Paul Frank Small, Jr. v. State of Florida

In the single issue raised in this appeal, we must determine whether the trial court abused its discretion by finding that out-of-court statements made by a six-year-old girl, which describe incidents of sexual abuse by her father, were reliable and therefore admissible as evidence against her father at trial. Appellant (the father) claims that his daughter’s statements were the product of leading questions or other suggestive techniques, rendering the statements unreliable, despite the trial court’s express finding to the contrary. Because the trial court conducted the proper evaluation to…