United States v. Iron Shell

United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit · 1980 · Evidence

EvidenceHearsayMedical diagnosis or treatmentExcited utteranceConfrontation ClauseLesser included offensesFed. R. Evid. 803(4)Fed. R. Evid. 803(2)

Facts

A nine-year-old girl was assaulted in bushes near her home on the Rosebud Reservation. Shortly after the assault, she told Officer Marshall what happened, and later that evening she described the assault to Dr. Hopkins during a medical examination. At trial, the government introduced both out-of-court statements through those witnesses, and the defendant argued the statements were inadmissible hearsay and violated confrontation principles. The defendant also argued the jury should have been instructed on assault by striking, beating, or wounding as a lesser included offense and that the evidence was insufficient because his intoxication prevented formation of specific intent.

Issue

Whether the district court properly admitted the child victim's statements to the examining doctor under Rule 803(4) and to the officer under Rule 803(2), whether the refusal to instruct on assault by striking, beating, or wounding was error, and whether the evidence was sufficient to support conviction for assault with intent to commit rape. The court also considered whether the statutory scheme denied equal protection and whether admission of the hearsay statements violated the Confrontation Clause.

Rule

Under Rule 803(4), statements describing the inception or general character of the cause of injury are admissible if they are reasonably pertinent to diagnosis or treatment. The court articulated a two-part test: first, whether the declarant's motive is consistent with the purpose of promoting treatment, and second, whether it is reasonable for the physician to rely on the information in diagnosis or treatment. Under Rule 803(2), lapse of time and the fact that a statement is made in response to inquiry are relevant but not dispositive; the key question is whether the declarant was still under the stress of excitement so that the statement was spontaneous or impulsive rather than reflective. A lesser-included-offense instruction is proper only when the lesser offense's elements are identical to part of the greater offense's elements, so that the greater offense cannot be committed without also committing the lesser.

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One of 10 multiple-choice questions for this case. Pick an answer to see why.

In Tulsa, eleven-year-old Maya Rios was taken to an urgent-care clinic about an hour after an assault. During the exam, Dr. Levin asked what happened, and Maya said a man dragged her behind a shed, pulled off her shorts, and pressed something painful against her genitals; she did not name the man. Dr. Levin testified that the history helped him decide where to look for injury and what conditions to rule out.

If the defendant objects on hearsay grounds, how should the court rule on Dr. Levin’s testimony recounting Maya’s statement?

Explanation. Under the majority opinion, Rule 803(4) covers statements made for medical diagnosis or treatment that describe the inception or general character of the cause of injury insofar as reasonably pertinent to diagnosis or treatment. The court used a two-part test: whether the declarant’s motive is consistent with promoting treatment, and whether it is reasonable for the physician to rely on the information. A statement about what happened, as opposed to who did it, is ordinarily pertinent. The fact that the doctor also preserves evidence does not automatically defeat the exception so long as the statement is reasonably pertinent to diagnosis or treatment.