Austin v. Arkansas Department of Human Services

I agree that this case should be affirmed, but I simply cannot subscribe to the majority’s rationale. Unlike the majority, I am not “puzzled” by the trial judge’s reasons for excluding Nurse Samantha Costner’s testimony under Arkansas Rule of Evidence 804(b)(6). The trial judge clearly stated her reasons for her evidentiary rulings, and I disagree with those reasons because they are not well-grounded in the law. Nurse Costner testified that the child made her statement in response to her question regarding whether she felt safe with her mother. Certainly such a question does not suggest an…