A court has ruled that a 3-year-old boy's statement can be used in court against his grandfather after lawyers tried to argue that he was too young to be believed.
Judge Meagan Bilik-DeFazio has decided to proceed with the case against Timothy John Turner, who is facing aggravated assault, simple assault and harassment charges for a September 2022 incident.
Turner's defense attorney Duke George had argued that the case should not be allowed to move forward because the boy, who accused Turner of slapping him, is too young to testify, as reported by the TribLIVE. George also argued that the boy's statements to his mother, medical experts and child experts cannot be believed.
However, the judge rejected the defense's claims, saying that the statements can be used as evidence because the boy said them without being prompted by adults and the statements were made immediately after the alleged incident.
The 3-year-old originally told Vandergrift Police after the incident that his grandfather slapped him with an "open hand," as reported by TribLIVE. Two years later, the prosecution said the boy gave the same testimony in an interview with child experts.
The boy's statement to police will be used at the trial scheduled for February 2025. The now 5-year-old will not be expected to testify on the stand.
The boy's mother Tabitha Scott said that she came home from work to find her son upset and with marks on his face. She said her son told her he had been hit by his grandfather who had come to their home to babysit him.
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