Tampa criminal court case results
- Gainesville girl’s molestation story proves inconsistent
- facts: A 6 year old girl claimed our client, her day-camp counselor, fondled her during a field trip. The statement indicated that our client had committed sexual battery. Sexual battery involving a child this age carries a life sentence in Florida State Prison. Shortly after the investigation began we continued to contact the detective and the state attorney in an effort to persuade the Gainesville State Attorney to "no file" the charges. During this investigation there were a number of attempts to use the threat of these charges to coerce our client into submitting to a polygraph examination administered by law enforcement. It must be understood that the results of many polygraph examinations are dependant upon the examiner who is administering the test. Some Police officers use the perceived reliability of the polygraph to coerce a confession. They might interrupt a polygraph examination to confront the suspect by saying, "The polygraph is indicating that you are being deceptive, do want to tell us what really happened". The machine may not be indicating deception at all, but it will not stop some officers from pursuing a suspect in this manner if they feel they have committed the crime. Whenever law enforcement is conducting an investigation it is important to be weary of the fact that to some officers "the end justifies the means".
- defense: The girl’s story was too inconsistent, and lacked the reliability necessary to prove our client committed the crime.
- results: The State Attorney No Filed the Sexual Battery Charge.
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