Text messaging used for testimony of deaf witness

It was trial by instant messenger in Northampton County Court on Wednesday -- at least for the morning. The Morning Call reports.

With the prosecutors' main witness deaf and a sign interpreter unavailable, a jury was forced to endure typed questions and answers for testimony in a case of a man accused of assaulting an Easton woman, then breaking into her apartment a week later.

... Northampton County Judge Stephen Baratta said the method of testimony was forced upon the court because the district attorney's office couldn't secure an interpreter for its witness in time. But he also left open the possibility that it could be challenged at the appellate level.

emily | 8:01 AM | SMS for Deaf/Disabilities |
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