State v. Sorenson

421 N.W.2d 77, 143 Wis. 2d 226, 1988 Wisc. LEXIS 14
CourtWisconsin Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 22, 1988
Docket86-0124-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by116 cases

This text of 421 N.W.2d 77 (State v. Sorenson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wisconsin 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. Sorenson, 421 N.W.2d 77, 143 Wis. 2d 226, 1988 Wisc. LEXIS 14 (Wis. 1988).

Opinions

DAY, J.

This is a review of a decision of the court of appeals, State v. Sorenson, 135 Wis. 2d 468, 400 N.W.2d 508 (Ct. App. 1986), which reversed the judgment of conviction for first degree sexual assault entered against Ronald G. Sorenson by Circuit Judge Wallace A. Brady for the circuit court of Juneau county. The court of appeals concluded that the circuit court had improperly admitted hearsay evidence at the defendant’s preliminary hearing, and that the defendant’s subsequent jury conviction must be reversed, since without this evidence probable cause would not have existed to bind the defendant over for trial. We conclude that the hearsay testimony concerning the minor victim’s statements to a social worker about the sexual assault was admissible under the residual hearsay exception, sec. 908.045(6), Stats. We further conclude the other challenges raised by the defendant, alleging erroneous admission of hearsay testimony by an examining physician, lack of specificity of charging documents, failure of the state to establish a specific date of offense at trial, and concerning prosecutor’s comments about the defendant’s pre-trial silence after he elected to testify at trial on his own behalf, do not merit reversal.1 Accordingly, [233]*233we reverse the court of appeals’ decision and affirm the defendant’s judgment of conviction.

On March 14,1985, a Juneau County Department of Social Services social worker received a referral regarding possible sexual abuse of a seven year old girl, L.S. When interviewed by the social worker the day of the referral at her elementary school, L.S. would not discuss the matter, but asked the social worker to return the next day.

The following day, March 15, 1985, the social worker again met with L.S. Using "anatomically-correct” dolls, and crude, explicit language, L.S. reported that her uncle, Donald Sorenson, and her father, Ronald Sorenson, had sexual intercourse with her.

Based on this information, the social worker told a deputy sheriff that L.S. might have been sexually assaulted by her father and uncle. The deputy and the social worker then returned to the school and re-interviewed L.S., who again reported that Donald Sorenson had sexually assaulted her. The deputy asked L.S. if her father had done anything, but L.S., who had a limited attention span and an emotional age of approximately four years old, was "distracted” and did not answer.

The deputy advised Ronald Sorenson, when he came to pick his daughter up from school, that L.S. was being placed in a foster home because of Donald Sorenson’s suspected sexual assault. Donald Sorenson was arrested on March 16, 1985. Three days later, on March 19, 1985, Ronald Sorenson was also arrested and charged with one count of first degree sexual intercourse with a child under the age of twelve years, [234]*234sec. 940.225(l)(d), Stats.2 The charging documents stated that this assault occurred between February 1, 1985 and March 15, 1985, which encompassed the six week period immediately preceding the social worker’s second meeting with L.S.

At his preliminary hearing, Ronald Sorenson was excluded from the courtroom when his daughter was called as a witness. L.S. admitted being assaulted by her uncle. She agreed that she had told the social worker a "secret about daddy,” but did not answer any questions concerning the incidence of sexual contact by her father despite the district attorney’s use of anatomically-correct dolls and leading questions. Over defense counsel’s objection, L.S. was declared an unavailable witness pursuant to sec. 908.04(l)(b), Stats.3 The court did not formally order L.S. to testify because the judge concluded it would have been "fruitless” and "inappropriate” because of her young age.

The court then permitted questioning of the social worker concerning L.S.’s statements under an expanded interpretation of the hearsay exception for former testimony, sec. 908.045(1), Stats.4 The court found [235]*235sufficient veracity to support the admission of L.S.’s statements because they were made by a young child who was the daughter of the alleged perpetrator, because of the seriousness of the sexual assault allegation, and further based upon the child’s reaction on the stand.

The social worker then testified that, about an hour into their interview, L.S. was asked if "her grandfather, her brother or her little boyfriend” had done anything to her. L.S. said that, in addition to her uncle, her father, Ronald Sorenson, had sexually abused her and that her father’s acts had occurred while her mother was at the doctor. L.S. distinguished between the acts committed by her uncle, "Donnie,” whom she reported had assaulted her on the couch in the living room, and her father, "Ronnie,” whom she reported had assaulted her in the bathroom. She further described that she had to wipe herself off after her father assaulted her and that her father told her to tell her mother that she had "wet her pants.” The social worker also demonstrated L.S.’s use of anatomically-correct dolls to describe the act. The social worker further testified that earlier during Ronald Sorenson’s preliminary hearing, L.S. had told her that she had not testified about her father because "she [L.S.] was not going to have Daddy go to jail, Mommy [236]*236would be mad at her, she wouldn’t get to go back home.” The social worker also testified that during the period between L.S.’s removal from her home and Ronald Sorenson’s arrest on March 19, 1985, Ronald had contacted her and inquired whether L.S. had said anything about him to her.

By stipulation of the parties, the testimony of a physician, who examined L.S. on March 18, 1985, was incorporated from the transcript of Donald Sorenson’s preliminary hearing into the record of Ronald Soren-son’s preliminary hearing. The physician testified that his examination of L.S. unquestionably revealed repeated sexual abuse. He further testified that, based on her physical condition, the most recent intercourse occurred between seven and ten days before his examination.

The testimony concerning L.S.’s statements to the social worker was the primary evidence linking Ronald Sorenson to the physical evidence of assault found by the physician who examined L.S. Based on this evidence, the circuit court found probable cause that the defendant, Ronald Sorenson, had committed a felony and bound him over for trial.

Before trial, the defendant moved to dismiss, arguing that the circuit court lacked jurisdiction over him because the probable cause determination was based on inadmissible hearsay. As an additional ground, he argued that the information failed to state with sufficient specificity the date of the alleged assault since it referred to a six week period, from February 1, 1985 to March 15, 1985, during which the assault allegedly occurred. Sorenson further moved to bar testimony at trial of the examining physician and social worker about L.S.’s statements to them, arguing [237]*237this testimony was inadmissible hearsay. The circuit judge denied these motions.

At trial the physician who had examined L.S.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State v. Dwayne Anthony Young
Court of Appeals of Wisconsin, 2025
State v. Martha R. Elsila
Court of Appeals of Wisconsin, 2025
State v. Jacob T. Robinson
Court of Appeals of Wisconsin, 2025
State v. Aaron V. Ferguson
Court of Appeals of Wisconsin, 2023
State v. Raymond M. Gratz
Court of Appeals of Wisconsin, 2022
State v. Darrell Aferon Morrow
Court of Appeals of Wisconsin, 2022
State v. Joseph M. Marks
2022 WI App 20 (Court of Appeals of Wisconsin, 2022)
State v. Nestor Luis Vega
Court of Appeals of Wisconsin, 2021
Willie McShan v. Brian Hayes
Court of Appeals of Wisconsin, 2021
State v. Angel Mercado
2021 WI 2 (Wisconsin Supreme Court, 2021)
State v. Angel Mercado
2020 WI App 14 (Court of Appeals of Wisconsin, 2020)
State v. McLaughlin
786 S.E.2d 269 (Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 2016)
State v. Krancki
2014 WI App 80 (Court of Appeals of Wisconsin, 2014)
State v. Minerva Lopez
2014 WI 11 (Wisconsin Supreme Court, 2014)
Gerald P. VanPatten v. State of Indiana
986 N.E.2d 255 (Indiana Supreme Court, 2013)
State v. Hansbrough
2011 WI App 79 (Court of Appeals of Wisconsin, 2011)
State v. Conner
2011 WI 8 (Wisconsin Supreme Court, 2011)
State v. Brown
919 A.2d 107 (Supreme Court of New Jersey, 2007)
State v. Knapp
2005 WI 127 (Wisconsin Supreme Court, 2005)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
421 N.W.2d 77, 143 Wis. 2d 226, 1988 Wisc. LEXIS 14, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-sorenson-wis-1988.