State v. Smith

The opinion of the Court was delivered by

COLEMAN, J.

This appeal involves a conviction for aggravated sexual assault upon an eight-year-old female. The critical issues raised are whether permitting the child to testify before the jury on closed circuit television violated defendant’s constitutional right to confrontation, and whether a videotaped statement made by the child to the police should have been excluded from the trial as unreliable evidence. In a published opinion, the Appellate Division ruled in favor of defendant on both issues. 310 N.J.Super. 140, 145-46, 708 A.2d 436 (1998). We…