Court: Courtroom support dog for child victim did not violate man's rights
It did not violate the defendant’s constitutional right to confront witnesses, the Court of Appeals ruled for the first time on Thursday, for his child victim to have a support dog at her feet while testifying against him. “Put simply, easing a testifying witness’s discomfort doesn’t violate a defendant’s confrontation rights,” wrote Judge Craig R. Welling for the three-member appellate panel. The Sixth Amendment gives criminal defendants the right to confront the witnesses against them. Colorado’s constitution also enshrines the right to “meet the witnesses ... face to face.â...