The Colorado Supreme Court on Monday ruled that criminal defendants must have a “compelling and legitimate need” for forcing their prosecutor to testify, concluding that a trial court judge in Boulder County was wrong to force such testimony in an assault case.
The opinion came in the case of Harold Lloyd Honstein, accused of assaulting his roommate. The roommate initially told police that Honstein had punched her and threw a full soda can at the back of her head, according to the opinion. The prosecutor heard the roommate partially recant ten months later, stating that she hadn’t actually been punched, the opinion said, and she repeated that assertion to an investigator three days later.
The roommate explained to the investigator that she had mistaken the soda can being thrown at her for being punched, the opinion stated. Though the prosecution offered to stipulate to the partial recantation, Boulder County Judge Elizabeth Brodsky ruled that the prosecutor who heard the roommate recant must testify in the case.
