Mr. Smith was convicted at jury trial of Rape of a Child in the First Degree. During jury selection, Mr. Smith’s counsel sought removal of a prospective juror, using a ‘for cause’ challenge, claiming that actual bias was present. The prospective juror indicated during voir dire she might be inclined to simply agree with other Read More…
Author: Jan Olson
State v Helkenn (Unpublished) SA Victim’s Testimony Needs No Corroboration (Trend? Round II)
Another Division I case upholding a ‘noncorroboration’ jury instruction. This may be a trend, as a published opinion, State v Zwald, came out one week before Helkenn, and appeared to be inviting a stronger constitutional due process challenge, while ultimately affirming the use of the instruction in Mr. Zwald’s appeal. (See my discussions of State Read More…
Child Sexual Assault Victim Needs No Corroboration
State v. Zwald Joel Duane Zwald was convicted after jury trial of 3rd Degree Child Molestation, 2nd Degree Child Molestation, and 2nd Degree Rape of a child. On appeal, he argued the trial prosecutor committed reversible misconduct during closing argument and the court improperly commented on trial evidence by instructing the jury that to convict Read More…