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State v. Greenleaf4/15/1999
al right to confront the witnesses against him).
The trial court admitted Bellanger's statement under the catch-all exception to the hearsay rule, Minn. R. Evid. 804(b)(5), finding that the statement was reliable because (1) Bellanger was not in custody when he made the statement to police; (2) Bellanger was never a suspect in the case; (3) Bellanger did not seek out the police in making his statements but instead made the statements spontaneously when police questioned him; (4) there was no motive for Bellanger to fabricate the statements; and (5) his statements were corroborated by other evidence. We disagree. While Bellanger's statement was corroborated by other evidence, under the Supreme Court's holding in Idaho v. Wright, particularized guarantees of trustworthiness must be "drawn from the totality of the circumstances that surround the making of the statement and that render the declarant particularly worthy of belief." 497 U.S. 805, 820 (1990). "In other words, if the declarant's truthfulness is so clear from the surrounding circumstances that the test of cross-examination would be of marginal utility, then the hearsay rule does not bar admission of the statement at trial." Id. at 818.
Bellanger's testimony was not so trustworthy that cross-examination would have been of marginal utility. Cross-examination would have helped reveal Bellanger's motivations and trustworthiness. Therefore, allowing an investigator to testify as to what Bellanger told him was error. If the verdict rendered is "surely unattributable" to the error, then the error is harmless beyond a reasonable doubt and the conviction stands.
However, because the verdict rendered was "surely unattributable to the error, the error is harmless beyond a reasonable doubt." State v. Juarez, 572 N.W.2d 286, 292 (Minn. 1997) (internal quotations omitted). In fact, Bellanger's statement was not necessary to prove that Greenleaf had a bloody fist from beating someone that evening. An eyewitness testified that she saw Greenleaf reach in and strike Antonich through his car window. Bellanger's testimony only corroborated the testimony of the eyewitness. Furthermore, Greenleaf told police that he "could have" struck Antonich and that such a blow could have been the reason why a cut on his fist had been reopened. In addition, Greenleaf's blood was found in Antonich's car. Therefore, while the statement should not have been admitted, its admission was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.
VII.
Greenleaf also argues that the trial court erred by allowing witnesses to testify from transcripts of taped statements that were not admitted into evidence. At trial, several officers referred to the transcripts while testifying and appeared at times to be reading directly from them. This is error. However, because the verdict actually rendered was surely unattributable to the error, the error is harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. See Juarez, 572 N.W.2d at 292; see also State v. Swanson, 498 N.W.2d 435, 439 (Minn. 1993) (stating that such an error "is harmless * * * when no constitutional right was violated, another more damaging confession was properly admitted, and the officer could have orally provided the same evidence by using the tape as a refreshing memorandum").
VIII.
Greenleaf next argues that the trial court infringed upon his right to present a meaningful defense when it did not allow Greenleaf's expert witnesses to testify regarding his defenses of duress and intoxication, and also when the trial court excluded evidence that John Steven Martin had committed a sexual assault while awaiting trial for Antonich's murder. The Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States
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