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mousey musings
Tuesday, May 09, 2006
Client left 'defenseless' -- An interesting article that demonstrates that which judge you draw can have a dramatic effect on your ability to successfully mount a (true) defense to criminal charges. In this case, a state law created a defense to statutory rape for a belief the victim was over 18 if the jury determines that belief was reasonable. The defendant will be prohibited from introducing letters the girl wrote but didn't send in which she admitted lying about her age, her mother's testimony that she forged a birth certificate, her internet postings that asserted she was 19 and wanted to be a "sexual slave," the fact that the girl told everyone else she was 19, or the fact that the defendant repeatedly offered to drive her home in the presence of the girl's mother! A judge can usually find a way to deny admission to evidence. The judge knows there is no penalty whatsoever for a ruling that is later overturned on appeal, and since the defendant will generally have spent years in prison by then, many judges like the idea of inflicting at least some punishment on people they find to be despicable, even if no actual crime was committed.
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