A defense attorney on Monday asked the Utah Supreme Court to allow him to question a 15-year-old girl at a preliminary hearing in the case of a man accused of sexually abusing the teen.
Joshua Baron, the attorney for the defendant, wants the court to overturn a 4th District judge’s ruling that the girl did not have to testify at a July 2016 preliminary hearing. Baron argued he had the right to elicit information from the alleged victim at that hearing, not just at a trial, which has been on hold while the appeal has been pending.
But Utah Assistant Solicitor General Tera Peterson noted the judge ruled at the conclusion of the preliminary hearing that there was enough evidence to bind the case over for trial.