Cases | In re Meunier, 491 A.2d 1019 | 2018
The defendant pled guilty to sexual assault. On appeal, the defendant claimed that the trial court erred by permitting the victim to testify at sentencing because Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 28, § 204(e) only permitted the inclusion of the victim’s statement in a presentence report. The court held that the statute could not be read as setting forth the exclusive manner of victim participation in sentencing proceedings. While the victim may not have had a right to testify at a hearing prior to the enactment of Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 13, § 7006, there was no prohibition against such testimony. Further, the trial court correctly found that the victim’s testimony was permissible under Vt. R. Crim. P. 32(a)(1) and (c)(4), which permitted the prosecutor to present any information relevant to sentencing and to offer evidence on any disputed factual issues, respectively.