Wednesday, May 11, 2005

More on Jetseta

They expect the ruling on whether the videotape of her St. Luke's interview can be used at trial next week. This is for the James Bentley trial for sexually abusing Jetseta Gage, not Roger Bentley's trial for killing her.

I blogged/ranted on the whole 6th amendment confrontation clause vs. unavailable victims back in February, when it became apparent that the Crawford fallout would have a major impact on domestic assault cases in which the victim refused to testify, whether it was out of fear or a reconciliation attempt. This case makes the practical problems even more apparent. If you can get the prior statement completely knocked out by eliminating the victim, doesn't that put a whole lot of kids in pretty grave danger?

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