Coates v. State

HOLLANDER, Judge.

This appeal requires us to consider Maryland Rule 5-803(b)(4), the hearsay exception for statements made “for purposes of medical diagnosis or treatment.” We must determine, inter alia, whether the circuit court erred or abused its discretion in admitting statements made in November 2003 by Jazmyne T., a child sexual abuse victim, to a nurse practitioner. The child’s out-of-court statements, made when she was almost eight years old, were a key part of the State’s evidence against Frederick Roscoe Coates, appellant, the former boyfriend of the victim’s mother. At a trial held…