SCOV Law

By   Elizabeth Kruska State v. Rein Kolts,  2026 VT 10   Who gets Due Process? Everybody. What is Due Process? Broadly stated, it’s one’s ability to have a fair hearing on the allegation against them. Sounds easy enough, right? Baked into the notion of the fair hearing is that the hearing will happen according to the law. You can have hearings all day long and if the court doesn’t apply the law correctly, that could be a Due Process violation. I say “could” because sometimes judges make mistakes (because they are people and people do that). Sometimes those mistakes aren’t a big deal in the grand scheme of the case. Sometimes those mistakes are a big enough deal that they become plain error.   And that’s what happened here.   Briefly, Rein Kolts was accused of aggravated sexual assault on a minor under the age of 13. The opinion identified the minor as a person named N.H. Although the facts suggested there were many years’ worth of assaults, the State charged Mr....