Jones v. State

⁶⁸³ MURPHY, J. In the Circuit Court for Harford County, a jury convicted Joseph Michael Jones, Petitioner, of sexual child abuse, second degree sexual offense, and third degree sexual offense. Petitioner concedes that the State’s evidence was sufficient to establish that he committed those offenses in Aberdeen, Maryland on December 23, 2004. He argues, however, that he is entitled to a new trial on the ground that the Circuit Court erroneously overruled his objections to (1) the testimony of the victim, and (2) the victim’s taped statement to a social worker. In an unreported opinion filed on December 21, 2007, the Court of Special Appeals rejected those arguments and affirmed the judgments of the Circuit Court.

Petitioner then filed a petition for writ of certiorari, in which he requested that this Court answer two questions: I. Did the trial court err in permitting the six-year old alleged victim to testify where the child demonstrated a clear inability to understand and appreciate the obligation to tell the truth?

II

Did the trial court err in admitting the alleged victim’s taped statement to a social worker? We granted the petition. Jones v. State, 404 Md. 152 , 945 A.2d 1270 (2008). For the reasons that follow, we answer “no” to each question, and shall therefore affirm the judgment of the Court of Special Appeals.

Background According to Petitioner (in the words of his petition for writ of certiorari): This case arose out of an allegation of unlawful sexual contact by Tanya Way and her son, Justin, against Mr. Jones in December of 2004. At the time of the alleged incident, Mr. Jones lived in a small two-bedroom house with Ms. Way, her three children, and her mother, Barbara Way. Mr. Jones and Ms. Way’s mother were in a romantic relationship and shared one of the bedrooms in the house. Justin, then age five, and his younger brother, Sean, slept in ⁶⁸⁴ the second bedroom.

Ms. Way slept in the living room with Morgan, her youngest child. The jury heard four accounts of the events surrounding the allegation against Mr. Jones. The first was from Ms. Way. According to Ms. Way, on the evening of December 23, 2004, she was at home with her children and Mr. Jones.

Sean went to sleep at around 8:00. Ms. Way put Justin to bed at around 9:00. When she went to check on Justin about 10 minutes later, Mr. Jones was standing beside Justin’s bed with his pants pulled partially down and Justin’s hand on his penis. The door to the bedroom was open and the hallway light was on, as they had been when she put Justin to bed, and Sean was still sleeping.

Ms. Way cursed at Mr. Jones and asked him “what the F” he was doing, but he ran back to his room without saying anything. She then called police and took Justin to a neighbor’s house, not returning to get Sean, who was still sleeping, until the police arrived. Ms. Way testified that her son’s bedroom was located only a few feet from the living room but maintained that she had been unable to hear what was going on in the bedroom because of noise from the television. * * * The next two accounts came from Justin. Four days after the alleged incident, Justin was interviewed by Noel Francis, a social worker with the Child Advocacy Center.

During the interview, which was recorded and played for the jury, he stated that he was ten years old but then said that he was only five years old. When asked by Ms. Noel whether anyone had ever touched his penis, he replied that “Joe” did so with his mouth “[t]en” times at night when he was trying to sleep.' Justin denied touching Mr. Jones’ penis with his hand or mouth. Called as a witness, Justin, then age six, provided a different account. Justin testified that Mr. Jones touched his penis with his hand and mouth.

He initially stated that this only took place once and that it occurred in his room when he was trying to sleep and his brother was “eating or playing.” However, he later testified that he was in his ⁶⁸⁵ grandmother’s bedroom watching a movie when Mr. Jones touched his penis with his mouth. On cross-examination, Justin agreed that his mother had told him they would play a trick on Mr. Jones but then said that he did not know wrhat a trick was and that “only [his] mom knows those things.” The fourth and final account came from Mr. Jones, who denied having any inappropriate contact with Justin. Mr. Jones testified that on December 23 he had off from his job and was at home watching television. At some point, the police arrived and told him he was under arrest for the sexual assault of Justin.

He told the police that it was “a lie.” To establish that Justin was competent to testify, the prosecutor asked him a series of voir dire questions suggested by Professor Thomas D. Lyon of the University of Southern California Law School and Professor Karen J. Saywitz of the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, in an article entitled Qualifying Children to Take the Oath: Materials for Interviewing Professionals 1 The Introduction of this article includes the following statements: The purpose of these materials is to assist you in determining whether a child witness understands the difference between the truth and lies and appreciates the importance of telling the truth. There are two tasks. The first task (truth v. lie) evaluates whether the child understands that the words “truth” and “lie” refer to statements that correspond to reality and statements that fail to correspond to reality, respectively. The second task (morality) determines whether a child ⁶⁸⁶ understands the consequences of telling a lie, for example, that telling a lie will result in “trouble.” In the “truth v. lie” tasks, the child is shown a series of pictures of two children looking at, respectively, (1) a cat, (2) a pizza, (3) a teddy bear, (4) a truck, (5) a horse, (6) a doll, (7) a box of crayons, (8) a duck, (9) an orange, and asked to identify which child in each picture is telling the truth.

The following questions were included in Justin’s voir dire as his response to each picture was sought: [PROSECUTOR]: This little boy in blue is saying it’s a cat and this little boy in red is saying it’s a dog. Can you tell us which one is telling the truth? [PROSECUTOR]: This little girl is saying it’s a hot dog. This little girl is saying it’s a pizza. Which one is telling the truth? [PROSECUTOR]: This little boy says it’s a book.

This little boy says it’s a bear. Which one is telling the truth? ❖ * * [PROSECUTOR]: This little girl says it’s a police truck and this little girl says it’s an airplane. Which one is telling the truth? * * * [PROSECUTOR]: This little boy says it’s a snake. This little boy says it’s a horse.

Which one is telling the truth. Can you show us? * * * [PROSECUTOR]: This little boy says it’s a doll. This little boy says it’s a football. Which one is telling the truth? * * * [PROSECUTOR]: This little boy says it’s a telephone.

This little boy says it’s crayons. Which little boy is telling the truth? ⁶⁸⁷ [PROSECUTOR]: This little girl says it’s a cow. This little girl says this is a duck. Which one is telling the truth? [PROSECUTOR]: If I said I was wearing a red suit or red jacket, would I be telling the truth [or] a lie? [PROSECUTOR]: If I said you were wearing a red shirt, would I be telling the truth or a lie? [PROSECUTOR]: This girl says it’s a cookie and this girl says it’s an orange.

Which one is telling the truth? [PROSECUTOR]: This is the judge much like the judge in this courtroom. If you tell the judge something that is not true and you tell him a lie, can you get in trouble? [PROSECUTOR]: If I said this chair was purple, would that be a truth or a lie? [PROSECUTOR]: Justin, if I said that the police officer was sitting right next to you, would that be a truth or a lie? [PROSECUTOR]: Now, if I said he was sitting over here, would that be a truth or a lie? The following transpired after the prosecutor and Petitioner’s trial counsel advised the Circuit Court that they had no further questions: THE COURT: Any argument on the issue of the competency to testify? [PETITIONER’S COUNSEL]: I’ll go first, Your Honor. Justin certainly made [an] idiot out of me because I predicted that he would sail right through all of this having been thoroughly prepared and frankly he did, I would argue, very poorly.

There were a number of answers that were simply ⁶⁸⁸ wrong. Once I have counted through the sort of slide presentation, I counted— THE COURT: Well, to sum it up on the slide show presentation, he gave the same answer for every question; that is, it is the red person. The red person was the answer every single time. Regardless of the right answer it was always the red person.

I was keeping track of where he was right and where he was wrong and then taking note of where blue versus red, and he has a very strong preference to red, wearing red himself. I think even agreed with [the prosecutor] or thought she was wearing red. I would agree with your assessment on the slide show presentation he did poorly. Once again, every answer in essence was the same; he pointed to the red person every single time. [PETITIONER’S COUNSEL]: I’m looking through the Perry case[, Perry v. State, 381 Md. 138 , 848 A.2d 631 (2004),] we talked about, which is sort of one of those nice Law Review opinions on the topic of competency.

I’m looking for the language as to specifically what factors of competency, because it is my recollection it is not just knowing the difference between truth and a lie but that the Court also is supposed to examine as to the child’s ability to—well, bear with me, Your Honor. THE COURT: I think from other cases the ability to relate was the Matthews case, [Matthews v. State, 106 Md.App. 725 , 666 A.2d 912 (1995),] ability to observe, to understand, to recall, and to relate happenings while conscious of a duty to speak the truth. [PETITIONER’S COUNSEL]: Yes. Justin here spoke of the duty to speak the truth and had sort of an obsession for someone who turned six years of age earlier this month, he has a birthday on I believe August the 9th, but I think it is on the issue of—as Your Honor said, it is on the issue of the ability to recall and relate happenings that I think is where he really falls apart. He did not demonstrate any ability to be consistent, answered a question as what was the truth or ⁶⁸⁹ a lie, and 1 think in Your Honor’s perception based on an apparent affection for the color red.

So, while he could articulate the importance of speaking the truth, I think it is in his ability to perceive and retain information where he falls down and hence his inability to be consistent with regard to [prior contact with the prosecutor]. I would urge that Your Honor find him not competent to testify. [PROSECUTOR]: ... You know, he is six years old. I think he is intimidated.

I believe he is competent to testify. If there is a question as to his ability to recall, I’ll bring him back in and ask some specific questions with regards to family or something like that if it is recall rather than truth and a lie that the defense has a problem with. [PETITIONER’S COUNSEL]: ... I would object to her bringing Justin in again and trying again. [The prosecutor] rested on what she had. Clearly this is a close decision and a tough decision.

I don’t think it is fair if she can keep bringing the child in until she may be able to get enough right answers to meet her burden. She is the one in charge of trying to voir dire the child, it was Your Honor’s request that she do it, and she rested. I would ask that she be held to what she has done so far. THE COURT: Well, if I were dealing with an adult witness I would agree with you one hundred percent.

I’m not dealing with an adult witness, I’m dealing with a six year old child who is allegedly the alleged victim of a crime. I’m very sensitive to the [Petitioner’s] rights, but I’m also sensitive that we’re dealing with a six year old. I don’t see any significant damage that is being done to let the State ask some more questions on that issue. I’m not concerned as to the consequences of not telling the truth.

I think Justin passed the test. The issue is exactly what [Petitioner’s counsel] related and I think we have summed it up that ⁶⁹⁰ he scored some points and flubbed some points. Ironically where he did poorest was on the rehearsed part. * * * THE COURT: ... Quite honestly I think he did fairly well when you “ad-libbed” and went around the courtroom....

I’ll let you bring him back and we’ll see where it leads us. I’ll let you ask him a few additional questions. When Justin returned to the witness stand, only the prosecutor asked him any questions. The following transpired after Justin’s voir dire had been completed: THE COURT: Any additional argument by either of you? [PETITIONER’S COUNSEL]: ...

I would say that generally I agree with [the prosecutor] that his recall about who slept where and so on which is something that took place over a fairly extended period of time in the house in Aberdeen where these events are to have alleged to have occurred was consistent with my understanding of the facts. But I think it is important that those are things that he was testifying to that were I gather the same every night and every day for months as opposed to a one time event, which is what caused the allegation and caused the arrest of Mr. Jones on December the 23rd. He could not remember his last birthday he said but then later on remembered going to McDonald’s for his birthday. He was asked a question about pizza at McDonald’s and he may have done well, but because his birthday was at McDonald’s.

He does not remember whether he got wet or whether it rained yesterday. [PETITIONER’S COUNSEL]: The [.Perry ] case says, Professor Wigmore states the essential as capacity for observation; capacity for recollection; capacity for communication, including ability to understand question put and to frame and express intelligent answers;—that one lost me, but that’s what it says—and, a sense of moral responsibility ⁶⁹¹ to tell the truth. I will concede that he expressed a sense of understanding of the punishment aspect of not telling the truth, but given the number of errors he has made here I would argue that his capacity for observation, recollection, and his ability to communicate, which means understanding the questions and to express intell[i]gen[t] answers, are all lacking. Again, this is a serious case, serious for both sides. This child will take the stand as an accuser.

It has been my experience that jurors will try to allow for the child’s youth, and cross examining a child is a very difficult matter.... I would argue that in fairness to Mr. Jones that he should not be put in jeopardy for a considerable portion of his life when there is so much doubt about the child’s ability to observe, recollect, and communicate. After taking a brief recess to “read the portion of Perry that I have been reading quickly as [counsel] argued to me [and] compare my notes,” the Circuit Court delivered the following on-the-record ruling: Once again, we’re at the part of the proceedings where the Court does have to determine the competency of this proposed witness. 1 have been cited to Perry versus State, 381 Md. [138, 848 A.2d 631 ], 2004, I guess the most recent compilation or discussion of the law in regard to that. It has been cited by everybody where they cite Professor Wigmore, “the essential requirements as capacity for observation; capacity for recollection; capacity for communication, including ability ‘to understand questions put and to frame and express intelligent answers;’ and, a sense of moral responsibility to tell the truth.” They also cite Wharton’s Criminal Evidence right after that.

Of course, we had a dispute whether it is in a footnote or not. In my version it is not in a footnote. Again, it talks about things there. 1 would also cite what I was going off of earlier, that is Matthews versus State, a 1995 case, which says basically the same thing. That’s in the footnote to Section 9-103 where it talks about the child’s reasonable ability to observe, understand, to recall, and to relate happenings while conscious of a duty to speak the truth.

So, quite frankly this child with ⁶⁹² the slide show presentation or whatever you want to call it, I’m not being derogatory, but the bell and whistle presentation, quite frankly did poorly. I mean, he got a number of them right. But the ones that he got right he was always giving the same answer, and that is the child wearing the red shirt, which was on the right-hand side of the screen or the page and blue was on the left. So, whether he has some aversion to blue or a particular like of red, I don’t know.

Certainly I think for lack of a better term he certainly flubbed that portion of the examination concerning competency. However, after that when he went to [the prosecutor], for lack of a better term ad-libbing, and I could tell from the visible panic in her face and the frantic look in her eyes when she was afraid that the bow was under water, she was ad-libbing and was going around the room and asking things and quite frankly I think he did well there. Perfectly? No. As we have pointed out, there are shortcomings ....

In any event, I thought he passed that portion of it. I did allow the State to bring him back on the issue of his ability to observe and relate, and I frankly think he passed that portion. So, the Court, as to his appreciation of the obligation to speak the truth, I think he was very strong in understanding and expressing that. So, the Court does find that