State v. John Doe (2023)

Defense Counsel:

Charges: Child Molestation, Sexual Battery

State’s Case:

The Defendant and his wife babysat a friend’s 7-year-old daughter and 4-year-old daughter. Two months after they babysat, the 4-year-old told her mother she knew what a boy’s private parts looked like. After questioning by the mother, the child eventually said that she saw and accidentally touched the Defendant’s “private parts” when he was in the bathroom peeing. The daughter repeated that allegation in a forensic interview. Two more months went by and the daughter then claimed that the Defendant made her sit on his lap in the bathroom and his private parts touched her booty. Based on this statement in a second forensic interview, the prosecution arrested the Defendant.

Judgement:

Fortunately for the Defendant, the mother of the child recorded her interviews of the child and took notes, which were critically important in the trial for showing how suggestively she questioned her child. The crux of the defense was to show how the events described by the child could not have happened because the Defendant’s wife was present the whole time they babysat, and educating the jury on how even normal questioning by a concerned mother can pollute a child’s memory of actual events. The defense had experts in forensic interviewing describe for the jury how research shows that leading questions, confirmation bias, and vilification of the alleged offender taint the allegations such that even a forensic interviewer cannot tell if the allegations are reliable or not. The defense also showed that there was no evidence of a sexual interest in children on the Defendant’s phone or computer. Further, there was no evidence that the Defendant ever tried to “groom” the child, or normalized sexual touching. The Defendant testified and forcefully rebutted the allegations as did his wife who accounted for the child’s whereabouts the whole evening. The jury returned a verdict of Not Guilty on both counts after three hours of deliberation.