State v. Chapin

Richard Chapín was convicted of the second degree rape of a patient in the nursing home where Chapin worked as a nurse's aide. A key part of the evidence upon which the trial court relied in convicting Chapin was the alleged victim's statement, "Raped me", which he uttered to his wife and seemingly in reference to Chapin. Because the alleged victim was incompetent to testify, the trial court admitted the statement under ER 803(a)(2), the excited utterance exception to the hearsay rule. The Court of Appeals reversed, holding that the excited utterance exception was inapplicable, and that…