Augustin

The prosecution filed an information against defendant Elizabeth Marie Augustin which included several charges of assault by means of force likely to produce great bodily injury. (Pen. Code, § 245, subd. (a)(1).) A jury subsequently convicted her of one assault count as charged and two counts of misdemeanor assault. The victim, who was the prosecution’s primary witness at trial, suffers from cerebral palsy and has a related speech disability. Defendant contends that the victim’s speech disability rendered her incapable of communicating her testimony and asserts the trial court should have disqualified her as a witness. Alternatively, defendant argues the trial court erred by allowing the parties to ask the victim leading questions and by failing to appoint an interpreter to communicate the victim’s answers. Finally, defendant claims the foregoing errors resulted in a violation of her constitutional rights to due process and confrontation. We disagree with these contentions and affirm defendant’s conviction.

FACTS

A detailed summary of the evidence is not required to decide the issues raised in this case. Suffice it to say that, during a three-week period while the…