CARSON CITY -- The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a Nevada case involving the use of hearsay testimony in the trial of a man convicted of sexual assault of a minor, Attorney General George Chanos said Monday.

The Clark County trial of Marvin Bockting dates back to 1988, but could be affected by a Supreme Court ruling in 2004 that limited the use of hearsay testimony.

The attorney general's office asked the nation's highest court to decide whether the 2004 decision should apply retroactively to Bockting's case.

A jury found Bockting guilty of four counts of sexual assault of a minor. At trial, the prosecution presented medical evidence showing that the victim, the defendant's 6-year-old stepdaughter, had been sexually assaulted. The prosecution also tried to call that victim to the stand, but she was unable to testify. Under a then-existing exception to the hearsay rule, the trial judge allowed the victim's mother and a police detective to testify about statements the victim had made about the rapes.

In the 2004 case, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Crawford v. Washington that hearsay testimony similar to the kind admitted in Bockting's trial is not admissible unless the defendant has the opportunity to cross-examine the victim.

Bockting filed a federal habeas corpus petition to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, asking that his 1988 conviction be reversed on this basis. Over the state's objection, the 9th Circuit granted Bockting's request, ruling that the Crawford decision should apply retroactively to his conviction.

The Nevada attorney general's office argued that the law should not apply retroactively to cases that have already been through their final appeals.

The U.S. Supreme Court did not state in the Crawford opinion whether its ruling should apply retroactively. However, since Crawford was decided, five U.S. circuit courts have ruled that Crawford should not be applied retroactively. Only the 9th Circuit has ruled otherwise.