HELENA, Mont. (NMB) – A new trial has been ordered by the Montana Supreme Court in a case involving allegations that a Great Falls man raped a developmentally disabled and deaf 13-year-old girl.
In a 5-2 decision Tuesday, the court ruled that the trial judge improperly allowed a nurse, a DPHHS child protection specialist, and a police officer to take the stand to testify about what the girl told them because the defendant, Richard Lee Tome, was not given the opportunity to cross-examine the her.
Tome had been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole unless he completed sex offender treatment.
The trial court ruled that the girl was not competent to testify since she was determined to be unable to tell truth from fiction.
