Prince v. State

DAVIS, Judge. Leslie Wayne Prince, appellant, was convicted by a jury in the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County (Nichols, J.) of child abuse. He was sentenced to prison for fifteen years. The sole question presented by appellant on appeal is: ²⁹⁸ Did the trial court err in ruling that the child abuse victim’s statements to a social worker and a psychologist were admissible?

At a pretrial hearing held on the issue of the admissibility of the child abuse victim’s verbal statements to a social worker and a psychologist, the evidence showed that a report alleging “physical abuse” of Myeshia M. (Myeshia), age seven, was forwarded to the office of Jennifer Karl, a licensed graduate social worker. Myeshia was transported to the agency from the police station on January 6, 1998. She was having a great deal of difficulty walking, and was walking on the sides of her feet.

According to Karl, Myeshia told her that she had been “hurt” by “Mr. Prince,” her mother’s boyfriend. Karl stated, “The child had hundreds of puncture wounds all over her body, and she said that Mr. Prince caused those.” On the night of January 5, 1998, Myeshia was doing her homework in the living room and her mother warned her that Prince would be “mad” that she had not finished her homework. When Prince arrived, Myeshia was wearing slippers and a nightgown and she was still doing her homework. He was angry, he yelled at her, and he dragged her outside to his van.

With a roll of duct tape, Prince sealed her mouth and taped her wrists and legs together. Myeshia said that he began “sticking” her with a “nail,” and laughing. He dragged her back into the apartment, placed her in a tub of cold water, and scrubbed her down. Prince then brushed Myeshia’s teeth with some kind of powder that “tasted bad and burned.” She went back to the living room table to finish her homework and she sat there all night until the police came in the morning.

At the time when Karl first saw her, when she took her to the hospital, Myeshia had hundreds of little red “pinpoint marks,” all over her body; some were still bleeding. Myeshia kept talking about her fear of seeing Prince, and she had great difficulty walking or sitting down. Nancy Davis, a licensed Maryland psychologist, saw Myes-hia ten times. She received data from Karl, did an initial assessment, and then began treating Myeshia for “flashbacks.” ²⁹⁹ Davis found that Myeshia could tell the difference between the truth and a lie.

Myeshia “seemed to be very open,” intelligent, outgoing, and “she wanted to relate to people.” She described in detail what “Les” had done to her on the night in question, and on previous occasions. The State argued that, under the applicable statute — Article 27, § 775 of the Annotated Code of Maryland — the testimony of Karl and Davis as to what Myeshia told them was admissible over hearsay objections. The court questioned Myeshia in chambers, in the presence of the prosecutor and defense counsel. Then eight years old and in the second grade, Myeshia told the judge she understood that she “might get in trouble” if she “told a lie.” She said that she told Karl the truth about something “bad” that her mother’s boyfriend, Leslie Prince, did to her.

She said that she also told the “truth” to the person described to her by the judge as “the doctor, the psychologist.” The court overruled appellant’s objections and ruled that the child abuse victim’s statements to the social worker and psychologist were admissible at trial. Appellant argues that such testimony violated his right to confrontation because he was unable to cross-examine the child abuse victim. He posits that, because the statements were admitted under the statute enacted in 1988, they do not fall within a firmly rooted hearsay exception. The statements, argues appellant, lack “particularized guarantees of trustworthiness,” and are therefore inadmissible.

Article 27, § 775 provides that certain out-of-court statements made by child abuse victims are admissible in a criminal trial or juvenile court proceedings. Md.Code (1996 Repl. Vol., 1999 Supp.), art. 27, § 775. 1 Such hearsay statements are admissible in certain cases after a hearing has been held to determine the trustworthiness of the statement. The victim must be under the age of twelve years, id. at § 775(b)(1); ³⁰⁰ the statement must be made to and offered by certain medical or school personnel in their professional capacity, id. at § 775(b)(2); the judge must conduct an in camera examination of the child, id. at § 775(f); and the judge must make a finding on the record as to the trustworthiness of the statement, id. § 775(e)(1).

The prosecutor here properly complied with the sections of the Code by filing a notice of intent to introduce certain out-of-court statements made by the child abuse victim. In the State’s notice, Prince was provided with the content of the statements that Myeshia made to both Karl and Davis. Art. 27, § 775(c)(3)(ii). Appellant invoked his right to depose the two witnesses under art. 27, § 775(c)(4)(i),