The Pennsylvania Superior Court has decided the case of Commonwealth v. Copenahver, holding that the trial court improperly admitted video statements given by the complainants in this case because the video statements contained hearsay-within-hearsay. The court nonetheless affirmed the defendant’s conviction because the evidence was overwhelming, and the court believed he would have been convicted even in the absence of the inadmissible portions of the statements.

The Facts of Copenhaver

In Copenhaver, the defendant was charged with sexually assaulting his daughters, K.G. and C.C. The Commonwealth charged him with rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, production of child pornography, and related charges. Copenhaver went to trial, and the prosecution introduced both the in-court testimony of the complainants as well as videotaped statements they had given at the York County Child Advocacy Center (CAC). The court admitted the CAC statements under the “tender years” exception to the hearsay rule. The Commonwealth also introduced evidence that the defendant had threatened to commit suicide as well as admitted to taking and deleting nude photos of the complainants. The jury convicted the defendant, and he received a lengthy state prison sentence. He appealed.

The Superior Court Appeal

The defendant had court-appointed counsel, and in his initial appeal, his court-appointed attorney submitted an “Anders brief.” An Anders brief is a letter to the Superior Court informing the court that the attorney believes the defendant has no legitimate issues for appeal and the appeal should be dismissed. In order to comply with the rules, the attorney must identify any potential issues and explain why they would not result in a successful appeal. It is inconceivable that there could have been no legitimate issues for appeal following a jury trial involving two child sex assault complainants, and the Superior Court in fact reviewed the transcripts and found that the court-appointed attorney should have raised at least one claim relating to whether the videotaped statements were properly admitted at trial. Accordingly, the Superior Court rejected the Anders brief and directed the appellate attorney to file a real brief on the admissibility of the videotaped statements.

The lawyer filed a new brief challenging the sufficiency of the evidence and the admissibility of K.G.’s videotaped statement under the tender years exception to the hearsay rule. The sufficiency challenge failed - the complainants both testified that the defendant raped them, and the jury was free to believe that evidence and find him guilty.

The video tape issue, however, required more extensive analysis as it had some merit. In most sexual assault prosecutions involving minor complainants, the prosecution team will have the complainant interviewed at some sort of quasi-independent children’s advocacy center. In Philadelphia, this organization is called Philadelphia Children’s Alliance. In many counties, it is called the Children’s Advocacy Center. In Montgomery County, it is called Mission Kids. Instead of having a detective interview the complainant, a social worker with some training in conducting “forensic interviews” will conduct a videotaped interview to try to determine what happened and evaluate the allegations. The questions are supposed to be neutral and non-leading in the hopes of avoiding planting ideas in the complainant’s head, but in practice, the questions are often leading, and the interviewers work very closely with the assigned detective. That detective will typically be standing outside the interview watching through a one-way mirror.

What is the tender years exception to the hearsay rule?

Pennsylvania and most other jurisdictions have a “tender years” exception to the hearsay rule. Section 5985.1 of the Judicial Code, referred to as the “tender years” exception to the hearsay rule, provides as follows:

§ 5985.1. Admissibility of certain statements

1. General rule.

(1) An out-of-court statement made by a child victim or witness, who at the time the statement was made was 12 years of age or younger, describing any of the offenses enumerated in paragraph (2) [including, inter alia, 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 6312(b)], not otherwise admissible by statute or rule of evidence, is admissible in evidence in any criminal or civil proceeding if:

(i) the court finds, in an in camera hearing, that the evidence is relevant and that the time, content and circumstances of the statement provide sufficient indicia of reliability; and

(ii) the child either:

(A) testifies at the proceeding; or

(B) is unavailable as a witness.

42 Pa.C.S.A. § 5985.1(a).

In 2021, the legislature raised the age from 12 to 16. The old rule with the younger age was still in effect at the time of this case.

Thus, the rule allows for hearsay statements to be admissible into evidence in cases involving rape charges and other similar offenses so long as the complainant either testifies or is unavailable as a witness. In a civil case, unavailability may include a finding that the child will have trouble testifying due to feeling emotional distress. In a criminal case, however, the complainant generally must testify because these statements have been deemed to be testimonial for confrontation clause purposes. There are three main ways for the defense to challenge the admissibility of the statements: First, the defense could argue that the statement is not relevance or reliable. Second, the defense can generally exclude the statement if the complainant does not testify. Third, the defense could argue that there is some other evidence in the statement which is not admissible such as hearsay-within-hearsay or a prior bad act under Rule 404(b).

In this case, one of the complainants gave a statement in which she said that the other complainant disclosed some of the abuse to her. Thus, the initial complainant’s statement was admissible under the tender years exception, but the statement inside that statement from the other complainant was hearsay. That portion of the statement should not have been admitted, but the trial court admitted all of it. The statement was not admissible because the trial court made no finding that the statement was actually reliable. Otherwise, it may have been admissible under the tender years exception, as well. Thus, the trial court erred in simply admitting the entirety of the statements without conducting a reliability assessment.

Nonetheless, the Superior Court affirmed. It found that the evidence was overwhelming and the defendant would have been convicted anyway. The statements were basically cumulative of what the complainants said in court and in their own videotaped statements. Accordingly, although the Superior Court made the court-appointed lawyer do a lot of extra result by rejecting the Anders brief and requiring briefing of the issue, the Superior Court ultimately ruled against the defendant, anyway. The case, however, highlights some of the ways that the defense may challenge the admission of these videotaped PCA or CAC statements.

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