State v. Hanson

This is a review of an unpublished decision of the court of appeals which reversed an order of the Circuit Court for Racine County, Honorable James Wilbershide, Judge, which order dismissed charges of child sexual abuse against Vaughn Hanson (Defendant) following a preliminary hearing. The circuit judge struck the testimony of the five-year-old alleged victim on a finding that the child was unable to distinguish between truth and falsehood and was therefore incompetent to testify, even though the circuit judge found the child’s recitation of what occurred to be “plausible.”

The State of…