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Supreme Court bars defense questioning of minor in rape case Friday, Apr 14, 2006 By Doug Thompson Arkansas News Bureau FAYETTEVILLE - Lawyers for a man accused of raping a 6-year-old cannot question the girl in court about her sexual assault by another man when she was 4, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday. The ruling reversed a decision by Benton County Circuit Judge Tom Keith, who ruled in a pre-trial hearing that lawyers for Denver Townsend, 63, could question the girl about the earlier attack under the argument that the child might have confused the two cases. Townsend argued that the child could be making allegations against him based on her recollection of the previous attack. Prosecutors appealed Keith's ruling before going to trial. In a unanimous decision Thursday, the Supreme Court concluded the testimony would be irrelevant in the case against Townsend, who is charged under a law prohibiting sexual intercourse or deviant sexual activities with another person under 14. The Rape Shield Law bars testimony of a rape victim's prior sexual conduct unless there is clear relevance to the case being tried. "It is difficult to understand what relevance other sexual encounters have" when the victim is younger than that, the court said, adding that the law's protection is especially needed in cases involving minor victims. "Here, there is substantial risk of further emotional stress and prejudice to the minor victim, whose life has already been unusually traumatic," the ruling said. If a court determines that evidence of prior sexual incidents involving a minor is admissible, the information should be elicited from a source other than the child, the court said, such as testimony by police officers or written agreement. |
