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By Helping a Girl Testify at a Rape Trial, a Dog Ignites a Legal Debate
New York Times ^ | August 8, 2011 | WILLIAM GLABERSON

Posted on 08/09/2011 1:01:41 AM PDT by mrjesse

POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. — Rosie, the first judicially approved courtroom dog in New York, was in the witness box here nuzzling a 15-year-old girl who was testifying that her father had raped and impregnated her. Rosie sat by the teenager’s feet. At particularly bad moments, she leaned in. When the trial ended in June with the father’s conviction, the teenager “was most grateful to Rosie above all,” said David A. Crenshaw, a psychologist who works with the teenager.

“She just kept hugging Rosie,” he continued.

Now an appeal planned by the defense lawyers is placing Rosie at the heart of a legal debate that will test whether there will be more Rosies in courtrooms in New York and, possibly, other states. [snip] His lawyers, David S. Martin and Steven W. Levine of the public defender’s office, have raised a series of objections that they say seems likely to land the case in New York’s highest court. They argue that as a therapy dog, Rosie responds to people under stress by comforting them, whether the stress comes from confronting a guilty defendant or lying under oath.

But they say jurors are likely to conclude that the dog is helping victims expose the truth. “Every time she stroked the dog,” Mr. Martin said in an interview, “it sent an unconscious message to the jury that she was under stress because she was telling the truth.” ...

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: courts; dog; doggieping; newyork; ny
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For Pete's sake, just give the defendant a dog too! ha!
1 posted on 08/09/2011 1:01:45 AM PDT by mrjesse
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To: mrjesse

how about a cat?

but no badgers. that would be badgering the witness.


2 posted on 08/09/2011 1:06:07 AM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (There's gonna be a Redneck Revolution! (See my freep page) [rednecks come in many colors])
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To: mrjesse

If the defendant has prior convictions, make it a porcupine.


3 posted on 08/09/2011 1:13:19 AM PDT by anonsquared
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To: HiTech RedNeck
No badgers?
4 posted on 08/09/2011 1:17:18 AM PDT by Jeff Chandler (Just once I'd like someone to call me 'Sir' without adding 'You're making a scene.' - Homer Simpson)
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To: mrjesse

What a liberal crock.


5 posted on 08/09/2011 1:45:56 AM PDT by org.whodat (What does the Republican party stand for////??? absolutely nothing.)
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To: Joe 6-pack

Doggieping!


6 posted on 08/09/2011 1:56:01 AM PDT by Slings and Arrows (You can't have Ingsoc without an Emmanuel Goldstein.)
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To: HiTech RedNeck

What about lounge lizards? Or church mice? [tiny little hymns in the background]


7 posted on 08/09/2011 3:43:57 AM PDT by Pecos (Constitutionalist. Liberty and Honor will not die on my watch.)
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To: mrjesse

Wolverines, I want wolverines in the courtroom! They will get the truth out of ya!


8 posted on 08/09/2011 3:53:23 AM PDT by mc5cents
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To: mrjesse

Hey lawyers, STFU.............


9 posted on 08/09/2011 3:56:24 AM PDT by SECURE AMERICA (Where can I sign up for the New American Revolution and the Crusades 2012?)
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To: mrjesse

The dog was slipping answers to girl. One blink of the eyes means yes, two blinks means no, three, I’ve got dirt in my eye.


10 posted on 08/09/2011 3:58:26 AM PDT by count-your-change (You don't have be brilliant, not being stupid is enough.)
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To: mrjesse

Anyone else notice how nowadays people are letting their dogs walk them when it used to be people just walking their dogs?


11 posted on 08/09/2011 4:03:24 AM PDT by equaviator ("There's a (datum) plane on the horizon coming in...see it?")
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To: mrjesse

Anyone else notice how nowadays people are letting their dogs walk them when it used to be people walking their dogs?


12 posted on 08/09/2011 4:04:26 AM PDT by equaviator ("There's a (datum) plane on the horizon coming in...see it?")
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To: mrjesse
Rosie, the first judicially approved courtroom dog in New York, was in the witness box here nuzzling a 15-year-old girl who was testifying that her father had raped and impregnated her.

Just wonder if they did a DNA test on the baby. Could confirm if the father was the father.

It would make the dog a moot point.

13 posted on 08/09/2011 4:11:05 AM PDT by Pontiac (The welfare state must fail because it is contrary to human nature and diminishes the human spirit.)
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To: Pontiac

The dog is a moot point, damn a dog does what it is trained to do, and yes, it would distort the court room process. DNA evidence is all that is needed here. How stupid is the prosecutor are the judge that let’s his court room be made into a zoo.


14 posted on 08/09/2011 4:25:13 AM PDT by org.whodat (What does the Republican party stand for////??? absolutely nothing.)
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To: org.whodat
How stupid is the prosecutor are the judge that let’s his court room be made into a zoo.

Well there is the problem of getting the fathers DNA. He does not have to give a sample.

But it could be obtained in other ways say a father’s brother, or the father’s father, sister or the girl herself.

A male relative is best because the DNA of the Y chromosome is passed from the father only. But of course this is only available if the child is male.

15 posted on 08/09/2011 4:39:14 AM PDT by Pontiac (The welfare state must fail because it is contrary to human nature and diminishes the human spirit.)
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To: Pontiac

We have moved past that, a judge can order you to give DNA, no different than a finger print in the eye of the law.


16 posted on 08/09/2011 4:49:37 AM PDT by org.whodat (What does the Republican party stand for////??? absolutely nothing.)
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To: org.whodat

If it was your Dad perping on you(Male or Female). I bet you would get a cigar smoking chimp if it would help you put the scum away for many years.


17 posted on 08/09/2011 4:54:42 AM PDT by Colorado Cowgirl (God bless America!)
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To: Colorado Cowgirl
No, the scum should have been put away on the DNA evidence by itself and not risk the case getting tossed and the scum walking free, which is what may happen here.
18 posted on 08/09/2011 4:59:29 AM PDT by org.whodat (What does the Republican party stand for////??? absolutely nothing.)
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To: mrjesse

Ho hum, the usual losing lawyer effort to grasp at straws in hoping the appeals process will provide the second byte at the apple.


19 posted on 08/09/2011 5:08:26 AM PDT by SES1066 (1776 to 2011, 235 years and counting in the GRAND EXPERIMENT!)
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To: HiTech RedNeck

ummmm,

that might prove CATastrophic to the witness’ credibility......

end it now, no more punnies


20 posted on 08/09/2011 5:12:00 AM PDT by jbp1 (be nice now)
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