Haggard v. State, No. PD-0635-19 (Tex. Crim. App., Dec. 9, 2020)

The Court of Criminal Appeals reversed convictions for sexual assault of a child and indecency because the trial court allowed a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner to testify remotely with two-way video in violation of the Confrontation Clause. The Court held that such testimony is only permitted after a case-specific finding that remote testimony is necessary to achieve an important public policy purpose. Here, the examiner’s personal inconvenience and the State’s failure to subpoena her did not justify admitted her testimony.