State v. Coe

750 P.2d 208, 109 Wash. 2d 832, 1988 Wash. LEXIS 15
CourtWashington Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 28, 1988
Docket51600-6
StatusPublished
Cited by72 cases

This text of 750 P.2d 208 (State v. Coe) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Washington Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Coe, 750 P.2d 208, 109 Wash. 2d 832, 1988 Wash. LEXIS 15 (Wash. 1988).

Opinions

Dolliver, J.

Kevin Coe appeals his conviction of three counts of first degree rape. The primary issues on appeal are whether the admission of testimony by previously hypnotized witnesses was proper and whether the State proved the use or threatened use of a deadly weapon — one of the elements of first degree rape. We reverse the two counts in which witnesses were hypnotized, and affirm the third count which involved no hypnosis. We conclude the elements of first degree rape were met, and accordingly we affirm the conviction of one count of first degree rape.

Frederick H. "Kevin" Coe was originally charged in 1981 with six counts of rape in Spokane. He was convicted of four counts of first degree rape. The convictions were [835]*835reversed by this court in State v. Coe, 101 Wn.2d 772, 684 P.2d 668 (1984). The primary basis for reversal was the admission of posthypnotic testimony of witnesses who had been hypnotized prior to Coe's arrest. The court held:

Upon remand, the admissibility of the testimony of the previously hypnotized witnesses should be determined in accordance with our holding in State v. Martin [101 Wn.2d 713, 684 P.2d 651 (1984)]. Thus, testimony as to facts recalled during hypnosis would be inadmissible. . . . The testimony of the previously hypnotized witnesses would be admissible [, however,] if the State can show that the testimony consists solely of prehypnotic memory. . .

State v. Coe, at 786.

A new trial began in King County, after a change of venue at the defendant's request, in January 1985. Before trial began, the court held a lengthy pretrial hearing on hypnotism. The trial court ultimately interpreted the phrase "prehypnotic memory" to include both (a) information given by the witnesses before being hypnotized, and (b) any evidence provided after hypnosis which the State could prove to be based on prehypnotic memories and untainted by the hypnosis. On the basis of this holding, the court ruled the victims could testify to their identifications of the defendant, made some time after they had been hypnotized.

The jury found the defendant guilty of three of four rapes charged. The court dismissed count 2, involving Sherrill South, after the jury stated it was unable to reach a verdict. The counts at the second trial retained the numbering from the 6-count information in the first trial.

Count 3 — Julie Harmia. In the evening on October 23, 1980, Julie Harmia was raped and beaten in Spokane by an attacker who told her he had a knife. Before he left, he also told her he might come after her later and use the knife. She gave a detailed description of her attacker to the police. Samples of semen were collected for testing. On March 10, 1981, Harmia identified the defendant in a lineup as the person who raped her. She was never hypno[836]*836tized.

Count 5 — Mary Patricia Strange. On the morning of February 5, 1981, Mary Patricia Strange was raped on a playing field in Spokane where she had been jogging. After initial resistance by her, the attacker told her he had a knife. He inserted his fingers in her vagina, but no penile penetration occurred, so no semen sample was collected. She gave a detailed description of her attacker to police. A few days later, she was hypnotized by the police, but provided no different or additional evidence. Strange identified the defendant's picture out of a photo montage 2 or 3 weeks later. On March 10, 1981, she identified the defendant at a lineup.

Charles Williams, the custodian at a school next to the field where Strange was attacked, noticed a car parked near the field on the same morning of the Strange attack. He observed the features of the car, and after the rape was reported in the paper the next day, he gave a description of the car to the police. The police later hypnotized Williams in an attempt to obtain the license plate number of the car, but without success.

Count 6 — Diane Fitzpatrick. On the morning of February 9, 1981, Diane Fitzpatrick was raped in Spokane. The attacker told her he had a knife. She gave the police a description of her attacker. Semen samples were collected. Approximately 2 weeks after the attack, Fitzpatrick was hypnotized, but no different or additional evidence was obtained. On March 10, 1981, she identified the defendant at a lineup as the attacker.

The defendant was convicted on these three counts of first degree rape and given sentences of 25 years for count 3, 30 years for count 5, and life for count 6, to run consecutively, for a total sentence of life, plus 55 years. The case is before this court on direct review.

I

The defendant first challenges the admission of the identification testimony of the previously hypnotized victims as [837]*837directly contrary to the holdings of this court in the prior Coe decision and two other cases.

We have announced our rules regarding the admissibility of testimony by previously hypnotized witnesses in three companion cases, State v. Martin, 101 Wn.2d 713, 684 P.2d 651 (1984); State v. Laureano, 101 Wn.2d 745, 682 P.2d 889 (1984); and State v. Coe, supra. The Martin court stated:

[A] person, once hypnotized, should be barred from testifying concerning information recalled while under hypnosis.

Martin, at 722. The court also prohibited the admission of "testimony by a witness as to a fact which became available following hypnosis ..." Martin, at 714. The court established a separate rule regarding the admissibility of testimony as to facts recalled prior to hypnosis. A party seeking to admit such testimony has "the burden of establishing what the witness remembered prior to the hypnosis." Martin, at 722. The proponent should have some independent verification of the witness' prehypnotic memory, such as a record preserved prior to hypnosis. State v. Martin, at 722-23.

In the second case, State v. Laureano, we specifically excluded a lineup identification made after hypnosis, even though the witness had given a description to the police prior to the hypnosis.

[W]e hold that all posthypnotic testimony should be rejected, and only the prior recall of the witness, properly preserved and documented (as set forth in State v. Martin), should be allowed in evidence.

State v. Laureano, at 753. The court held the process of hypnosis itself necessarily affects everything the witness recalls about the incident thereafter and stated, "[t]he plain fact is that such testimony is not and cannot be reliable." State v. Laureano, at 752 (quoting Diamond, Inherent Problems in the Use of Pretrial Hypnosis on a Prospective Witness, 68 Calif. L. Rev. 313, 348-49 (1980)).

In the third opinion, the prior Coe decision, the court stated:

[838]*838The unreliability of hypnosis as a means of restoring memory makes the use of hypnotically aided testimony unacceptable in the context of a criminal trial. . . . . . . Thus, testimony as to facts recalled during hypnosis would be inadmissible.

Coe, at 786.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
750 P.2d 208, 109 Wash. 2d 832, 1988 Wash. LEXIS 15, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-coe-wash-1988.