State v. Jones

HENDERSON, Justice.

PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Defendant-appellant Edwin T. Jones (Jones) was convicted of two counts of sexual contact with a child under the age of sixteen. He appeals, contending four areas of circuit court error:(1)He was denied his constitutional right to confront adverse witnesses.(2) There was an insufficient basis from which to conclude that requiring victims to testify, at trial, would be substantially detrimental to their well-being.(3) SDCL 23A-12-9 is unconstitutional.(4) Testimony regarding black-outs as a symptom of alcoholism was improperly excluded.

We treat these…