State v. BENNY E.

794 P.2d 380, 110 N.M. 237
New Mexico Court of Appeals·Decided April 26, 1990·No. 11613, 11573·Published·Cited by 18 cases

Opinion

OPINION

APODACA, Judge.

Benny E., a fifteen-year-old child (the child), appeals from the children’s court judgment adjudicating him a delinquent child. After a bench trial, the children’s court determined that the child had committed criminal sexual contact of a minor. Six issues are raised on appeal: (1) denial of the right to confront a witness; (2) adequacy of notice of the crime charged; (3) unconstitutional vagueness of the statute prohibiting criminal sexual contact of a minor; (4) impropriety of leading the victim as a witness with a drawing or sketch drawn by the children’s court judge; (5) inherent improbability that the child committed the offense; and (6) admission of testimony from an allegedly unqualified expert outside her area of expertise. We remand on the first issue because the children’s court failed to make particularized findings that the victim would suffer unreasonable and unnecessary mental or emotional harm if required to testify in the child’s presence. Unpersuaded by the child’s arguments in connection with the remaining issues, we decide those issues against him and affirm the judgment as to those issues.

In January 1989, the child’s mother took her eight-year-old daughter, Amanda (the victim), for an examination, because the girl had a vaginal discharge. Phyllis Tulk, a certified family nurse practitioner, examined the girl and cultured the discharge for a lab test. At that time, the victim did not admit that anyone had touched her vaginal area. Four days later, Nurse Tulk asked the victim’s mother to return with her daughter. She informed the mother that the lab test indicated the girl had contracted gonorrhea. Nurse Tulk later testified at trial that the victim told her the child had taken off his clothes and the victim’s clothes and touched his private parts to her private parts. Six days later, Dr. Wooleson examined the child for venereal disease. The child had complained he had a discharge for two months. A sample of the discharge was sent to a lab; the results confirmed the child had contracted gonorrhea.

At trial, the victim testified in chambers with only counsel and the judge present. The child observed the victim testify on a video monitor located in another room. She testified that the child touched her private parts with his private parts, as he moved on top of her. She stated this occurred during a period of time when her father was in jail and her mother was at work.

Denial of the Child’s Right to Confront the Victim

The child argues his right to confront a witness against him was violated when the trial court permitted the victim to testify outside his physical presence. This court previously considered this issue in State v. Tafoya, 108 N.M. 1, 765 P.2d 1183 (Ct.App.1988), cert. denied, 489 U.S. 1097, 109 S.Ct. 1572, 103 L.Ed.2d 938 (1989), after remand from the United States Supreme Court for further consideration in light of Coy v. Iowa, 487 U.S. 1012, 108 S.Ct. 2798, 101 L.Ed.2d 857 (1988). In Coy, the defendant was charged with sexually assaulting two thirteen-year-old girls. The assailant had worn a stocking mask over his head, shined a flashlight in the girls’ eyes, and warned them not to look at him. Neither girl was able to describe his face. Under a pertinent state statute, the trial court approved the use of a screen between the defendant and the victims during their testimony. This procedure enabled the defendant to perceive the witnesses, without permitting the witnesses to see him. The Supreme Court held that the use of the screen violated his right to a face-to-face encounter under the confrontation clause of the United States Constitution. Id. at 1015-17, 108 S.Ct. at 2800, 101 L.Ed.2d at 863.

Coy nonetheless observed that the “rights conferred by the Confrontation Clause are not absolute, and may give way to other important interests.” Id. at 1020, 108 S.Ct. at 2802, 101 L.Ed.2d at 866. The Supreme Court did not determine whether any exceptions existed, but stated that “[w]hatever [the exceptions] may be, they would surely be allowed only when necessary to further an important public policy.” Id. at 1021, 108 S.Ct. at 2803, 101 L.Ed.2d at 867. In a concurring opinion, Justice O’Connor expressed her view that protection of child witnesses is an important policy consideration. Id. at 1025-26, 108 S.Ct. at 2805, 101 L.Ed.2d at 869. So much so, she added, that if a court makes a case-specific finding of necessity, the strictures of the confrontation clause may give way to that policy. Id.

The defendant in Tafoya was charged with sexually assaulting six young girls. In each incident, a stranger invaded the victim’s home after she was asleep. At trial, some of the victims testified by videotaped deposition in lieu of courtroom testimony. Under NMSA 1978, Section 30-9-17 (Repl.Pamp.1984) and SCRA 1986, 5-504 (Cum.Supp.1989), the trial court had discretion to order videotaped depositions of the children in lieu of trial testimony. Such an order was dependent upon a showing that “the child [was] unable to testify before the court without suffering unreasonable and unnecessary mental or emotional harm.” R. 5-504(B)(1).

In Tafoya, the state requested that the defendant be required to observe the deposition on a video monitor from a control booth. The trial court then made careful and informed specific findings, weighing and balancing the particularized evidence. Id. at 4, 765 P.2d at 1186. Tafoya held that, despite the absence of a face-to-face meeting between the defendant and his accusers, there was no denial of the right to confrontation. The basis for this holding was two-fold: (1) the statute and rule required a showing of unreasonable and unnecessary mental or emotional harm to the victim, and (2) the trial court made individualized findings that the particular witnesses needed special protection.

In this appeal, the child was charged with criminal sexual contact of his eight-year-old sister. Before ruling on whether to allow the victim to testify outside the child’s presence, the children’s court stated that under the proposed procedures, the victim would continue to know the child was watching her testify. It also observed that the child would not suffer a detriment if he was not present during the victim’s testimony. The record is absent of any individualized findings that the victim needed special protection.

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State v. BENNY E., 794 P.2d 380, 110 N.M. 237 (N.M. Ct. App. 1990).

794 P.2d 380 (State v. BENNY E.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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