Posted by Nydia Streets of Streets Law in Florida Domestic Violence

Can a police report be used in a Florida domestic violence case? Police reports may be considered hearsay, and therefore may not be admissible into evidence at a hearing. These reports are commonly at issue in a domestic violence case, however, and sometimes they can be helpful in understanding what is alleged to have happened. This was an issue in the case Devalon v. Sutton, 4D21-3257 (Fla. 4th DCA July 27, 2022).

The alleged victim (the mother) filed a domestic violence injunction against her alleged abuser, the father of her child. Before a hearing on the petition, the father filed a copy of the police report from the alleged incident. At the hearing, the court overlooked the police report and relied on the mother’s testimony that the father pointed a gun at her in front of their child and stated he would kill her. The police report, however, contradicted this where the mother made no mention of the gun to the police, and the report indicated a neighbor called the police rather than the mother, even though the mother testified she ran from the house and called the police. The father appealed the court’s order granting the petition.

The appellate court reversed, holding the trial court failed to take into consideration important evidence. The court held “Here, the trial court failed to consider the police report, because the court erroneously believed that the police report had not been filed in the record. Importantly, [the mother] never raised any evidentiary objection to the court considering the police report, so the court could have admitted it into evidence by virtue of Sutton’s failure to object. [. . .] And [the mother’s] statement contained within the police report would have been admissible either as a party admission or for impeachment purposes. See § 90.803(18)(a), Fla. Stat. (2021) (providing a hearsay exception where a statement is offered against a party and is “[t]he party’s own statement”); [. . .] Here, [the mother’s] statement to police—which contained no mention of appellant pulling a gun on her—was inconsistent with her testimony at the final hearing. [the mother’s] omission of this detail in her prior statement was undeniably material. Moreover, the police report indicated that the 911 caller was a neighbor, which raises doubts about [the mother’s] testimony that she ran ‘out the house to call the police.’ The trial court’s failure to consider the police report was not harmless error. Because [the mother’s] prior statement could have affected the trial court’s determination of her credibility, we cannot say that there is ‘no reasonable possibility that the error contributed’ to the judgment. [internal citation omitted]. Accordingly, we reverse the injunction and remand for further proceedings.”

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