210 Conn. 396 | Conn. | 1989
The dispositive issue in this appeal, after our remand in State v. Jarzbek, 204 Conn. 683,
The facts are fully set out in Jarzbek I. In order to resolve the constitutional propriety of having the minor witness testify, without a face-to-face confrontation; see U.S. Const., amends. VI and XIV; Conn. Const., art. I, § 8; about the “game” she had allegedly played with the defendant, we remanded the case for a further evidentiary hearing. We asked the trial court to determine “whether the state has demonstrated a compelling need for excluding the defendant from the witness room during the videotaping of [the] minor victim’s testimony. In order to satisfy its burden of proving compelling need, the state must show that the minor victim would be so intimidated, or otherwise inhibited, by the physical presence of the defendant that the trustworthiness of the victim’s testimony would be seriously called into question. Furthermore, the state bears the burden of proving such compelling need by clear and convincing evidence.” Jarzbek I, supra, 704-705.
The trial court, after holding the required evidentiary hearing, found that “it is highly probable that if this child were called upon to testify, whether on videotape
Since our decision in Jarzbek I, we have had the opportunity to address the relationship between that holding and the subsequent decision of the United States Supreme Court in Coy v. Iowa, 487 U.S. 1012, 108 S. Ct. 2798, 101 L. Ed. 2d 857 (1988). In three recent cases, we have concluded that there is no inconsistency between Jarzbek and Coy. See State v. Spigarolo, 210 Conn. 359, 556 A.2d 112 (1989); State v. Snook, 210 Conn. 244, 555 A.2d 390 (1989); State v. Bonello, 210 Conn. 51, 58-61, 554 A.2d 277 (1989). We therefore need not consider further the efforts of both parties to this appeal to have us modify the evidentiary standard enunciated in Jarzbek I.
The only issue that remains to be resolved is whether the trial court was correct in finding, as a matter of fact, that the state had satisfied its burden of proving a compelling need in accordance with the Jarzbek criteria. The principal witness in this regard was Dr. David Mantell, a clinical psychologist specializing in the area of child abuse and neglect, who testified both at the initial pretrial hearing and at the evidentiary hearing following our order of remand. His testimony was buttressed by that of the child’s mother and aunt.
Mantell informed the trial court at the remand hearing that, in his professional opinion, the child in question would not have been able at trial, in August, 1985, to testify truthfully and reliably in a face-to-face encounter with the defendant. Mantell’s opinion was based upon his personal examination of the child on
Mantell provided the court with detailed reasons for his opinion about this child’s ability to testify truthfully and reliably. The child told him that the defendant had said he would spank her if she told anybody about the “game” that they had played together. She feared that she might not see him again if she spoke about what had happened; she had in fact not seen him for the previous eight months. From his examination, Mantell inferred that the child was increasingly ashamed to talk about the “game” at all. She said that she could not talk about the “game” in the defendant’s presence. Mantell thought she understood that her testimony would have been used against the defendant, and that that perception would have made it more difficult for her to testify candidly and completely. It was his view that the defendant's physical presence would have caused a major intensification of all her negative feelings of guilt, shame and betrayal. As a result, either she would not have been able to testify at all, or she would have produced unreliable testimony in the defendant’s presence.
Mantell’s testimony found further support in the testimony of a child care worker who was also the child’s maternal aunt. Much like the child's mother, this witness testified about the child’s anxiety, her fear of the defendant and her fear that he would go to jail. She too expressed the view that the child would probably have been unable to testify accurately in front of the defendant, if indeed she would have been able to testify at all.
There is no error.
In this opinion the other justices concurred.
At the evidentiary hearing upon remand, the state did not recall Dr. Sidney Horowitz to the witness stand. Horowitz, a clinical psychologist with