Commonwealth v. Pettiford

HOFFMAN, Judge:

This is an appeal from judgments of sentence imposed after appellant’s conviction on rape and other charges. Appellant now contends that the court erred in admitting the hearsay testimony of three witnesses, one of whom was allowed to recount the entire criminal episode of the rape in great detail, as told to her by the victim shortly after the rape occurred. The trial judge allowed this testimony as proof of “prompt complaint” by the rape victim. This was erroneous because hearsay allowed to prove a prompt complaint is limited to the fact that a complaint was made, and only so…