People v. Tyme

2013 COA 59, 315 P.3d 1270, 2013 WL 1760866, 2013 Colo. App. LEXIS 612
CourtColorado Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 25, 2013
DocketCourt of Appeals No. 11CA1520
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 2013 COA 59 (People v. Tyme) 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. Tyme, 2013 COA 59, 315 P.3d 1270, 2013 WL 1760866, 2013 Colo. App. LEXIS 612 (Colo. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

Opinion by

JUDGE TAUBMAN

11 Defendant, Justyn E. Tyme, appeals the trial court's judgment of conviction entered on jury verdicts finding him guilty of sexual assault, third degree assault, and false imprisonment. We affirm.

I. Background

T2 This case stems from Tyme's sexual assault of the victim, G.A., on May 15, 2011. Five days after the assault, G.A. submitted to a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE)1 examination completed by Sue Goebel. G.A. attended this exam at the request of law enforcement. -At trial, Goebel testified, as an expert witness, that she collects a complete medical history from the patient as part of the exam in order to "guide the assessment that [she is] going to do and to diagnose and treat." In response to the prosecutor's questioning, Goebel testified about information she had learned from G.A. during the exam. [1272]*1272Tyme's counsel objected to these statements based on hearsay. The trial court overruled the objection because the statements were made for purposes of medical diagnosis or treatment. See CRE 803(4).

13 Additionally, the prosecutor sought to admit Goebel's written report of her examination of G.A. Tyme's counsel again objected on the basis of hearsay. The trial court concluded that the written report also qualified as statements made for purposes of medical diagnosis or treatment, overruling the objection.

T4 The jury convicted Tyme as noted above.

1 5 This appeal followed.

II. Statements Made for Purpose of Medical Diagnosis or Treatment

16 The question of whether a SANE's testimony regarding statements elicited from a victim qualifies under an exception to the hearsay rule is one of first impression in Colorado.

T7 Tyme contends that the trial court abused its discretion in concluding that both the SANE's testimony and her report were admissible under the medical diagnosis or treatment hearsay exception because the purpose of the SANE examination was to collect evidence, not to treat or diagnose the victim. We disagree.2

A. Standard of Review

18 We review a trial court's evidentiary rulings for an abuse of discretion. People v. Rath, 44 P.3d 1033, 1043 (Colo.2002). A trial court abuses its discretion in this context if its decision is "manifestly arbitrary, unreasonable, or unfair." Id.

B. Analysis

T9 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" is inadmissible hearsay, subject to certain exceptions. CRE 801(c), 802. The hearsay rule provides an exception for statements "made for purposes of medical diagnosis or treatment and describing medical history, or past or present symptoms, pain, or sensations, or the inception or general character of the cause or external source thereof insofar as reasonably pertinent to diagnosis or treatment." CRE 803(4). Such statements are presumed reliable because of a patient's belief that his or her effective treatment may largely depend on the accuracy of the information provided to a physician or nurse. People v. Galloway, 726 P.2d 249, 252 (Colo.App.1986). Generally, statements made for purposes of medical diagnosis or treatment are admissible if they meet a two-part test of reliability: (1) "the declarant's motive in making the statement must be consistent with the purpose of promoting treatment or diagnosis"; and (2) "the content of the statement must be such as is reasonably relied on by a physician in treatment or diagnosis." People v. Allee, 77 P.3d 831, 834 (Colo.App.2003) (citing Galloway, 726 P.2d at 253).

T 10 The test for admissibility is modified, however, when a declarant makes a statement to a healthcare professional in preparation for litigation. In King v. People, 785 P.2d 596, 599 n.3 (Colo.1990), the supreme court held that, under these cireum-stances, the medical diagnosis or treatment exception does not require an independent showing of the declarant's trustworthiness. Rather, a statement's trustworthiness can be established by a showing that it was reasonably pertinent to diagnosis and was relied upon by the healthcare professional to arrive at an expert diagnosis. Id. at 602. Thus, the court expressly overruled the requirement of an independent showing of the de-clarant's motive for making the statement. Id. at 599 n.3.

{11 The King court further held that the medical diagnosis or treatment exception does not distinguish between a doctor "who is consulted for the purpose of treatment" and a doctor who examines a party "for the [1273]*1273purpose of diagnosis only," even if the latter "is consulted only in order to testify as a witness." Id. at 601 (quoting United States v. Iron Shell, 633 F.2d 77, 83 (8th Cir.1980)).

112 Although King did not involve statements made to a SANE, its reasoning applies here. King was convicted of two counts of murder after he shot and killed his wife and his sister-in-law. Id. at 599. After his arrest, a defense-retained psychiatrist examined King and later testified that he was suffering from "severe depression and 'emotional overload at the time of the killings." Id. at 598. In finding that the psychiatrist's statements were admissible under the medical diagnosis or treatment exception, the court reasoned that "the mere fact that a psychiatrist examines a party for the purposes of evaluating the party's mental condition with respect to an issue in pending litigation does not render the party's statements beyond the pale of the hearsay exception when such statements are reasonably pertinent to psychiatric diagnosis." Id. at 601-02.

1 13 Additionally, although Colorado appellate courts have not addressed statements made to SANEs, the majority of state courts that have directly confronted the issue follow the reasoning in King. See Davison v. State, 282 P.3d 1262, 1269 (Alaska 2012); State v. Telford, 948 A.2d 350, 354 (Conn.App.Ct.2008); Webster v. State, 827 A.2d 910, 915 (Md.Ct.Spec.App.2003); State v. Vigil, 283 Neb. 129, 810 N.W.2d 687, 696-97 (Neb. 2012); State v. Mendez, 148 N.M. 761, 242 P.3d 328, 340 (N.M.2010); State v. Payne, 225 W.Va. 602, 694 S.E.2d 935, 942 (W.Va.2010).

T 14 For example, in rejecting a per se ban on statements made to a SANE during an examination, the New Mexico Supreme Court held that the mere fact that the examination has both medical and forensic purposes does not render inadmissible all statements made during the course of the examination. Mendez, 242 P.3d at 339. In a well-reasoned opinion, the Mendes court concluded that during the exam a declarant may make a statement for medical diagnosis or treatment purposes, even if the primary purpose of the exam is forensic. Id. at 337.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2013 COA 59, 315 P.3d 1270, 2013 WL 1760866, 2013 Colo. App. LEXIS 612, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-tyme-coloctapp-2013.