Cases | State v. Heath, 957 P.2d 449 (Kan. 1998) | 2018
The defendant was convicted of felony murder and abuse of a child. On appeal, the defendant claimed that the presence of the victim’s mother throughout trial violated his rights under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution and his statutory right under Kan. Stat. Ann. § 22-2903 because the victim’s mother was also a witness. The supreme court held that the trial court abused its discretion by allowing the victim’s mother to remain, though the error was not reversible absent evidence of prejudice. The victim’s mother was the only other person who could have inflicted her child’s injuries. The opportunity to be present in the courtroom and tailor her story to the evidence as it developed had the potential to violate the defendant’s right to a fair trial. However, the defendant failed to demonstrate that the presence of the victim’s mother resulted in any tailoring of her testimony. The testimony at trial was essentially consistent with the story that she told to the detective at the police station.