Legal Question in Criminal Law in Pennsylvania

brittany shultz

my daughter staded that her farther touched her and her mother while she was in the cousty o somerset county childer an youth service and i have the reopt that there is no edvices when they whereout of our care in 2001.now my husband is in state prison and im on probtasion.cann they use my daughter for a wittness when she stated all this when she was 2 1? to 3 years old at the time.


Asked on 8/11/07, 1:10 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
John Gibson John W. Gibson, Esquire

Re: brittany shultz

I'm not sure if anyone can really answer this question. Obviously there was no competency hearing at the time but the child is probably competent now. I think the question becomes whether her testimony may be considered "tainted." If there is evidence tending to show that the child's testimony may be tainted, the question then becomes whether that evidence is admissible.

A case you may want to look at is Commonwealth v. Delbridge, 578 Pa. 641.

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Answered on 8/17/07, 12:09 pm


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