Smith v. State

ORFINGER, Judge.

Deborah Smith appeals her conviction for manslaughter and possession of a weapon during the commission of a felony. We reverse for a new trial.

The prosecution called as one of its witnesses a nine year old girl, Tamequa (Tiki) Cutliff, the appellant’s niece. When this witness claimed she did not remember or did not know the answer to certain key questions she had previously testified to in her pretrial deposition, the trial court granted the State’s request to declare her an adverse witness and allowed the State to impeach her by use of her pretrial deposition. Although the…