North Florida’s Highest Court Establishes Framework for Text Message Admission Under Child Hearsay Exception

December 19, 2025 Don Pumphrey, Jr. Criminal Defense Social Share

Florida’s 1st District Court of Appeal established a two-pronged test to determine whether text messages sent by an alleged child victim of physical or sexual abuse can be admitted as evidence under the child hearsay exception.

In Florida, hearsay is a statement made outside of court that is offered into evidence for the purpose of proving that statement is true. Hearsay is generally barred from admission in Florida court – but there are exceptions to this rule.

Under Florida law, various hearsay exceptions exist. Hearsay exceptions are statutory provisions that permit hearsay to be admitted into evidence, despite the prohibition on hearsay that does not fall under an exception. Some examples may include:

• Present Sense Impression: Statement describing or explaining an event made while perceiving it or immediately after.
• Excited Utterance: Statement relating to a startling event made while under stress or excitement from the event.
• Then-Existing Mental, Emotional, or Physical Condition: Statement of current state of mind, emotion, sensation, or physical condition (e.g., intent, pain).
• Statements for Purposes of Medical Diagnosis or Treatment: Statement made for diagnosis/treatment describing medical history, symptoms, or cause.
• Recorded Recollection: A record made or adopted by the witness when memory was fresh, now insufficiently remembered.
• Records of Regularly Conducted Business Activity: Business records made near the time by someone with knowledge, as part of a routine practice.
• Absence of Business Record: Evidence that a matter is not included in business records to prove the event did not occur.

The above exceptions exist under Fla. Stat. 90.803, which applies to declarants (speakers/writers of the hearsay) regardless of whether they are able to testify at trial (available or unavailable). 

Under Fla. 90.804, hearsay exceptions for unavailable declarants (e.g. when the declarant will not be testifying) include:

• Former testimony
• Statement against interest
• Statement under belief of impending death
• Statement offered against a party that wrongfully caused the declarant’s unavailability

One of the most frequently discussed hearsay exceptions in Florida is Fla. Stat. 90.803(23), usually referred to as the child hearsay exception. This exception permits the admission of a child hearsay statement (regardless of the child’s availability) if:

• The child had a physical, emotional, or developmental age of 17 or less at the time the statement was made
• The statement describes any act of child abuse or neglect, sexual abuse against a child, the offense of child abuse or aggravated child abuse, or any unlawful sexual act, contact, intrusion or penetration performed on or in the presence of the child
• The statement and source through which it is reported are sufficiently trustworthy
• The time, content and circumstances of the statement provide sufficient safeguards as to its reliability 

Note: If the child hearsay is testimonial (such as an affidavit written at a police station or a CPT interview), the child must be made available for cross-examination by the defendant that satisfies the Confrontation Clause before the statement is admitted under Fla. Stat. 90.803(23). For more on this, click here.

The purpose of the child hearsay exception is to allow a hearsay statement originating from a child victim of physical or sexual abuse to be used in cour, even if the hearsay statement does not comply with another exception. State v. Townsend, 635 So.2d 949 (Fla. 1994)

Critically, for any hearsay statement to be admitted under the child hearsay exception, the judge must first make a finding that it is sufficiently reliable and trustworthy. Per Cabrera v. State, 206 So.3d 768 (Fla. 1st DCA 2016), factors used to evaluate if a statement is sufficiently reliable and trustworthy include (among others):

• The mental and physical age and maturity of the child who made the statement
• Nature and duration of the abuse or offense
• Vagueness or specificity of the accusation
• Contradictions (if any) in the accusation
• Whether the child uses terminology expected of someone of their age
• Relationship of the child to the offender

In the modern era, child hearsay statements are not limited to spoken words or an allegation written on a police affidavit. Sometimes, a child will send text messages describing abuse that they endured at the hands of a particular person – often shortly after this allegedly occurred. This can technically qualify as “child hearsay.”

But given that text messages are sometimes fabricated, how do Florida’s courts determine if a child’s alleged messages (or other electronic communications, such as emails) can be introduced into evidence under 90.803(23) – since they must be “sufficiently reliable and trustworthy?”

This key issue, which has often been discussed in recent years, was addressed by Tallahassee and North Florida’s highest court in 2024. Let’s break down Aboagye v. State, 387 So.3d 397 (Fla. 1st DCA 2024) and what it means for admission of child hearsay at Florida criminal trials.

KEY CASE: Aboagye v. State, 387 So.3d 397 (Fla. 1st DCA 2024) 

In Aboagye, the defendant (Aboagye) was charged with sexual battery and lewd or lascivious molestation of a child under 12. Before trial, the State filed a motion to introduce various items into evidence pursuant to the child hearsay exception. These included a CPT interview tape and text messages from C.H., who was allegedly a victim of a separate sexual battery by Aboagye.

Aboagye filed a motion to exclude the CPT interview and the alleged texts sent by C.H., arguing that because C.H. was not the victim of the charged crimes, neither C.H.’s texts after the incident describing what had occurred nor the CPT tape were admissible. However, the trial judge denied Aboagye’s motion – and he was convicted of both offenses.

Aboagye appealed his conviction, arguing the trial judge had erred by admitting the texts and CPT tape pursuant to 90.803(23). He contended that because C.H. was not the victim of the charged offense, this was not permitted. But the 1st DCA disagreed, writing:

“We agree with the State that the admission of C.H.’s hearsay statements under section 90.803(23) was not erroneous. Section 90.803(23) contains a hearsay exception for the reliable out-of-court statements of “a child victim” describing “any act of sexual abuse against a child” “or any offense involving an unlawful sexual act, contact, intrusion, or penetration performed in the presence of, with, by, or on the declarant child” and makes such evidence admissible “in any civil or criminal proceeding.” While the statute requires the declarant to be “a child victim,” it does not require the declarant to be the victim of the charged crime being prosecuted.”

Put simply, the 1st DCA found that just because C.H. was not the victim of the incident in question, did not mean that her statements were inadmissible at Aboagye’s trial for the alleged sexual battery on another minor he abused.

But how does this relate to text messages and child hearsay? The reason is because Aboagye did not challenge the authenticity of C.H.’s texts, only their admissibility on relevance grounds. As a result, the 1st DCA did not even consider the veracity of the text messages (if C.H. actually sent them), as this was undisputed. 

If Aboagye had challenged the legitimacy of the text communications, however, the 1st DCA would have had to conduct an analysis to determine whether the messages were “sufficiently authenticated.” In the event that this was challenged, the 1st DCA would likely have considered factors such as (Walker v. Harley-Anderson, 301 So.3d 299 (Fla. 4th DCA 2020):

• Whether the messages originated from the same phone number
• Whether the recipient of the messages could identify the texts as authentic
• Whether investigators captured photographs of the messages on C.H.’s phone
• Whether the content of the texts accorded with C.H.’s CPT interview claims

Put simply, there are two layers of authentication that must be satisfied before texts are admitted as child hearsay in Florida:

• 1. Whether the text messages themselves can be sufficiently authenticated (when this is challenged by the defendant)
• 2. Whether the content of the texts is seen as sufficiently reliable and trustworthy, when applying the factors outlined in Cabrera v. State, 206 So.3d 768 (Fla. 1st DCA 2016)

If the text messages satisfy both of these conditions and otherwise comply with 90.803(23), they are admissible as child hearsay in Florida court.

In sum, Aboagye v. State, 387 So.3d 397 (Fla. 1st DCA 2024) is a significant development in Florida’s corpus of case law on child hearsay. Florida’s 1st District Court of Appeal (Tallahassee and North Florida’s highest court) held:

• Another victim’s child hearsay statements could be admitted at trial against Aboagye even though he was not being tried for abusing that victim
• Texts by the alleged victim could be admitted pursuant to the child hearsay exception, given they complied with the exception and their authenticity was not challenged

By ruling that C.H.’s text messages could be admitted under the child hearsay exception, the 1st DCA made clear that so long as text chains can be authenticated (or this is undisputed), they are treated like any other form of hearsay in Florida courts.

If someone is arrested and formally charged in Florida in a case involving child hearsay, it is critical to find experienced and trusted legal representation as soon as possible. This decision could make the difference in whether or not someone faces a lengthy prison term and hefty fines.

Criminal Defense Attorney in Tallahassee, FL

Don Pumphrey, Jr. is a Former Prosecutor, Former State Police Officer, Lifetime Member of the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers; for over 25 years as a private defense attorney who is Trusted, Experienced, Aggressive in Criminal Defense as a Trial Attorney, Criminal Lawyer, Criminal Defense Lawyer for the accused in Florida State Courts located in Tallahassee, Florida but handling cases throughout the State of Florida.

Don Pumphrey, Jr. and the Tallahassee criminal defense lawyers at Pumphrey Law have decades of experience fighting drug charges on behalf of clients and winning. Call Pumphrey Law now at (850) 681-7777 to learn more about what we can do for you. Our lawyers will be happy to provide you with a free consultation.

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