State v. Clark

When Thomas Clark’s eight-year-old stepdaughter took the witness stand and recanted her prior allegations that Clark had molested her, only hearsay accounts of her prior statements and an otherwise uncorroborated confession stood between Clark and dismissal óf the charges. But these were enough for the jury to convict Clark and for the Court of Appeals to affirm.

We granted review to determine whether the confrontation clause of the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution is offended by the introduction of child hearsay statements under RCW 9A.44.120 in a case such as this where the…