noting that “the trial court’s decision as to competency will be sustained even when it proceeds without a voir dire where the transcript reveals intelligible comprehension [by the witness] in terms of answering the questions that were asked” (internal quotation marks omitted) (alteration in original)
How later courts described this case
- noting that “the trial court’s decision as to competency will be sustained even when it proceeds without a voir dire where the transcript reveals intelligible comprehension [by the witness] in terms of answering the questions that were asked” (internal quotation marks omitted) (alteration in original)
- “14-month delay could easily have worked to appellant’s advantage by causing the child’s memory to fade”
- eight-year-old girl found competent to testify about a murder that occurred when she was only three and a half
- eight-year-old girl found competent to testify about a murder that occurred when she was three and a half
Written by the judges who cited it.
The opinion
NEWMAN, Chief Judge,
concurring:
I join fully the opinion of the court. However, in light of the concurrence of Judge Kern, I add the following comments. In Johnson v. United States, D.C.App., 398 A.2d 354 (1979), this court discussed at length the doctrine of judicial discretion and appellate review thereof. One central thesis of that opinion was that in exercising discretion, the trial judge must be guided by legal criteria and principles. Id. at 365 , citing among other authorities, Brown v. Allen, 344 U.S. 443, 496 , 73 S.Ct. 397, 441 , 97 L.Ed. 469 (1953). Likewise, in reviewing the trial judge’s exercise of discretion, the appellate court is constrained by similar legal criteria and principles. This constraint is mandated to avoid appellate review of the trial court's exercise of discretion by what has been referred to as “a form of ill-tempered appellate grunting. .” Rosenberg, Judicial Discretion of the Trial Court, Viewed from Above, 22 Syracuse L.Rev. 635, 639 (1971). The opinion of our concurring colleague, I submit, demonstrates a failure to observe this constraint. It points to no rule of law, legal principle or criteria which the trial judge erroneously applied in making the choice he did. To nonetheless say that the trial court abused its discretion, without pointing to the rule of law, legal principle, or criteria the court erroneously applied, appears to be an improper manner to review the trial court’s exercise of discretion.