violated his constitutional right of confrontation under the United States Supreme Court's decision in Crawford, which had been decided while his appeal was pending. 541 U.S. 36, 124 S.Ct. 1354, 158 L.Ed.2d 177. Though the court of appeals rejected Bobadilla's other arguments, the court agreed that his right of confrontation had been violated, and therefore reversed his conviction and remanded the matter for a new trial. We granted the state's petition for review.
The Confrontation Clause of the United States Constitution...
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...determinative factor in assessing whether a statement is testimonial is whether it was prepared for litigation. See State v. Bobadilla, 709 N.W.2d 243, 250-51 (Minn.2006) (noting that this court and numerous others have "determined that the testimonial question turns on whether government q......
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...Three-year-old’s testimony about defendant’s actions, videotaped one week after defendant’s arrest, not testimonial. State v. Bobdilla , 709 N.W.2d 243 (Minn. 2006). Statements by young child in risk assessment interview by child protection worker not testimonial. State v. Newell , 710 N.W.......
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Hearsay
...Three-year-old’s testimony about defendant’s actions, videotaped one week after defendant’s arrest, not testimonial. State v. Bobdilla , 709 N.W.2d 243 (Minn. 2006). Statements by young child in risk assessment interview by child protection worker not testimonial. State v. Newell , 710 N.W.......
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Hearsay
...Three-year-old’s testimony about defendant’s actions, videotaped one week after defendant’s arrest, not testimonial. State v. Bobdilla , 709 N.W.2d 243 (Minn. 2006). Statements by young child in risk assessment interview by child protection worker not testimonial. State v. Newell , 710 N.W.......
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Hearsay
...Three-year-old’s testimony about defendant’s actions, videotaped one week after defendant’s arrest, not testimonial. State v. Bobdilla , 709 N.W.2d 243 (Minn. 2006). Statements by young child in risk assessment interview by child protection worker not testimonial. State v. Newell , 710 N.W.......