Susan is a nine year old girl. During the course of the last week or so, her mother observed her having repeated nightmares and difficulty sleeping. She also began wetting the bed, a behavior she has not engaged in for over 5 years. She will not tell her mother what is bothering her. Susan's parents are divorced and her 32 year old father has overnight weekend visitation with Susan every weekend. Just before Susan left for visitation this past weekend, she became terribly distraught and started to cry for no apparent reason. When Susan returned home from the visitation with her father, she complained of abdominal cramps and would not stop crying. Susan's mother took her to the emergency room where Susan blurted out the following statement to the attending nurse prior to the physician entering the room:

            "I can't tell you what's wrong, you'll hurt my daddy. My Daddy told me I cannot tell anyone what happened when I was with him or I'll get in trouble. My private hurts because my daddy was rubbing it. He clinches' his teeth and makes weird noises when he does it. I don't like it at all, it hurts."

The child was examined by the attending physician but would not repeat the statements. Upon physical examination, the child's vagina was red and swollen but was otherwise medically unremarkable. The physician suspects sexual abuse. Susan is now in counseling and has subsequently made similar statements to her mother, her therapist, and her school teacher.

1. 1 .Are any of the statements made by Susan admissible as evidence in court pursuant to the Florida Rules of Evidence? If so which statements would be admissible and what would be the legal justification (evidentiary rule) to admit the statement?

2. Could Susan's therapist or the treating physician be called to testify in this case and what might be the permissible scope of their testimony?

3. Could Susan's mother be called to testify against her former husband? If the

former husband told his lawyer what had really happened, could the lawyer be forced to tell  the court what his client had said? Do those statements constitute hearsay within the legal definition provided in the Florida Rules of Evidence?

4. Could Susan be forced to undergo a court-order evaluation pursuant to the Florida Rules of Juvenile Procedure?

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

1 The statements made by Susan could potentially be admissible as evidence in court In Florida certain statements made by a child regarding allegations of sexual abuse may be admissible under a hearsa... View the full answer