In the late 1990s, I provided forensic nursing care to an 82-year-old woman who had been sexually assaulted while she was walking her dog. She passed away 12 years later. In 2014, a detective working on cold cases got a hit that matched the DNA I had collected nearly 20 years prior. I subsequently testified in a preliminary hearing to determine if the deceased's statements were shared with me for the purposes of 鈥渕edical treatment or litigation.鈥� After the judge's finding that my medical record documenting what the deceased had told me about her assault was not Crawford barred (Crawford v. Washington, 2004) and therefore could be offered in a trial, the case was resolved with the defendant pleading guilty to criminal sexual conduct in the first degree and receiving the guideline sentence of 117 months.
