Bertrand v. State

A Crawford County jury convicted appellant, Richard Louis Bertrand, of raping his then seven-year-old step-granddaughter, and he was sentenced to 25 years in the Arkansas Department of Correction. On appeal, Bertrand asserts that his Sixth Amendment right to confront his accuser was violated when the trial court erected a screen and that the trial court abused its discretion by admitting the victim's bloodstained underwear into evidence. For the following reasons, we affirm.

At the trial, the court allowed the then eight-year-old victim to testify behind a screen. The screen was placed in…