The Michigan Supreme Court will decide whether it is appropriate to allow children to testify in criminal cases behind screens that shield them from seeing defendants.
The court agreed today to take the case.
The U.S. Constitution's Sixth Amendment gives criminal defendants the right to confront their accusers in court.
In the case going before the Michigan Supreme Court, an eight-year-old girl testified that her brother-in-law had repeatedly raped her over a period of years, and exposed her and her brother to pornography.
The jury did not believe the man’s defense that the girl made up the charges to break up his marriage.
The defendant says he was deprived of his right to confront the primary witness against him because she testified from behind a one-way screen.
The screen shielded her view of the defendant, although he could see her.
A therapist said that was the only way she could testify without risking serious emotional damage.
The defendant says the shield prejudiced the jury against him, and that the Constitution requires witnesses to look defendants in the eye when testifying against them.
