State v. Ali

The dispositive issue on appeal is whether the trial court’s instructions on constancy of accusation improperly failed to inform the jury that it could use the victim’s out-of-court statements to impeach her credibility. Because the trial court neglected to instruct the jury that it could consider any contradictions, inconsistencies or falsities in her statements in assessing her credibility, despite four separate requests to so charge, the court’s instructions failed to guide the jury properly in resolving the contested issues before it. We conclude that, because this case turned almost…