USA V. TALOA LATU, No. 19-10069 (9th Cir. 2022)
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Defendant, an at the Federal Detention Center (FDC) in Honolulu, repeatedly punched and kicked another inmate. The inmate suffered multiple serious injuries, including a broken jaw. Defendant was convicted following a jury trial of assault resulting in serious bodily injury, a violation of 18 U.S.C. Section 113(a)(6).
The inmate did not testify, but the district court admitted his statements—that he was assaulted and that his pain level was an eight out of ten—through the testimony of a nurse and a surgeon who treated him. The Ninth Circuit affirmed a conviction for assault. The panel held that the district court properly admitted the statements made by the inmate to his medical providers, as the statements fell within the hearsay exception for statements made for purposes of medical diagnosis or treatment under Fed. R. Evid. 803(4). The panel also held that admission of these statements did not violate the Confrontation Clause because their primary purpose was to evaluate and treat the inmates injuries rather than to establish past facts for trial.
Court Description: Criminal Law. The panel affirmed a conviction for assault resulting in serious bodily injury, a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 113(a)(6), in a case in which Taloa Latu, an inmate at a federal detention center, repeatedly punched and kicked inmate Joseph Yamaguchi, who suffered multiple serious injuries. Yamaguchi did not testify, but the district court admitted his statements—that he was assaulted and that his pain level was an eight out of ten—through the testimony of a nurse and a surgeon who treated him. Latu argued that admitting this testimony violated the rule against hearsay and the Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment. The panel held that the district court properly admitted the statements made by Yamaguchi to his medical providers, as the statements fell within the hearsay exception for statements made for purposes of medical diagnosis or treatment under Fed. R. Evid. 803(4). The panel also held that admission of these statements did not violate the Confrontation Clause because their primary purpose was to evaluate and treat Yamaguchi's injuries rather than to establish past facts for trial. The panel addressed other issues in a concurrently filed memorandum disposition.
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