18 year old defendant anally penetrates 4 year old victim. SANE exam corroborates and suggests multiple instances. no DNA. 4 yo's mother walked in on the assault in progress. defendant confesses shortly thereafter. sounds easy enough to me, right?

defense counsel is requesting a continuance (and funds) so that he can have the defendant evaluated by a pshychiatrist and a psychologist.

i'm guessing they want to present evidence that the D was a victim of sexual assault and/or D is low IQ and/or D gave a false confession...but I don't have any experience with the use of defense experts in child sex assault cases.

can any of you gurus our there speculate what I will be facing? i will get more specifics in the future once I have notice of the actual experts I am facing (and then I'll come back to all you you guys for help again!).

thanks for any ideas.

My guess is that with a young perp the defense attorney is looking for an opinion that he's at a low risk for re-offending. That if only he could get the counseling he needs that he wouldn't present any danger, and so that's why he should get probation / a low sentence / the hug that was all he ever needed in his life.

Be on the lookout for the "common characteristics" game. Just like with DWI attorneys who run through the 497 clues for a DWI investigation in the NHTSA manual and then say "Well, but my client didn't drive the wrong way down a one way street, did he?" You'll have a defense expert who will testify as to the common characteristics of sexual offenders and then tick off just how many of them the defendant *doesn't* meet. Nevermind that many of the are contradictory and you couldn't meet all of them.

This is also where YOUR expert can come in handy. Send your expert the name of whomever gets hired, and chances are pretty good they know what the defense expert's schtick is.

Don't forget that your county contracts with an LSOTP for those sex offenders who are placed on probation & have to complete counseling as a condition. He/She should be the first person you talk to re: this case & fact scenario. If you're in a smaller jurisdiction you'll want to "get dibs" on him as your expert first, plus he'll be able to tell you the factors their expert should be proffering & how to respond.

thanks for the feedback.

i now know that defense counsel plans on using a psychologist to argue that the confession was either coerced (since the defendant has very low intelligence) or a false confession altogether. continuance granted till October.

I had this occur in a trial where the psychiatrist "tested" the Defendant and found out that he wasn't a pedfile. This type of BS worked well in other cases but we tore him apart. If you want, call my office and I can go into details of some ways that MIGHT help you show that his testimony is not helpful. 361-595-8544 - Kleberg & Kenedy County District Attorney's Office. Remember to identify yourself. If you are not a prosecutor, I don't feel obliged to talk to you about trial strategy.

jth

361-595-8544

Thanks for all the feedback and emails everybody. Once I know who the expert is and see a motion with some more specifics, I'll be back and/or call.