State v. Scacchetti
| Decision Date | 30 March 2006 |
| Docket Number | No. A03-301.,A03-301. |
| Parties | STATE of Minnesota, Respondent, v. Anthony Phillip SCACCHETTI, Appellant. |
| Court | Minnesota Supreme Court |
John M. Stuart, State Public Defender, Sara L. Martin, Assistant State Public Defender, Office of the State Public Defender, Minneapolis, MN, for Appellant.
Mike Hatch, Attorney General, John B. Galus, Assistant Attorney General, St. Paul, MN, Donald F. Ryan, Crow Wing County Attorney, Brainerd, MN, for Respondent.
Heard, considered, and decided by the court en banc.
Appellant Anthony Phillip Scacchetti was convicted of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, malicious punishment of a child, and third-degree assault against his girlfriend's three-and-one-half-year-old daughter, R.J. At trial, the court determined that the child victim was incompetent to testify and, as a result, the state was allowed to introduce into evidence statements the victim made during medical assessments conducted by a pediatric nurse practitioner for Midwest Children's Resource Center (MCRC). Scacchetti appealed his conviction, and the court of appeals affirmed. On appeal to this court, we remanded to the court of appeals for a determination of whether the statements the victim made to the pediatric nurse practitioner during the assessments were admissible under Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36, 124 S.Ct. 1354, 158 L.Ed.2d 177 (2004). On remand, the court of appeals held that the statements were not testimonial under Crawford because no reasonable three-year-old would anticipate the use of the statements in a future trial and again affirmed. Because we conclude that the statements made by the victim to the pediatric nurse practitioner during the assessments are not testimonial for the purposes of Crawford, we affirm.
In May 2002, Scacchetti began living with his girlfriend, K.J., and her daughter, R.J. Before Scacchetti moved in, K.J.'s mother or K.J.'s ex-boyfriend cared for R.J. while K.J. was at work. After Scacchetti had lived with K.J. for a few weeks, Scacchetti began caring for R.J. while K.J. was working.
Soon thereafter, K.J. started noticing physical changes in R.J. On one occasion, R.J. told K.J. that Scacchetti had spanked her with a belt, which Scacchetti admitted doing. Shortly after that, K.J. noticed R.J. had marks on her face, which Scacchetti claimed were from R.J. falling down the stairs. R.J. could not explain how the injuries occurred. During May and June of 2002, K.J. noticed that R.J. had become clingy to her and distant toward Scacchetti. In fact, R.J. began to tell K.J. she did not want to be left alone with Scacchetti.
On June 24, 2002, K.J. returned from work to find that R.J.'s body had multiple bruises and burn marks. In addition, her face and one ear were swollen. Scacchetti told K.J. that R.J. had fallen in the bathtub. K.J. also found a number of bloody items, including underwear and a pillowcase belonging to R.J., and a washcloth. R.J. could not explain what had happened to her. K.J. did not go to work the next two days because she did not want to leave R.J. alone with Scacchetti.
On June 26, 2002, K.J. brought R.J. to a Saint Paul woman's shelter, where shelter employees suggested K.J. take R.J. to the hospital to be examined. On June 27, K.J. took R.J. to Minneapolis Children's Hospital, where R.J. told K.J. that Scacchetti had touched her "down there" and that it hurt when she urinated. The doctor who examined R.J. was concerned that her genital exam had indicated an abnormal hymen and called a pediatric nurse practitioner, Laurel Edinburgh, from MCRC to examine R.J.
MCRC is a clinic that assesses children for possible physical abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect. Their assessment consists of an interview and physical examination of the child. After an assessment, Edinburgh links the family with appropriate services. Edinburgh testified that she has seen over 500 patients and has testified in court about 15 to 20 times. She uses a particular protocol when assessing children, which she used when assessing R.J. Dr. Carolyn Levitt, the founder of MCRC, testified at trial regarding the protocol Edinburgh used. Dr. Levitt explained that the protocol is "pretty much based on what I would be doing if I were evaluating a child * * * who had abdominal pain and appendicitis, but it's a medical protocol and it specializes in getting specific details from the child." According to Dr. Levitt, the protocol consists of a verbal interview, an external exam, and a colposcopic exam of the child's genitalia. In explaining why the assessments are videotaped, Levitt stated,
Edinburgh assessed R.J. two times. At the first assessment, which took place at the hospital on June 27 and was not videotaped, Edinburgh first met with K.J. to gather background information and then met with R.J. to ask questions regarding her injuries. She then did a physical exam, during which K.J. was present. While examining R.J.'s anal and vaginal area, Edinburgh asked R.J., "did anything ever happen to this area right here?" to which R.J. responded "yes." Edinburgh asked "What touched there?" and R.J. responded "Tony's pee-pee." As part of the exam, Edinburgh found an oblong-shaped bruise next to R.J.'s anal opening.
Edinburgh conducted a follow-up assessment of R.J. the next day. That assessment took place in the MCRC office in Saint Paul. The office has a typical doctor's office layout, with a waiting area and two exam rooms. The assessment took place in one of the exam rooms and was videotaped. At one point during the assessment, R.J. became distraught and asked for her mother.
Edinburgh's follow-up assessment followed the standard protocol. Incidentally, during the assessment, R.J. described how Scacchetti had slapped her on her cheek and spanked her with a big belt and a brush. After further questioning, R.J. indicated that Scacchetti had touched her anus (where she "goes poop") with his hands. R.J. stated, "he put his hands right in there" while pointing up with one of her fingers. The following questions and answers ensued:
The court conducted a hearing to determine whether R.J. was competent to testify. The hearing took place with the judge in normal attire. During the hearing, R.J. was unwilling to orally answer questions asked of her. As a result, the court found that R.J. was incompetent to testify and was therefore unavailable. Because R.J. was unavailable, Scacchetti had no opportunity to cross-examine her.
Edinburgh testified at trial regarding both of her assessments of R.J. and statements R.J. made during those assessments, and the videotape of the second assessment was shown to the jury.1 She also testified that R.J., as a three-and-one-half-year-old, had sexual knowledge that was beyond her age, and that based on Edinburgh's experience R.J. was both physically and sexually abused. In explaining the basis for that conclusion, Edinburgh stated:
I use all of my knowledge of how children disclose, out of the statements that they made during [the] interview, out of what a parent tells me about a medical history, about any histories of trauma, and my physical exam, and I put those, all of those sort of factors go together when I'm making a diagnosis that a child was sexually abused.
Scacchetti testified and admitted spanking R.J. with a belt, but denied sexually abusing her.
On December 12, 2002, a jury found Scacchetti guilty of criminal sexual conduct in the first degree in violation of Minn. Stat. § 609.342, subd. 1 (2004), malicious punishment of a child in violation of Minn. Stat. § 609.377, subd. 4 (2004), and assault in the third degree in violation of Minn. Stat. § 609.223, subd. 3 (2004). Scacchetti appealed his conviction and the court of appeals affirmed on June 1, 2004. State v. Scacchetti, No. A03-301, 2004 WL 1191666 (Minn.App. June 1, 2004). Crawford was decided while Scacchetti's appeal was pending. The court of appeals did not consider the Crawford decision when it affirmed Scacchetti's conviction. Scacchetti petitioned this court for review.
We granted the petition and remanded to the court of appeals for reconsideration in light of Crawford. On remand, the court of appeals affirmed, determining that the statements R.J. made to Edinburgh were not testimonial for purposes of Crawford. State v. Scacchetti, 690 N.W.2d 393, 397 (Minn.App.2005). Scacchetti again petitioned for review and again we granted the petition.
The Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution ensures a criminal defendant's right "to be confronted with the witnesses against him." Until Crawford was decided, Confrontation Clause issues were determined according to Ohio v. Roberts, 448 U.S. 56, 100 S.Ct. 2531, 65 L.Ed.2d 597 (1980). Under Roberts, an unavailable witness's statements were admissible if the statements bore adequate indicia of reliability. Id. at 66, 100 S.Ct. 2531. The evidence was reliable if it fell within a firmly rooted hearsay exception or bore "particularized guarantees of trustworthiness." Id. In Crawford, the Supreme Court rejected the Roberts test, explaining that "the principal evil at which the Confrontation Clause was...
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