State v. Poole

DURHAM, Chief Justice:

¶ 1 Christian Poole entered conditional guilty pleas to three counts of rape of a child and is currently serving a six-year-to-life prison sentence. Because his pleas were conditional, Mr. Poole was permitted to appeal the district court’s finding that he forfeited the right to confront the victim of his sexual assault through wrongdoing. The legal proposition of forfeiture by wrongdoing— that is, a defendant’s wrongful acts may cause the defendant to forfeit the constitutional right to confrontation — is an issue of first impression for this court. We expressly…