Hawkins v. State

72 S.W.3d 493, 348 Ark. 384, 2002 Ark. LEXIS 236
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedApril 25, 2002
DocketCR 01-1065
StatusPublished
Cited by25 cases

This text of 72 S.W.3d 493 (Hawkins v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hawkins v. State, 72 S.W.3d 493, 348 Ark. 384, 2002 Ark. LEXIS 236 (Ark. 2002).

Opinion

Ray Thornton, Justice.

. Appellant, Kenneth Hawkins was convicted of rape, and sentenced to life imprisonment as a habitual offender pursuant to Ark. Code Ann. § 5-4-501 (Supp. 2001). This conviction stems from the rape of appellant’s stepdaughter, R.T., who was under the age of fourteen at the time the offense occurred.

During appellant’s trial, the physician who treated R.T. after the rape, was permitted to testify that R.T. identified appellant as her attacker. Appellant objected to this testimony arguing that it was hearsay and that it should have been excluded. The trial court overruled appellant’s objection.

On appeal, appellant challenges the trial court’s evidentiary ruling. We affirm the trial court.

In his only point on appeal, appellant contends that the trial court erroneously permitted R.T.’s doctor to testify that R.T. identified appellant as her attacker. Appellant argues that this testimony is impermissible hearsay. A trial court is accorded wide discretion in evidentiary rulings. Flores v. State, 348 Ark. 28, 69 S.W.3d 864 (2002). We will not reverse a trial court’s ruling on a hearsay question unless the appellant can demonstrate an abuse of discretion. Id.

Pursuant to Rule 801(c) of the Rules of Evidence, “‘hearsay’ is a statement, other than one made by the declarant while testifying at the trial or hearing, offered in evidence to prove the truth of the matter asserted.” Such testimony is generally inadmissible evidence. See Rule 802 of the Arkansas Rules of Evidence.

In the case now before us, appellant objected to Dr. May Hawawini testifying as to statements made to her by R.T., during her examination of R.T. The trial court denied appellant’s hearsay objection without explanation. On appeal, the State argues that Dr. Hawawini’s testimony was admissible pursuant to Rule 803(4) of the Arkansas Rules of Evidence. This rule provides:

The following are not excluded by the hearsay rule, even though the declarant is available as a witness:
* * *
(4) Statements for Purposes of Medical Diagnosis or Treatment. Statements made for purposes of medical diagnosis or treatment and describing medical history, or past or present symptoms, pain, or sensation, or the inception or general character of the cause or external source thereof insofar as reasonably pertinent to diagnosis or treatment.

Id.

We have recently reviewed our court’s interpretation and application of Rule 803(4) in Flores supra. In Flores, we were asked to determine whether hearsay evidence was properly admitted pursuant to Rule 803(4). Specifically, we were asked to determine whether the trial court erred when it allowed a treating physician to testify that his patient’s mother identified her boyfriend as the individual who had inflicted injuries on her child by throwing him up against a wall. Flores, supra. We discussed previous cases in which this court addressed appropriate use of Rule 803(4). Additionally, we reviewed cases in which our court of appeals and the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals has applied or refused to apply the medical-treatment exception to the hearsay rule. Flores, supra.

In Flores, we stated “the basis for this hearsay exception is the patient’s strong motivation to be truthful in giving statements for diagnosis and treatment.” Id. (citing Cotchett and Elkind, Federal Courtroom Evidence 144 (1986)). We further acknowledged that statements describing medical history regarding the cause of the condition are also admissible under the rule, if pertinent to the diagnosis or treatment. However, where such information is not relevant for diagnosis, but rather attempts to fix blame, it must be excluded. Flores, supra.

After providing the background for the exception, we applied a test that was articulated by the Eighth Circuit in United States v. Iron Shell, 633 F.2d 77 (8th Cir. 1980) to assist us in determining whether hearsay evidence fits within the medical-treatment exception. Flores, supra. The two-prong test asks: first, is the declarant’s motive consistent with the purpose of the rule; and second, is it reasonable for the physician to rely on the information in diagnosis or treatment. Flores, supra. In United States v. Renville, 779 F.2d 430 (8th Cir. 1985), the Court of Appeals explained:

The test reflects the twin policy justifications advanced to support the rule. First, it is assumed that a patient has a strong motive to speak truthfully and accurately because the treatment or diagnosis will depend in part upon the information conveyed. The declarant’s motive thus provides a sufficient guarantee of trustworthiness to permit an exception to the hearsay rule. Second, we have recognized that a fact reliable enough to serve as the basis for a diagnosis is also reliable enough to escape hearsay proscription.

Id. (Internal citations omitted).

After applying this test to the facts in Flores, we determined that the trial court properly admitted the mother’s statement to the doctor concerning the fact that the child was physically abused based on the medical-treatment exception, but had improperly admitted the portion of the testimony that identified Flores as the child’s attacker. Id. We determined that the identification of the perpetrator was not used by the physician in the diagnosis or treatment of the child’s injuries. Accordingly, we concluded that the statement that identified the perpetrator was improperly admitted pursuant to Rule 803(4). Flores, supra.

The facts in this case are readily distinguishable from the facts in Flores. Specifically, in the case sub judice, the declarant was a child victim who was responding to questions from the physician seeking to determine the cause of the injury and the treatment to be provided. By contrast, the hearsay statements in Flores were not made in response to questioning of a victim by a physician in her process of ascertaining circumstances reasonably pertinent to diagnosis or treatment. Another critical distinction between the case now before us and Flores is that the hearsay statements in Flores were made in an effort to shift blame from one child abuser to a second child abuser. Here, the statements were made by an abused child in response to an effort by the doctor to treat and diagnosis the child’s injuries.

In Flores, we also noted a modification of the principles of Rule 803(4) that is relevant to the case sub judice. Specifically, we stated:

Only in the special situation of sexual or physical abuse of a child has the rule of excluding the identification of the. perpetrator been modified. Again, it is the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals that has outlined this child-abuse exception in the leading case on the matter. See United States v. Renville, 779 F.2d 430 (8th Cir.1985).

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Bluebook (online)
72 S.W.3d 493, 348 Ark. 384, 2002 Ark. LEXIS 236, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hawkins-v-state-ark-2002.