State v. Hill

The opinion of the Court was delivered by

GARIBALDI, J.

The fresh-complaint rule allows witnesses in a criminal trial to testify to a victim’s complaint of sexual assault. The rule serves the limited purpose of negating the inference that the alleged victim’s failure to have confided in anyone was incon sistent with her later claims of having been sexually assaulted. This appeal presents two questions regarding the fresh-complaint rule. The first question is whether a complaint elicited through questioning has the requisite spontaneity and voluntariness to qualify under the fresh-complaint…