People v. Ortega

672 P.2d 215, 1983 Colo. App. LEXIS 993
CourtColorado Court of Appeals
DecidedAugust 18, 1983
Docket81CA0572
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 672 P.2d 215 (People v. Ortega) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Colorado Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Ortega, 672 P.2d 215, 1983 Colo. App. LEXIS 993 (Colo. Ct. App. 1983).

Opinions

VAN CISE, Judge.

Defendant, Joseph Steven Ortega, was found guilty by a jury of sexual assault on a four-year-old boy in violation of § 18-3-405, C.R.S.1973 (1978 Repl.Vol. 8). Ortega appeals his conviction. We affirm.

I.

The child victim was not called as a witness at the trial. Instead, over the hearsay objections of defense counsel, the court allowed the mother, a physician, and a police officer to testify to statements made to each by the child, on the basis that these statements came within the res gestae or excited utterance exception to the hearsay rule. CRE 803(2). The mother testified that Ortega was the baby sitter for the four-year-old victim and his three-year-old brother. He picked up the children at their home at 5:00 p.m. on February 15,1980, and returned them at 6:00 a.m. the following morning. When he returned the children, he told the mother that the victim had been constipated and was not feeling well.

She then testified that after Ortega left, the boy was “upset, nervous, shakey, scared.” He was holding his buttock with his hand, and told her that “his butt hurt.” She discovered that it was red and that there was fecal material on his underpants. When she asked “why” his buttock hurt, he said that Ortega stuck “his pee-pee in his butt.” He then told her Ortega had dressed him up in girl’s clothes, including panties and a dress, had kissed and hugged him, and then “he put it in and went fast and made me cry, and then he stopped.” The child also stated that, when he woke up in the morning, Ortega told him he was having a bad dream. She called the police.

A police officer testified that between 6:30 and 6:45 a.m. that morning, in response to his questions as to what had happened, the boy told him about Ortega’s placing his penis in the boy’s buttock, his having to dress up in girl’s clothing, and being told that he had had a nightmare. The officer then took the mother and her two children to the hospital.

The physician who attended the boy at the hospital testified that at approximately 7:10 a.m., prior to treating the boy, the doctor asked him why he had come to the hospital. In response, the boy said, “A man put his pee-pee up my butt.” The physician also testified that physical examination of the boy revealed that: (1) the skin was red, rough and irritated in the rectum; (2) there was no sign of constipation or diarrhea; (3) there was no evidence of semen; (4) there were columns of white cells in the anus which normally are not present in the area; and (5) there was no evidence of illness or disease. The physician stated that it was “very possible” that the white cells could have come from another person.

Ortega contends that allowing these witnesses to testify as to the statements made to them by the little boy was reversible error because: (1) there was a lapse of time between the alleged act of abuse and the assertions; (2) the mother’s questioning immediately preceded the child’s statements; and (3) there was no proof that the child was excited or that the statement was spontaneous. We disagree.

The excited utterance exception to the hearsay rule is defined in CRE 803(2) as: “A statement relating to a startling event or condition made while the declarant was under the stress or excitement caused by the event or condition.” The fact that [218]*218the statement “was made neither contemporaneously with the event nor immediately thereafter does not preclude its admissibility.” Lancaster v. People, 200 Colo. 448, 615 P.2d 720 (1980).

Courts look to the effect of a particular event upon a declarant and, in the case of young children, the element of trustworthiness underscoring the excited utterance exception is primarily in “the lack of capacity to fabricate rather than the lack of time to fabricate.” People in Interest of O.E.P., 654 P.2d 312 (Colo.1982). This “latitude in temporal proximity is ... a recognition of the fact that children of tender years are generally not adept at reasoned reflection and at concoction of false stories under such circumstances.” Lancaster, supra. Here, the time interval between the alleged assault and the statements does not render them inadmissible. See People v. Stewart, 39 Colo.App. 142, 568 P.2d 65 (1977).

“Nor does the fact that some general questioning preceded the hearsay declarations destroy their character as excited utterances. An inquiry, especially one addressed to a child of tender years, is not sufficient in itself to undo the underlying basis in reliability for the excited utterance exception.” People in Interest of O.E.P., supra.

The record also supports the conclusion that the statements related “to a startling event or condition made while the declarant was under the stress or excitement caused by the event or condition.” CRE 803(2). The trial court did not err in admitting the statements.

II.

Ortega next contends that the court erred in allowing the People to attack his credibility by questioning him about a prior air force court martial conviction for assault with intent to commit rape. That-issue was decided adversely to him in People v. Apodaca, 668 P.2d 941 (Colo.App.1982), in which this court held that “a military conviction for an offense that would be punishable as a felony under the laws of Colorado is admissible for impeachment under § 13-90-101, C.R.S.1973.” The crime for which he was convicted is a felony under Colorado law, and, therefore, use of this prior conviction on cross-examination for impeachment purposes was proper.

III.

A clinical psychologist, who had been appointed by the court at Ortega’s request for a competency evaluation of the victim, was called as an expert witness for the People. He testified that, based on his evaluation of the victim over a six-week period, he was of the opinion that the victim: (1) was not fabricating the story about the sexual assault; (2) had experienced a traumatic experience with a baby sitter by the name of Joe; and (3) was able to discriminate between appropriate versus non-appropriate behavior. The witness further testified that whenever the victim was approached in a verbal or nonverbal way regarding the traumatic experience a “very anxious, nervous, threatened, and fearful response was always obtained.”

Ortega claims that admitting this testimony was error. The People argue that this was properly admitted under CRE 702 and 704. We agree with Ortega that it was error. The credibility of the child victim for truth and veracity had not been attacked at this stage in the proceedings. CRE 608(a)(2).

However, because the evidence of Ortega’s guilt was so overwhelming, the admission of this testimony was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. See People v. Myrick, 638 P.2d 34 (Colo.1981); People v. Sasson, 628 P.2d 120 (Colo.App.1980). See also Chapman v. California, 386 U.S. 18, 87 S.Ct. 824, 17 L.Ed.2d 705 (1967).

IV.

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People v. Ortega
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672 P.2d 215, 1983 Colo. App. LEXIS 993, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-ortega-coloctapp-1983.