Court Opinion

ID: 9452950
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 17:57:52.235765+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:33:26.105128
License: Public Domain

HASTINGS, Chief Judge
(dissenting).
I would affirm Judge Grant on the search and seizure question involved in this case for the reasons stated in his unpublished memorandum opinion.
I would further affirm on the following grounds. Sometime after Weaver was arrested, he was taken involuntarily and in hand-cuffs before the child he was accused of molesting. Weaver had no counsel at that time and had not been advised of his rights. When Weaver confronted the child, a police officer asked her whether Weaver was the man who had hurt her. The child nodded; Weaver made no statement of denial.
At trial, the trial court refused to permit the child to testify, but, under a hearsay exception, allowed the police officer to relate that the child had nodded when he asked her if Weaver was the man who had hurt her. Aside from questions of compulsory self-incrimination, this procedure resulted in the use of what amounted to testimony by the child without requiring the child to appear as a witness. This was prejudicial error because it denied Weaver his Sixth Amendment rights of confrontation and cross-examination of witnesses against him. Pointer v. State of Texas, 380 U.S. 400, 85 S.Ct. 1065, 13 L.Ed.2d 923 (1965); Douglas v. State of Alabama, 380 U.S. 415, 85 S.Ct. 1074, 13 L.Ed.2d 934 (1965).
For the foregoing reasons, I would affirm Judge Grant’s issuance of the writ of habeas corpus, with the right of the State of Indiana to retry the defendant within a reasonable time.