Tampa criminal court case results
- school teacher vindicated in child abuse charges
- facts: The client was arrested and charged with child abuse shortly after an investigation was completed by the State Attorney's Office in Tampa. She was employed by the Hillsborough County School System, and was extremely cooperative during law enforcement's investigation. Normally, when someone mentions child abuse the first thing that comes to mind is a worthless alcoholic who beats his children on a daily basis. In this case the suspect was an extremely conscientious parent in almost every respect. Her only fault was that she failed to recognize how careful you must be as a parent when using corporal punishment to discipline a child.
- She was alleged to have whipped the child with a belt leaving numerous injuries which were revealed in photographs taken by the Tampa Police Department. Shortly after the client was contacted by police she gave a statement, and the case was sent to the State Attorney's Office. A Child Abuse Charge was filed and then the client decided to call our office. As we have mentioned on numerous occasions it is never good to wait to hire a criminal defense attorney. If you call a criminal attorney the moment you believe you have become the suspect in an investigation your lawyer can many times make efforts to prevent charges from being formally filed. Your criminal attorney needs to be fighting for you long before a decision is made to formally file criminal charges. The client in this case represented a special set of circumstances in almost every way.
- We felt it was extremely important for the State Attorney to consider not only the factual weaknesses of this case, but also the special relationship the client had with the child.
- First, the marks revealed in the photographs contradicted the victim's statement in a number of different respects. The victim claimed that, "his grandmother gave him a whipping two times this year". Most of the photos revealed no bruising at all. The marks we did see in the photos were much more consistent with bruising caused by some type of blunt force, as opposed to the type of bruising you would see from a belt. Ultimately, we felt none of the photos proved that the victim was physically abused with a belt.
- The child's relationship with his grandmother was also very significant to this case. The victim was our client's grandson. She had raised him since he was born, because her daughter did not want the responsibility of his care. Despite the fact that she was a very caring and loving parent, her grandson continued to want to live with his biological mother. Shortly before the police were called to investigate this incident the victim threatened to have his grandmother arrested. We believed this investigation was initiated by the grandson in an effort to move back in with his biological mother.
- defense: Finally, the client's cooperation with law enforcement's investigation was helpful. She also completed a Parenting Course at the Children's Crisis Services to prove her commitment to her grandson
- results: The Child Abuse Charge was deferred to a program which should eventually lead to a dismissal of the charge.
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