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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- The Utah Supreme Court has upheld a trial judge's decision to allow a child witness's mother sit behind her as she testified.
The ruling Tuesday upheld the 2002 5th District Court aggravated sexual abuse conviction of Ricky Billsie, 45, for molesting a 6-year-old girl.
Witnesses are regularly excluded from courtrooms to keep them from being influenced by the testimony of other witnesses.
Billsie's attorney sought to have the mother kept out of the courtroom during the child's testimony. The attorney contended the mother had persuaded the girl to testify falsely.
Trial Judge James Shumate ruled the mother not only could remain but also sit behind her daughter, who was 8 years old at the time of the trial.
Shumate expressed concern over the victim's "discomforts and sensitivities due to her young age."
The high court said Utah law provides extra consideration to child victims and child witnesses in criminal trials.
The law states that a child's participation in the criminal justice process should be conducted in the most effective and least traumatic, intrusive or intimidating manner.
Prior appellate decisions have established that children may have an adult accompany them to the witness stand.
The Billsie case clarifies that a child's parent can be that adult, even if the parent will be called to testify.
The justices said Shumate fulfilled his responsibility of ensuring the mother did not improperly influence the child's testimony by requiring the mother to sit behind her daughter, where she could not gesture or make eye contact.
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
