Competency

Shonika Swift

New Member
Jurisdiction
Michigan
A child that was found incompetent to testify, can the officer that took his testimony testify on the stand in that incompetent childs place and if so can he be cross-examined?
 
It depends.

Generally such testimony is considered to be "hearsay".

As I said, it depends because exceptions to the HEARSAY RULE do exist, and are allowed.

I suggest you discuss this with YOUR lawyer, and ONLY with your lawyer.
 
A child that was found incompetent to testify, can the officer that took his testimony testify on the stand in that incompetent childs place and if so can he be cross-examined?

Depends on why the child was found incompetent to testify and what the nature of the testimony is.

It's up to the judge to decide if the officer would be allowed to testify under any hearsay exception rule.

If the officer is allowed to testify, then it stands to reason that cross examination would be proper.
 
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