Drafter
Clerk 01/27/2011
Title
A MOTION urging the Washington state Legislature and requesting the state Supreme Court to take actions to reduce the risk of trauma to victim-witnesses in court proceedings involving sex offenses.
Body
WHEREAS, sexual abuse is one of the most difficult crimes to detect and prosecute, in large part because there often are no witnesses except the victim, and
WHEREAS, under the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution, a defendant generally has the right, to demand the physical presence, at trial, of accusatory witnesses, and
WHEREAS, courts have held that this right is not absolute and where the reliability of the testimony is otherwise ensured, the defendant's right may be outweighed if necessary to further an important public policy, and
WHEREAS, courts have held that a state's interest in the physical and psychological well-being of victims and witnesses may be sufficiently important to outweigh, at least in some cases, a defendant's right to face his or her accusers in court, and
WHEREAS, a defendant also has a right to represent himself or herself in criminal proceedings and the right to appear pro se exists to affirm the dignity and autonomy of the accused and to allow the presentation of what might be the accused's best possible defense, and
WHEREAS, courts have held that the right to self-representation is not infringed when the defendant has a fair chance to present the case in his or her own way and to make his or her voice heard, and
WHEREAS, the right to self-representation is also not an absolute right, and WHEREAS, Courts are entitled to control the mode of witness interrogation so as to more effectively ascertain the truth and to protect the witness from harassment or undue embarrassment to the extent the defendant's rights are not violated, and
WHEREAS, the state has a compelling interest in the physical and psychological well-being of victims of sex offenses, and
WHEREAS, the 62nd state Legislat...
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