United States v. Owens

484 U.S. 554 (1988)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Foster, a correctional counselor at a federal prison, was attacked and beaten by one of the inmates, and received severe head injuries. When he was first interviewed by the FBI agent investigating the incident, Foster was unable to identify his attacker. At a later interview, Foster was able to describe the attack, name his attacker (D), and identify him in a photo array. At trial, Foster described the attack, testified that he remembered identifying D as his attacker during an interview with the FBI agent, and admitted that he could not remember seeing his attacker. He also admitted that the only hospital visitor he recalled having was the FBI agent, and he could not remember whether any of his other visitors might have suggested to him that D was the assailant. D's counsel unsuccessfully tried to refresh Foster's recollection with hospital records indicating that he had identified someone else as his attacker. Owens (D) was convicted and appealed on grounds of a violation of the Confrontation Clause and Hearsay. The Ninth Circuit considered challenges based on the Confrontation Clause and Rule 802 of the Federal Rules of Evidence. It upheld both challenges (though finding the Rule 802 violation harmless error) and reversed the judgment of the District Court. The Supreme Court granted certiorari to resolve the conflict with other Circuits on the significance of a hearsay declarant's memory loss both with respect to the Confrontation Clause.