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Evidence keyed to Fisher
Whorton v. Bockting
Citation:
549 U.S. 406 (2007)Facts
Marvin Bockting lived with his wife Laura, their three-year-old daughter Honesty, and Laura’s six-year-old daughter Autumn from a previous relationship. One night, Autumn awoke crying from a dream and eventually disclosed to her mother that Bockting had repeatedly forced her to engage in various sexual acts, warning her not to tell. Laura confronted Bockting, who denied wrongdoing and left the house. Two days later, Laura contacted a rape crisis hotline and brought Autumn to the hospital where Detective Zinovitch attempted to interview her, but found her too distressed. A rape examination revealed strong physical evidence of sexual assault. Two days later, Autumn provided detailed descriptions of the assaults to the detective using anatomically correct dolls. At trial, Autumn was too distressed to testify, so the court permitted Laura and Detective Zinovitch to recount Autumn’s out-of-court statements under Nevada’s hearsay exception for child victims. Bockting was convicted of three counts of sexual assault and sentenced to consecutive life terms.
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