11-27-07 A-5388-04T4
Defendant was convicted of aggravated sexual assault based
on the uncorroborated testimony of a child witness who had
recanted her accusation and then withdrawn the recantation.
Prior to his arrest, defendant entered into a polygraph
stipulation without advice of counsel. He failed the test, and
the test result was admitted at his trial. We reversed his
conviction, holding that inducing an uncounseled defendant to
sign a stipulation agreeing that polygraph results will be
admissible at trial, violates the defendant's Sixth Amendment
right to trial counsel. We also held that the trial court
should have held a State v. Guenther hearing before barring
defendant from introducing evidence that a few months after
accusing defendant, the victim-witness accused another man of
molesting her and then recanted her accusation. We concluded
Guenther applies to later, as well as prior, recanted
accusations. Judge Weissbard filed a concurring opinion.
