TOME V. UNITED STATES
513 U.S. 150 (1995)
NATURE OF THE CASE: This was a case about child sexual abuse.
FACTS: Tome (D) was charged with child sexual abuse of his four-year-old daughter. D and
the child's mother had been divorced and a tribal court awarded joint custody of the child
to both parents but D had primary physical custody. The mother petitioned the tribe for
primary custody but was awarded primary custody for the summer months. The mother then
contacted the authorities and reported child sexual abuse. The child took the stand and gave
yes and no answers to a series of leading questions. When questioned about the abuse, she
was reluctant to answer. The trial judge commented on the record there were delays in
answering by as much as 40-50 seconds and the child was losing concentration on the second
day. Six additional witnesses were called to the stand to testify about statements made by
the child to them regarding the alleged abuse. These statements were offered and accepted
under Rule 801(d)(1)(B) and D objected. The statements rebutted the implicit charge that the
testimony was motivated by a desire to live with the mother. D was convicted and sentenced
to 12 years. D appealed.
The Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit affirmed, adopting the P's argument that all of
out-of-court statements were admissible under Rule 801(d)(1)(B) even though they had been
made after the alleged motive to fabricate arose. The court reasoned that the pre-motive
requirement is a function of the relevancy rules, not the hearsay rules' and that as a
'function of relevance, the pre-motive rule is clearly too broad ... because it is simply
not true that an individual with a motive to lie always will do so. Rather, the relevance of
the prior consistent statement is more accurately determined by evaluating the strength of
the motive to lie, the circumstances in which the statement is made, and the declarant's
demonstrated propensity to lie.
ISSUE:
RULE OF LAW:
HOLDING AND DECISION:
LEGAL ANALYSIS:
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