United States v. Carter, No. 16-50271 (9th Cir. 2018)
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The Ninth Circuit vacated defendant's conviction for sex trafficking of a minor or by force, fraud, or coercion, and for transportation of a minor in interstate commerce to engage in prostitution. The panel held that defendant's Sixth Amendment right to confront the witnesses against him was violated when one of the victims was permitted to testify against defendant remotely by two-way video because she was seven months pregnant and unable to travel.
The panel held that, criminal defendants have a right to physical, face-to-face confrontation at trial, and that right cannot be compromised by the use of a remote video procedure unless it is necessary to do so and the reliability of the testimony is otherwise assured. In this case, alternatives were available for obtaining the testimony that would preserve defendant's right to physical confrontation. The court remanded for resentencing on the remaining five counts.
Court Description: Criminal Law. The panel vacated the defendant’s convictions on one count of violating 18 U.S.C. § 1591 (sex trafficking of a minor or by force, fraud, or coercion) and one count of violating 18 U.S.C. § 2423(a) (transportation of a minor in interstate commerce to engage in prostitution), and remanded for resentencing on remaining counts as to which the panel affirmed the defendant’s convictions in a concurrently-filed memorandum disposition. The panel held that a defendant’s right to physically confront an adverse witness (whether child or adult) cannot be compromised by permitting the witness to testify by video (whether one-way or two-way) unless use of the remote video procedure is necessary and the reliability of the testimony is otherwise assured. Because alternatives were available for obtaining a victim-witness’s testimony that would have preserved the defendant’s right to physical confrontation, the use of a remote video was not necessary in this case, and violated the defendant’s Sixth Amendment right to confront the witnesses against him. UNITED STATES V. CARTER 3
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