People v. ROBERTO V.

A jury convicted appellant Roberto V. of eight counts of committing lewd acts upon his two young daughters, three-year-old Maria and seven-year-old Stephanie. Maria, who was four years old at the time of trial, did not testify. Over appellant’s objection, the trial court admitted the girls’ mother’s testimony about Maria’s out-of-court statements pursuant to Evidence Code section 1360. That section creates a hearsay exception for statements made by certain child victims of abuse or neglect, provided that various requirements are met. Among other things, if the child does not testify at the proceeding, the statement is admissible only if he or she is unavailable as a witness. Additionally, the proponent of the evidence must inform the adverse party of his or her intention to admit the child’s statement sufficiently in advance of the proceeding to provide a fair opportunity to prepare to defend against it.

We conclude that, because neither the notice nor the unavailability requirement was met, the challenged hearsay statements were not properly admitted pursuant to Evidence Code section 1360. Moreover, because there was an insufficient showing that the statements were…