Published on: Thursday, June 29, 2023
Mother of minor children named as victims in an indictment testified that she believed her children and that her children wouldn’t “lie about anything like this.” You don't see many plain-error rulings that invalidate triple life sentences, but the Tenth Circuit takes the opportunity to remind us that you really super-duper can't have one witness vouch and testify that she believes other witnesses are telling the truth. No excuse for this. Conviction vacated. New trial.
The case is United States v. Jones, No. 21-5079 (10th Cir. June 26, 2023).