State v. Smith

Wallace Michael Smith seeks reversal of the Court of Appeals decision affirming his conviction for first degree rape of a child (RCW 9A.44.073). Smith argues that the trial court violated his state and federal confrontation clause rights when it ruled that the child victim, J.S., was unavailable to testify for the purpose of allowing hearsay under RCW 9A. 44.120 without first requiring the State to show that J.S. could not testify via closed-circuit television pursuant to RCW 9A.44.150. We hold that the trial court abused its discretion in admitting the hearsay statements without determining…