Commonwealth v. Delbridge

I agree that any witness (child or not), tainted by the “implantation of false memories or distortion of actual memories through improper and suggestive interview techniques,” may be incompetent. If there is a competency hearing because of the age of the witness, the logical time to explore taint, once there is a preliminary showing taint actually occurred, is at that hearing. However, I disagree that “taint” always goes to competency; I also take issue on the use of expert witnesses on what is really a credibility issue. Finally, I disagree that the “evidence” here justifies a hearing in the…