## Facts

- Victor Santiago was charged with violating an order of protection issued for the benefit of Angela R., his longtime intimate partner with whom he had lived for many years.
- The prosecution described a long history of physical violence by Santiago against Angela, including multiple prior violations of earlier orders of protection.
- Angela initially cooperated with law enforcement and provided statements about Santiago’s violence, including sworn testimony before the grand jury.
- After Santiago’s arrest and while he was incarcerated pending trial, he repeatedly contacted Angela and attempted to reconcile with her.
- Santiago urged Angela to do whatever was necessary to keep him out of prison.
- Angela later told prosecutors she no longer wished to pursue the case and said that, if the prosecution did not drop the charges, she would claim her earlier allegations were false and that police and prosecutors had fabricated her prior statements.
- Before trial, the People moved to introduce Angela’s grand jury testimony and other out-of-court statements at trial, arguing Santiago’s pattern of abuse and post-arrest pressure had made Angela an unavailable witness.
- Santiago opposed the motion, arguing Angela was physically available to testify and that any inconsistencies or recantation should be addressed through live testimony and cross-examination.

## Issues

1. Whether a domestic-violence complainant who is physically present but intends to recant and claim fabrication may be treated as an unavailable witness for purposes of admitting prior sworn testimony and related out-of-court statements.
2. Whether the defendant’s pattern of domestic abuse and post-arrest coercive conduct can justify admitting the complainant’s grand jury testimony at trial, on the theory that the defendant’s misconduct caused the witness’s unavailability.

## Decision

- The court granted the People’s motion to admit Angela’s grand jury testimony and certain other out-of-court statements at trial.
- The court concluded that, on the record presented, Angela was not meaningfully available as a truthful witness because Santiago’s longstanding physical and emotional abuse, together with his post-arrest pressure, had compromised her ability to testify freely.
- The court rejected the view that physical presence alone resolved the unavailability question where the defendant’s conduct had effectively silenced the witness or driven her to false recantation.
- The court ruled that Santiago could not benefit from the conditions his own misconduct helped create, and that admitting the prior sworn testimony was an appropriate response in this domestic-violence context.

## Legal Principles

- A witness’s “unavailability” may be found where the witness is physically present but the defendant’s intimidation, coercion, or domination has made the witness unable or unwilling to testify truthfully in a meaningful way.
- When a defendant’s wrongdoing causes a witness’s absence or effective noncooperation, the defendant may lose the ability to object to the use of the witness’s prior statements on hearsay or confrontation grounds.
- In domestic-violence prosecutions, courts may consider the dynamics of an abusive relationship—including repeated violence, emotional control, and pressure after arrest—when deciding whether the defendant’s conduct is responsible for the witness’s failure to provide truthful in-court testimony.
- Grand jury testimony, as sworn prior testimony, may be admitted when the court finds the witness’s inability to testify truthfully at trial is attributable to the defendant’s misconduct.

## Conclusion

In *People v. Santiago*, the court granted the prosecution’s request to use the complainant’s grand jury testimony and certain prior statements because Santiago’s longstanding pattern of domestic abuse and continued pressure after arrest rendered Angela effectively unavailable as a truthful trial witness, and Santiago was not permitted to gain an evidentiary advantage from the situation his own conduct helped bring about.


People v. Santiago, 2003 WL 21507176 (2003)