Opinion ID: 1476693
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Timing of the Testimony

Text: Williams argues that the trial court erred when it instituted the Hicks-Bey proceedings during the trial and after H.T. had already begun her testimony. Williams argues that the prosecutor was aware that her witness would shut down when asked about the charged conduct because she had done so during the grand jury proceedings. According to Williams, the prosecutor proceeded with voir dire of H.T. knowing that she would be incapable of going forward and thereby invoking to the jury the specter of H.T.'s fear of Williams before impeaching her with the CAC videotape. The question of whether a trial court may begin Hicks-Bey proceedings after first attempting to get testimony in the courtroom is one that has received scant attention in this court. While it is true, as Williams notes, that Hicks-Bey involved use of closed-circuit television testimony prior to trial, nothing in that decision, nor in Craig, upon which Hicks-Bey relied, turned on the timing of the proceeding. To be sure, a Hicks-Bey proceeding is extraordinary, as the criteria for its use reveal. But the unsuccessful attempt to get courtroom testimony is added assurance that the welfare of the child permitted, if not compelled, the remote testimony. Moreover, by beginning the testimony in the courtroom in Williams' presence, the trial court at least attempted to afford usual trial confrontation before deciding to see whether the Hicks-Bey criteria were met. Finally, the conduct of a trial is left to the sound discretion of the trial judge, Hicks-Bey, supra, and that exercise of that discretion was not in error.