Commonwealth v. Allen

A Superior Court jury found the defendant guilty of two counts of indecent assault and battery of a child,1 and one count of rape of a child.2 The victims are the defendant’s children, George and Heather,3 who were eleven and ten years old, respectively, at the time of trial, and nine and eight years old when the crimes were committed. The defendant complains that he suffered a substantial risk of a miscarriage of justice because the trial court erred in (1) denying his request for a pretrial hearing concerning the competency and reliability of the children, given the nature of the…