State Ex Rel. Juv. Dept. v. KS

209 P.3d 845, 229 Or. App. 50
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedJune 10, 2009
Docket9207826511 A131692
StatusPublished

This text of 209 P.3d 845 (State Ex Rel. Juv. Dept. v. KS) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State Ex Rel. Juv. Dept. v. KS, 209 P.3d 845, 229 Or. App. 50 (Or. Ct. App. 2009).

Opinion

209 P.3d 845 (2009)
229 Or. App. 50

In the Matter of K.S., a Youth.
STATE ex rel. JUVENILE DEPARTMENT OF MULTNOMAH COUNTY, Respondent,
v.
K.S., Appellant.

9207826511; A131692.

Court of Appeals of Oregon.

Argued and Submitted on December 4, 2008.
Decided June 10, 2009.

*846 Rankin Johnson IV, Portland, argued the cause and filed the brief for appellant.

Jeffrey J. Payne argued the cause for respondent. With him on the brief was Hardy Myers, Attorney General, and Mary H. Williams, Solicitor General.

Before HASELTON, Presiding Judge, and ROSENBLUM, Judge, and SERCOMBE, Judge.

ROSENBLUM, J.

Youth appeals a judgment of the juvenile court finding him to be within the jurisdiction of the court based on his conduct that, if committed by an adult, would constitute fourth-degree assault. He also appeals the court's subsequent revocation of the probation that he was on at the time of the new jurisdictional finding. He contends that the court erred in admitting certain hearsay statements made by the victim, J, in violation of the Oregon Evidence Code and the Oregon and United States constitutions. On de novo review, we conclude that, if there was error, it was harmless. Because of that determination, we also conclude that there was no error in revoking youth's probation. We therefore affirm.

We review the facts de novo and review the juvenile court's legal conclusions for errors of law. State ex rel Juv. Dept. v. S. P., *847 218 Or.App. 131, 133, 149, 178 P.3d 318, rev. allowed, 345 Or. 315, 195 P.3d 62 (2008). The pertinent facts are as follows: On January 5, 2006, J, who was pregnant at the time, arrived at the Legacy Emanuel Hospital (Emanuel) emergency room with abdominal cramps and bruises on her face, ear, back, shoulder, arm, and both hips. J did not testify at the delinquency hearing, and the court received J's Emanuel medical records — including the record from J's emergency room visit — as Exhibit 1, over youth's objection. The relevant documents in Exhibit 1 include the Emergency Department record (ER record) and a Child Abuse Social Worker Summary (social worker summary), both from the January 5 visit. The pertinent portions of the ER record were prepared by Bridges, an emergency room nurse, and Ferroggiaro, an emergency room doctor. The ER record indicates that J told Bridges that she was "assaulted" by her "boyfriend" "the other day" and that she told Ferroggiaro that she was "assaulted" and "pushed, kicked, and choked" at "home" approximately "two days [ago]." The ER record does not identify youth by name as J's assailant.

The Emanuel staff reported the circumstances of J's visit to the emergency room to the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) and to CARES Northwest (CARES).[1] Officer Hastings of the PPB responded by interviewing J at Emanuel. He noted extensive bruising on her arms, back, neck, and legs. Hastings testified that, in his training and experience, J's bruises were consistent with an assault.

After Hastings departed, J was interviewed at Emanuel by a social worker, Silver, on behalf of CARES. According to the social worker summary, J told Silver that her "boyfriend, [youth], kicked and beat her" and that the assault caused her injuries. The following day, after her discharge from Emanuel, J's bruises were photographed by a PPB criminalist, Brandon, and later received as evidence at the delinquency hearing.

Youth's great-grandfather, Rogers, testified as follows: On January 3, youth and J were involved in a dispute at his residence. Youth and J had been living together at his home; youth was J's boyfriend and J was approximately nine weeks pregnant. The dispute was loud and continued until Rogers escorted J and a friend of hers from the residence.

As noted, youth objected to the admission of Exhibit 1, raising two arguments. First, he asserted that J's statements in Exhibit 1 in which she identified him as her assailant — which appeared in the portion of the ER record prepared by Bridges and in the social worker summary — were testimonial hearsay and that their admission would violate his confrontation right under the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Second, as to the social worker summary only, youth argued that the state had not laid an adequate foundation under the "business records" exception to the hearsay rule, OEC 803(6). According to youth, since CARES and Emanuel are separate entities, the Emanuel records custodian could not authenticate records created by an employee of CARES.[2] The juvenile court concluded that the ER record and the social worker summary were admissible under OEC 803(6) and that their admission would not violate youth's constitutional confrontation right under the Sixth Amendment.

The court then raised the issue of Exhibit 1's admissibility under the Oregon Constitution in the absence of any evidence that J was unavailable as a witness. Youth argued that the state had made insufficient efforts to secure J's appearance as a witness. The state, in response, adduced testimony from an investigator with the district attorney's office, who detailed the state's ultimately unsuccessful efforts to serve J with a subpoena for her testimony. The court found that J was unavailable and concluded that the admission of Exhibit 1 would not violate youth's confrontation right under Article I, section 11. The court thus overruled youth's objection *848 and admitted J's Emanuel medical records as Exhibit 1.

At the conclusion of the hearing, the court found that youth had engaged in conduct that, if committed by an adult, would constitute fourth-degree assault. Youth was on probation for an unrelated matter, and the court subsequently held a probation revocation hearing, at which youth stipulated that the finding of jurisdiction in this delinquency proceeding was proof that he "committed a new law violation" and thereby violated the terms of his probation. The court revoked his probation on that ground.

On appeal, youth raises two assignments of error, which we address in turn. First, he contends that the juvenile court erred by improperly admitting into evidence the portions of Exhibit 1 containing J's hearsay statements-the ER record prepared by Bridges and the social worker summary. With respect to the social worker summary, youth argues that it was not admissible under OEC 803(6) because the CARES records custodian did not authenticate it. Youth also raises arguments that are common to both the social worker summary and the ER record prepared by Bridges. He argues that their admission under OEC 803(6) violated his confrontation right under Article I, section 11, of the Oregon Constitution, because that exception to the hearsay rule is not "firmly rooted." He also renews his assertion that their admission violated his confrontation right under the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

The state responds that youth preserved only the issue of the admissibility of the social worker summary, and-even then-only the challenges rooted in the OEC 803(6) authentication requirement and the Sixth Amendment.

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Related

Crawford v. Washington
541 U.S. 36 (Supreme Court, 2004)
Davis v. Washington
547 U.S. 813 (Supreme Court, 2006)
State v. Barkley
846 P.2d 390 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1993)
State Ex Rel. Juvenile Department v. Sauer
73 P.3d 293 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2003)
State Ex Rel. Juvenile Dept. of Multnomah County v. Sp
195 P.3d 62 (Oregon Supreme Court, 2008)
State ex rel. Juvenile Department v. S.P.
178 P.3d 318 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2008)
State ex rel. Juvenile Department v. K. S.
209 P.3d 845 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2009)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
209 P.3d 845, 229 Or. App. 50, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-juv-dept-v-ks-orctapp-2009.