State v. James White

Syllabus

The defendant, James White, appealed from a December 11, 2020 judgment of conviction and commitment on one count of first degree sexual assault entered following a jury trial. On appeal, the defendant contended that the trial justice committed prejudicial error by permitting the state to introduce into evidence a nurse's testimony relative to the alleged sexual assault as related to her by the complaining witness. The Supreme Court, relying on the medical diagnosis or treatment exception to the hearsay rule, held that, with the exception of one discrete portion of the testimony, the trial justice did not commit reversible error in her rulings relative to the nurse's testimony. As to the portion of the nurse's testimony which the trial justice erroneously allowed into evidence, the Court held that said error was harmless. Accordingly, the Court affirmed the judgment of the Superior Court.