State ex rel. Juvenile Department v. S.P.

Summary

The Oregon Supreme Court reviewed whether statements made by a three-year-old sexual-abuse victim to CARES Northwest staff were testimonial under the Sixth Amendment’s Confrontation Clause. The court also held that the juvenile’s challenge under State v. Campbell to the stipulated unavailability of the child was unpreserved and not reviewable as plain error. The court affirmed the Court of Appeals’ decision.

Holdings

1. A party that stipulated in the juvenile court to the child's unavailability could not raise on appeal, without having preserved the issue below, a claim that the juvenile court was independently required under Campbell to determine the child's competency and unavailability.
2. The child's statements to CARES personnel describing the abuse and identifying the youth as the perpetrator were testimonial under the Sixth Amendment.
3. Because the youth had no prior opportunity to cross-examine the unavailable child, the Sixth Amendment barred admission of the CARES statements in the juvenile delinquency proceeding.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the youth preserved a Campbell-based challenge to the juvenile court's acceptance of the parties' stipulation that the child was unavailable and incompetent to testify.
2. Whether the child's statements to CARES personnel were testimonial under the Sixth Amendment's Confrontation Clause.
3. Whether statements made during a CARES evaluation serving both medical and forensic purposes are testimonial when CARES personnel act as proxies for police.
4. Whether the Court of Appeals correctly left intact the juvenile court's jurisdictional finding based on first-degree sexual abuse while reversing the finding based on first-degree sodomy.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded