State v. Lynch

Whether or not the testimony concerning the fact of the complaint by the child could be received before she testified need not be decided. The mere fact that she made a seasonable complaint is admissible, though hearsay, for either of two purposes: (1) to contradict the inference of the incredibility of the complainant’s testimony that might be drawn from her failure to complain seasonably of the assault, or (2) as bearing on the complainant’s state of mind with reference to consent to the assault. In the case of a child below the age of consent, the latter is immaterial. But even a prompt…