6.5Competency of Crime Victim as Witness

Under MRE 601, every person is presumed competent to be a witness unless:

“(a) the court finds, after questioning, that the person does not have sufficient physical or mental capacity or sense of obligation to testify truthfully or understandably; or

(b) [the Michigan Rules of Evidence] provide otherwise.” MRE 601.

Competency to testify is a matter within the discretion of the trial court, and the trial court may conduct an examination to determine a witness’s competency. People v Bedford, 78 Mich App 696, 705 (1977). A defendant’s constitutional right to confront witnesses is not necessarily violated by the defendant’s exclusion from a competency hearing. Kentucky v Stincer, 482 US 730, 739-744 (1987).

“The test of competency is . . . whether the witness has the capacity and sense of obligation to testify truthfully and understandably. Where the trial court examines a child witness and determines that the child is competent to testify, ‘a later showing of the child’s inability to testify truthfully reflects on credibility, not competency.” People v Watson (David), 245 Mich App 572, 583 (2001), quoting People v Coddington, 188 Mich App 584, 597 (1991) (internal citations omitted).

See People v Breck, 230 Mich App 450, 457-458 (1998) (developmentally disabled complainant competent to testify); People v Burch, 170 Mich App 772, 774-775 (1988) (11-year-old victim with mental retardation competent to testify).