Opinion ID: 3066024
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Child’s Account

Text: A temptation exists to refer to the child’s story as “testimony.” The government in its brief (e.g. p. 69) and the majority in its opinion (e.g. Maj. Op. at 27) yield to this temptation. But the child’s story is not testimony. The story was not told under oath. The story was not subject to crossexamination. It was only an unsworn and untested tale. The district court found a dozen or more facts of the child’s tale were “obviously not factual”: -that Preston came to the child’s house and had threatened to kill him the previous day; -that the child called 911; -that Preston tried to stab the child with a knife; -that the child locked Preston in the child’s bedroom with a key; -that Preston climbed out of the window and onto the roof and jumped off; -that the child was hiding under a blanket so Preston could not see him; 36 UNITED STATES V . PRESTON -that Preston followed the child’s tracks and fell into a water hole; -that Preston then drove a monster truck off a cliff and the police followed him with helicopters and cars; -that the child threw knives at Preston’s heart; -that Preston tried to rape the child’s sister, but that he did not because kittens scratched him; -that the child ran outside and killed a robber and almost killed Preston. In the farrago of fantasy, no fact identifies itself as worthy of belief. After examining the child, the forensic examiner concluded: [He] described events that are unsupported by the subsequent forensic examination of the victim and his clothing. For example, the victim indicated that during the course of the assault Preston ejaculated in his mouth, on his lips, on his red shirt, and on his stomach. The forensic examination of the victim and the clothing he was wearing nevertheless revealed neither evidence of any semen nor the existence of any red shirt. For that matter the physical examination of the victim showed no signs of trauma or semen. UNITED STATES V . PRESTON 37 It is undisputed that there exists no physical evidence of sexual contact. The forensic examiner, a key government witness, found no semen and no trauma.