Wednesday, November 05, 2003

By The Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA -- Pennsylvania voters yesterday approved a pair of amendments to the state Constitution that are designed to allow children to testify by closed-circuit television or videotape.

Supporters say such testimony, which is already allowed in 35 other states, would protect child witnesses from the trauma of appearing in a courtroom with a defendant who, in many cases, is accused of victimizing the child.

"The defendant's counsel will still have the opportunity to cross-examine the child. However, it won't happen in front of the child's attacker -- that's the only difference," said Sean Connolly, a spokesman for Attorney General Mike Fisher.

Returns showed the proposals being approved by margins of more than 2-1.

State voters overwhelmingly approved a nearly identical ballot measure in 1995, only to have it later thrown out on appeal, in part because it encompassed two distinct elements in a single ballot question.

This time, it took the form of two separate questions.

A group of three defense attorneys unsuccessfully sought to block the vote, although their lawsuit in Commonwealth Court is still pending. The plaintiffs said, among other things, that the changes could allow adults as well as children to testify outside court and that they would result in an increased rate of wrongful convictions.

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