James K. Owens and Gwen A. Owens v. Idaho

Gary Cliff was convicted by a jury of the offense of lewd and lascivious conduct with a minor under age sixteen. I.C. § 18-1508. Thereafter he was committed, under the unified sentencing law, to the custody of the State Board of Correction for a period of ten years, with a three-year minimum period of confinement. On appeal, Cliff contends that the trial court committed error by allowing the eight-year-old victim to hold a doll during her testimony and by allowing into evidence hearsay rebuttal testimony attributed to the defendants wife. He also argues that the sentence was excessive under the circumstances of his case. For reasons explained below, the