State v. Bobadilla

709 N.W.2d 243, 2006 Minn. LEXIS 60, 2006 WL 300622
CourtSupreme Court of Minnesota
DecidedFebruary 9, 2006
DocketA03-1891
StatusPublished
Cited by52 cases

This text of 709 N.W.2d 243 (State v. Bobadilla) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Bobadilla, 709 N.W.2d 243, 2006 Minn. LEXIS 60, 2006 WL 300622 (Mich. 2006).

Opinions

OPINION

ANDERSON, RUSSELL A., Chief Justice.

Orlando Manuel Bobadilla was convicted of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and sentenced to 144 months in prison following a jury trial in Kandiyohi County. On appeal, the court of appeals reversed his conviction and remanded for a new trial, concluding that, pursuant to Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36, 124 S.Ct. 1354, 158 L.Ed.2d 177 (2004), the admission at trial of statements by a young child in a risk-assessment interview conducted by a child-protection worker had violated Boba-dilla’s rights under the Confrontation Clause of the United States Constitution. We conclude that the child’s statements were not testimonial in nature, and that Bobadilla was not otherwise deprived of a fair trial. We therefore reverse the court of appeals’ decision to remand for a new trial, and reinstate Bobadilla’s conviction.

On Friday afternoon, May 2, 2003, 3-year-old T.B. was dropped off by his mother for a weekend visit with his father, who was then residing with several relatives, including T.B.’s uncle, 23-year-old respondent Orlando Bobadilla. T.B.’s mother worked a 3:00 p.m.-ll:00 p.m. shift on weekends, and following the end of her shift on Sunday, May 4, 2003, she picked up T.B. sometime after 11:00 p.m.

As T.B.’s mother was readying T.B. for bed and changing his pull-up diaper, she “noticed that his bottom was a little red” and asked him what had happened. He became nervous and started playing with his hair. She told him that she was his mother and that he could tell her anything. T.B. then told her that “his Uncle Orlando had put his finger in his ‘booty,’ ” T.B.’s word for buttocks. T.B.’s mother said “okay,” finished changing him, and sent him off to his room. She then phoned T.B.’s father and reported what T.B. had said. After hearing of T.B.’s story, T.B.’s grandmother decided that they should take him to the hospital. As T.B. and his mother were waiting to be picked up to go to the hospital by T.B.’s father and grandmother, T.B.’s mother asked him if he had asked Bobadilla to stop. T.B. indicated that he had, and that Bobadilla had said he was sorry.

T.B.’s parents brought T.B. into the hospital’s emergency room where he was examined by an emergency-room physician. After talking to T.B.’s parents, the physician conducted a full-body examination of T.B., and observed an abnormal erythema, or redness, around his rectum. The physician saw no ulcerations or lesions, which would have indicated a chronic problem, and believed the erythema was consistent with what the child had disclosed.

A Willmar Police Department officer was dispatched to the hospital on an assault report. The officer initially met with [247]*247the emergency room nurse and then with TJB.’s parents. After doing so, the officer forwarded his report to both the Investigations Unit of the police department and the Kandiyohi County Family Service Department. Over the next several days, a Kandiyohi County child-protection worker from the Family Service Department tried a number of times to contact T.B.’s mother by phone, finally connecting with her on May 9, 2003. The child-protection worker arranged to have T.B. interviewed that day at the law enforcement center.

T.B. and his parents arrived at the law enforcement center at approximately 1:30 p.m. The child-protection worker and a Willmár police detective, out of uniform, met the family and escorted them to the interview room. The interview room, called the “child friendly room,” was specifically used for interviewing children and featured a video camera that recorded the exchange from behind a one-way mirror. The detective did not participate in the interview, but observed, sitting across from the child-protection worker and T.B. The child-protection worker conducted the interview using the CornerHouse protocol, which she described as a technique “specifically geared towards interviewing children who have been victims of sexual abuse.” The protocol consists of establishing rapport with the child, ascertaining the child’s terms for parts of the anatomy, ascertaining whether abuse occurred, and closing with a “safety message.”. The Corner-House technique instructs the interviewer to ask nonleading questions, to use terms children would understand, and to progress quickly since young children have short attention spans.

The child-protection worker began the interview by asking T.B. about his parents and she then drew pictures of them. Next, using a diagram of a male, she had T.B. identify his names for various parts of the anatomy, starting with the head and moving down. Then the following exchange occurred:

Child-Protection Worker: [H]as anybody hurt your body?
T.B.: Mmm, MmmMmm (affirmative)
CPW: Yeah. Who hurt your body?
T.B.: Orlando did!
CPW: Orlando did * ⅜ * How did Orlando hurt your body?
T.B.: He (inaudible) my (inaudible).
CPW: What?
T.B.: He, he (inaudible) touch my (inaudible). . . ■
CPW: (inaudible) your bootie. Okay. What did he do to your bootie? ■
T.B.: (inaudible) put his finger in there.
CPW: He just put his finger in there? Okay * * *.

T.B. then identified what he meant by “booty” by pointing to the buttocks area on the diagram the child-protection worker had provided.

The child-protection worker asked T.B. where he and Bobadilla were at the time of the incident, and T.B. said they were in- his father’s room. She asked where his father was while it happened. T.B. said that his father had gone downstairs and then come upstairs, but he also said “yeah” when asked if his father had seen it happen.Then the child-protection worker asked him if he would show her what had happened using an anatomically correct doll. He said he would, but ultimately did not. She also asked if Orlando touched him on his skin or on his clothes, and T.B. replied, “My skin.” The child-protection worker then closed the interview by telling T.B. that what had happened was not okay, and that he should tell someone, like his mother, if something similar ever happened again.

[248]*248Bobadilla was charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct, in violation of Minn.Stat. § 609.342, subd. 1(a) (2004) (engaging in sexual penetration with another person under 13 years of age when the actor is more than 36 months older than the complainant), and second-degree criminal sexual conduct,'in violation of Minn. Stat. § 609.343, subd. 1(a) (2004) (engaging in sexual contact with another person under 13 years of age when the actor is more than 36 months older than the complainant).

At trial, the district court found T.B. incompetent to testify, but ruled that his statements to his mother and his statements in the child-protection interview were sufficiently reliable to permit their admission as substantive evidence under the hearsay exception embodied in Minn. Stat. § 595.02, subd. 3 (2004). Therefore, the court allowed T.B.’s mother and the child-protection worker to testify about T.B.’s statements, and also allowed the state to show the videotape of T.B.’s interview.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
709 N.W.2d 243, 2006 Minn. LEXIS 60, 2006 WL 300622, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-bobadilla-minn-2006.