McGuire v. State

Darrell Hickman, Justice.

The question on appeal is whether it is unconstitutional for the state to use a videotaped deposition of a child who has been raped and play it for the jury rather than call the child as a witness at trial. Our statute permitting such videotaped depositions is constitutional, and the use of the videotaped deposition in this case was proper.

Randy McGuire is the step-father of the victim, an 11 year old girl. While she lived with her mother and McGuire, she was raped. She then moved in with her grandparents. After seeing a film at school on sexual abuse, the child told…