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No Face, No Case?
When KO was arrested for violating a no contact order, he assumed that the case and the probation violation would be dismissed when his girlfriend did not show up to court. Many people believe that “no face, no case” is the law of the land – meaning that a case will be dismissed if the alleged victim does not appear in court. This is not always true. The State is not allowed to use hearsay at a trial, but there are some exceptions to the hearsay rule that are allowed at violation hearings. In KO’s case, the prosecutor tried to use the “excited utterance” exception. They argued that the statements made by KO’s girlfriend to the police officers on the night of the arrest constituted excited utterances and were reliable enough to be admitted and believed. Kara Hoopis Manosh argued that the statements were not excited utterances, and used the cross-examination of the police officer to establish that the statements were not believable at all. The judge agreed and KO was released from jail with no probation violation.