Bill Allowing TV Testimony Fails First Test

A bill to aid in the prosecution of child sexual abuse cases by allowing closed-circuit televised testimony failed in its first legislative test Tuesday amid charges by defense lawyers that it would compromise their clients’ right to a fair trial.

The measure, by Sen. Art Torres (D-Los Angeles) in response to allegations of widespread sexual abuse at the McMartin Pre-School in Manhattan Beach, fell one vote short of passage in the Senate Judiciary Committee. But committee members agreed to reconsider it next week.

Parents of the McMartin pupils involved in the case are counting on quick action by the Legislature in order to spare their children from having to confront the accused molesters in open court.

The judge in the McMartin defendants’ preliminary hearing has ruled that the children must testify in the courtroom. Their testimony could start any day.

The Judiciary Committee vote capped a four-hour hearing punctuated by emotional testimony from psychologists, law enforcement officers and parents of child abuse victims who charged that children are “whipsawed and abused” by the requirement that they face their accusers in open court.

The measure, similar to one that failed last year, would allow young sex abuse victims and witnesses to testify outside the courtroom over closed-circuit television and thereby avoid direct contact with the defendants.

At one point, the Senate hearing room was ordered cleared so committee members could view what was described as a graphic videotape of a preliminary hearing in a sexual abuse case.

But defense attorneys, including the lawyer for one of the seven former teachers accused in the McMartin case, convinced several committee members that the bill was “panic legislation” that failed to balance the rights of young victims with constitutional protections for the accused.

Tuesday’s vote was labeled a “big disappointment” by representatives of the McMartin parents who fear any delay could mean immediate problems for their children.

Hearing Began in August

The preliminary hearing in the McMartin case has been under way since last August. The first of 41 children could be called to testify by the end of this week.

Legal experts say existing law already gives judges wide discretion in handling testimony in sensitive cases. But a recent appellate court decision threw the matter into confusion and prompted the judge in the McMartin case to order the young witnesses to testify in the presence of the seven defendants.

A spokesman for Torres said he had hoped to have the legislation on the governor’s desk by early February, in time to allow at least some of the children to avoid a courtroom confrontation with their former teachers.

But other legal experts contend the legislation could not be applied to the McMartin case since it already is under way. That is one of several problems committee members hope to resolve before next week’s hearing.

Dramatic Confrontation

Tuesday’s most dramatic moments came when an anonymous parent of a former McMartin pupil described in detail the trauma suffered by her 6-year-old child in preparing for her court appearance.

“There is very real terror that no matter who is in the courtroom with her, the defendants will hurt her if she speaks out in their presence,” said the woman, who used the name Mrs. Doe. “She has paid a heavy price on her road to recovery. Every time she becomes aware that she might have to be in the same room as the defendants, her nightmares reoccur.”

But William Powell Jr., lawyer for one of the seven McMartin defendants, said defense attorneys already have few tools to work with and to take away eye contact between lawyers and witnesses would be “a major erosion of my ability.”