Source: https://www.versustexas.com/criminal/testimony-by-skype/
Timestamp: 2019-04-19 22:16:30+00:00

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Can the prosecution call a witness by Skype video conference?
Outside of the special rules that apply to child victims, in order for the prosecution to call a witness by Skype in criminal cases, the prosecution must be able to show exceptional circumstances that warrant a departure from the preference for in-person testimony.
In Texas, there are only a few cases that involve a State witness testifying via two-way video conference. In each case there was an extraneous unalterable circumstance preventing the witness from being able to be present in the courtroom. In the overwhelming majority of the cases the witness was unavailable due to serious medical condition.
In Montague v. State, the court considered the doctor’s recommendations that a pregnant witness with medically diagnosed mental illness should not fly from New York to Texas to testify at the trial. The witness was permitted to testify via two-way video conference.
In Rivera v. State, a critical witness in a murder case was able to testify via two-way video conference because he was on active duty in Iraq. The court explained that the preference for having witnesses testify in the courtroom must give way to the witness’s military obligation.
In Paul v. State, a witness undergoing chemotherapy for Stage IV ovarian cancer was permitted to testify via the computer video conferencing system. The court held that the trial court did not violate the Appellant’s Sixth Amendment rights, because the witness had a serious health situation that was an exceptional circumstance preventing her from testifying in the courtroom.
In Stevens v. State, the physically unavailable witness had been hospitalized within the previous year multiple times for “decompensated congestive heart failure, gastrointestinal bleeding, atrial fibrillation, and vascular disease.” The seventy-five-year-old witness lived in Castle Rock, Colorado and was requested to testify in Cooke County, Texas. A doctor expressed concern that if the witness were to travel, his health would suffer. The doctor requested that the witness be excused from testifying in person, but he could testify via closed-circuit television. The court held that “the trial court did not abuse its discretion by allowing [the witness] to testify via two-way closed circuit television.
Ultimately, the State will have to show exceptional circumstances to call a witness by skype in criminal cases without the consent of the defense.
 Maryland v. Craig, 497 U.S. 836, 850 (1990).
 This case is unique because there is dispute as to whether the attorney consented to the two-way videoconference, waiving his right to object on 6th Amendment grounds.
 Rivera v. State, 381 S.W.3d 710 (Tex. App.—Beaumont 2012).
 Paul v. State, 419 S.W.3d 446, 459 (Tex. App.—Tyler 2012).
 Stevens v. State, 234 S.W.3d 748, 781 (Tex. App.—Fort Worth 2007).
 Acevedo v. State, 05-08-00839-CR, 2009 WL 3353625, at *6 (Tex. App.—Dallas Oct. 20, 2009).

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