Legal News

State high court to hear case on detaining rape victims

By Jason Siegel

The California Supreme Court agreed to review a rape case that could determine whether sexually assault survivors living out of the state can be forced to return to California to appear in court, The North County Times reported.

While rape victims can still refuse to testify, they still must show up if they are essential witnesses who've been summoned, a state appeals court ruled last November.

That ruling, which overturned the rape convictions of a San Marcos man sentenced to 105 years to life in prison, was appealed to the state high court by the state attorney general's office. A decision isn't expected for at least 1.5 years.

Detaining a rape survivor may act as another form of victimization, women's rights advocates told The NC Times.

The case, People v. Cogswell, involves a woman who didn't appear in court in California, even though a Colorado court ordered her to. The judge denied a deputy district attorney attempts to present the rape survivor's testimony from a preliminary hearing 15 months earlier.

Full post as published by Legal Pad | LA on February 20, 2008 (boomark / email).