Case Summary:

In May 2020, Jeffrey Clyde Pitts’s young daughter, A.G.C., spent a weekend visiting him, and after returning home she told her mother that he had sexually abused her, which led to criminal charges. At trial, the prosecution requested that a physical screen be placed between A.G.C. and Pitts while she testified, so that the judge and jury could see her but she could not see her father. The State relied on a Mississippi statute that grants child witnesses a right to such a screen, and the trial judge approved the request, explaining that the statute appeared mandatory and expressing concern about refusing to follow it or declaring it unconstitutional. Pitts objected, arguing that even though the statute used mandatory language, the Sixth Amendment required a case-specific showing that screening was necessary in his particular ca ...