Smith's Criminal Case Compendium
Table of Contents
State v. Lanford, 225 N.C. App. 189 (Jan. 15, 2013)
The trial court did not err by allowing a child victim to testify out of the defendant’s presence by way of a closed circuit television. Following State v. Jackson, 216 N.C. App. 238 (Oct. 4, 2011) (in a child sexual assault case, the defendant’s confrontation rights were not violated when the trial court permitted the child victim to testify by way of a one-way closed circuit television system; Maryland v. Craig survived Crawford and the procedure satisfied Craig’s procedural requirements), the court held that no violation of the defendant’s confrontation rights occurred. The court also held that the trial court’s findings of fact about the trauma that the child would suffer and the impairment to his ability to communicate if required to face the defendant in open court were supported by the evidence.