Wheeler v. United States

BAZELON, Circuit Judge.

Appellant was convicted of having carnally known and abused a ten-year-old girl — the child of his common-law wife by a former marriage. The elements of the crime under the statute are (1) penetration (2) of a child under the age of sixteen.1

The conviction followed a trial in which the child refused to testify against appellant, despite her earlier statements to police and grand jury incriminating him. Although the earlier statement to the police was introduced at the trial to impeach the child’s testimony exonerating appellant, it did not constitute direct evidence of…