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Bruce Philip Larson v. Gerald Nutt, Sheriff, Martin County
Citations: 34 F.3d 647; 1994 U.S. App. LEXIS 23788; 1994 WL 469813Docket: 94-1052
Court: Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit; September 1, 1994; Federal Appellate Court
Bruce Philip Larson was charged in Minnesota with criminal sexual contact involving his three-year-old daughter. At his trial, the daughter, by then five, was deemed competent to testify but was not called as a witness. The trial court admitted her out-of-court statements made to various professionals, despite Larson's hearsay and Confrontation Clause objections. Larson was convicted, and the Minnesota Supreme Court upheld the conviction. Larson subsequently filed a petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2254, asserting that his Sixth Amendment right to confrontation was violated. He argued that the Confrontation Clause prohibits the admission of his daughter's statements since she was available to testify but did not. Larson contended that out-of-court statements could only be admitted if they fall under a firmly rooted hearsay exception, which he claimed his daughter's statements did not. The court disagreed, stating that the availability of a witness is irrelevant to the Confrontation Clause unless the statements were made in an earlier judicial proceeding. The critical factor is whether the statements have sufficient reliability, which can be established either through a firmly rooted hearsay exception or particularized guarantees of trustworthiness. The Minnesota Supreme Court had found that, aside from one statement, the remaining statements were reliable, and any error in admitting the videotaped statement was deemed harmless. Larson's habeas petition failed to challenge the trustworthiness of the statements adequately. His primary argument was that only statements fitting firmly rooted hearsay exceptions should be admitted without unavailability, a position at odds with established case law. Furthermore, Larson had previously waived his objection to the videotape before trial. Ultimately, the court affirmed the lower court's decision, concluding that Larson did not demonstrate any violation of his Sixth Amendment rights regarding the admission of his daughter's out-of-court statements.