California v. Vasquez
Annotate this CaseThe trial court permitted the State to display to the jury an approximately twenty-foot long "timeline" of the alleged molestations that a therapist created with P.C. in preparation for a prior proceeding in this case. The timeline contained detailed statements describing the alleged abuse written by the therapist at P.C.'s direction, together with dates and photographs of P.C. at various ages. The court also permitted the prosecutor to directly question P.C. at trial about statements contained on the timeline. Defendant Michael Vasquez contended the trial court erred in permitting the jury to view the timeline and erred in admitting the related testimony. The Court of Appeal concluded the trial court committed clear error in permitting the jury to view the timeline and allowing P.C. to read statements from the timeline into evidence. The timeline did not constitute demonstrative evidence that could properly be displayed to the jury in order to assist the jury in its understanding of P.C.'s testimony. Rather, the timeline contained inadmissible out-of-court statements that were improperly offered for their truth and to bolster P.C.'s credibility.
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