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<p class="MsoNormal"><b>HEARSAY: Trial court erred in admitting victim’s out-of-court statements under the<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>hearsay exception for prior consistent statements made to rebut a charge of recent<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>fabrication, OEC 801(4)(a)(B).<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><o:p> </o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><i>State v. Villanueva-Villanueva</i></b>, 262 Or App __, __ P3d __ (April 30, 2014)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">(Washington) (AAIC Jamie Contreras). Defendant was charged with committing sexual and<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">assault offenses against his wife, among other things. At trial, he argued that he had not<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">committed the crimes, and presented evidence that the victim had fabricated her story to get legal<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">immigration status (a U-Visa). To rehabilitate the victim, the state sought to introduce the<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">victim’s out-of-court statements under <b>OEC 801(4)(a)(B),</b> the exception for prior consistent<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">statements made before an alleged motive to fabricate arises. Defendant objected that the<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">victim’s out-of-court statements were not made before the motive to fabricate arose, because the<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">victim had talked about getting immigration papers before she made the statements in question.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The trial court (Judge Steven Price) admitted the evidence under OEC 801(4)(a)(B) and,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">alternatively, because the statements were excited utterances admissible under OEC 803(2). The<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">jury found defendant guilty, and defendant appealed. On appeal, the state conceded that the<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">victim’s statements were inadmissible hearsay, but argued that the error was harmless because<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">the statements were consistent with the defense theory that the victim had fabricated the charges<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">to obtain legal immigration status.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><i><u>HELD</u></i><u>:</u></b> Reversed and remanded in part (Nakamoto, J.). The trial court erred in admitting<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">the victim’s hearsay statements; the error was harmful as to all but one of the counts, felony<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">fourth-degree assault. [1] Because the victim made the out-of-court statements after the alleged<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">motive to fabricate arose, the statements did not fall within the hearsay exception for prior<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">consistent statements. [2] The facts did not support the trial court’s conclusion that the victim’s<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">statements were excited utterances. [3] The error was not harmless as to three of the four counts<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">charged, because the state did not present overwhelming evidence of defendant’s guilt, and the<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">case turned largely on the victim’s credibility. [4] But the error was harmless as to defendant’s<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">conviction for felony assault, given defense counsel’s acknowledgment in opening and closing<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">argument that he had hit the victim in the face, and had previously been convicted of assault.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.publications.ojd.state.or.us/docs/A147918.pdf">http://www.publications.ojd.state.or.us/docs/A147918.pdf</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><i><u>NOTE</u></i><u>:</u></b> Given its disposition of the case on hearsay grounds, the court did not address<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">defendant’s other argument on appeal, that the trial court erred in allowing the prosecutor to<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">comment during closing argument on defendant’s in-court behavior—an issue of first impression in Oregon.<o:p></o:p></p>
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