Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Re: rigtht to face my accuser

Maybe. I would need to know more facts in order to give you a better answer than this.

The prosecution has to present competent evidence of your guilt, but this evidence does not necessarily have to come from the alleged victim (I presume this is the person you are talking about). For example, if Person A assaults Person B in front of witnesses, any of the witnesses can testify about what happened and the case can be proven without B's testimony.

In many cases it is also possible for investigators to piece together enough evidence to prove the prosecution's case with no eyewitness testimony at all. The defendant gets to confront the witnesses against him, but the witnesses don't include the victim or anyone who actually saw the crime take place. This approach is especially useful where B's unavailability is caused by death; otherwise it would usually not be possible to prosecute murderers.

Under some circumstances where a witness is unavailable it is also possible to use his/her testimony from a prior occasion, usually the preliminary hearing. Several requirements have to be met before this option can be used, including that the defendant must have had an opportunity to cross-examine the witness. The rules about use of such prior testimony are too intricate to describe here, but the prosecutor might try to use this approach in your case.