State v. Lynch

I respectfully disagree with the majority’s analysis of whether John’s hearsay statement about his consensual sexual contact with Mary, the complaining witness, was inadmissible as a statement against John’s interest within the meaning of Rule 804(b)(3) of the Rhode Island Rules of Evidence. In my opinion, John’s alleged oral admission to Sergeant Kerri Holsten of having had consensual sex with a mentally incapacitated sixteen-year old was definitely against his interest because such a statement “so far tended to subject the declarant to civil or criminal liability, * * * that a reasonable…