Rhode Island Supreme Court Holds Temporal Requirement of ‘Recent Fabrication’ Exception to Hearsay Rule Not Satisfied and Scribbled Note Made by Child Victim of Sexual Abuse Years After Alleged Events Not ‘Excited Utterance’

by Matthew Thomas Clarke

The Supreme Court of Rhode Island held that an alleged victim’s handwritten letter to her mother and a scribbled note made at the police department were inadmissible hearsay and that their admission was not harmless. It reversed five child molestation related convictions and remanded for a …