Sexual Battery

Ok, I'm new to this forum. So forgive me if I say something wrong.

My 14 yr old daughter was assaulted by someone that was 17 or 18 years old. The police considered it sexual battery.

Well we have been to the detectives and they interviewed her and have done a "forensic" interview, where they videotaped her so she wouldn't have to say it over and over again.

Well I am considering getting a lawyer for my daughter, because they have yet to arrest the guy that did this. The bad thing is that he lives across the street from us. They said that they have to talk to people and interview him. It has been almost 2 weeks and that guy is still walking around. They have not called us to update us or anything.

My daughter is scared to go outside, go to school, anything and everything. I'm being told that it takes time and crap.

But what can I do to protect my daughter. She has started seeing it as that they don't care and don't want to help her.

Please help. Give me some advice. I'm just losing it.

Go to court and seek protective order to protect your child. The Police need to conduct an investigatin and this doesnt always happen in time frame we desire

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Quoting TroubleBrax

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Well I am considering getting a lawyer for my daughter, because they have yet to arrest the guy that did this.

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What do you hope to do with the layer? The lawyer can not force the police to work faster, the prosecutor to file things faster, or the court to expedite the process. Investigations go at the pace they go. And for these sorts of things, two weeks can be just the beginning.

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The bad thing is that he lives across the street from us. They said that they have to talk to people and interview him. It has been almost 2 weeks and that guy is still walking around. They have not called us to update us or anything.

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You can always seek a restraining order to prevent him from contact with your child or family members, but you certainly cannot force him to move.

Unlike television, the police cannot generally just go out and arrest someone based solely on an accusation - not on a crime like this, anyway. You see, a couple of things happen when they hook him up ... the most important of which is that a clock starts ticking! Once he has been arrested, the state has only a short time to complete the investigation and get their case presented at court. When you are dealing with what appears to be a circumstantial case, you have to build a house of cards, and you have to build it very carefully. Absent his confession, what you may have is her saying he did it, and him saying that he did not. An arrest forces their hand whether they are ready or not.

Think of it as building a race car ... you can either take you time and build it well - nice body, fine-tuned engine, new tied, etc. Or, you can rush to get it to the track with a coat of primer gray paint, the first junk engine you can find for any car, and the spare donuts off the first cars you can borrow them from. Yeah, it might make it onto the track, but it's not likely to finish the race.

The same holds true with a sexual assault case.

As for updating you, that's not their job. GA may have advocates that can handle this for you - I just don't know. Otherwise, you may have to take it upon yourself to call them. But, don't expect them to give you too much detail. Given your proximity to the victim, it is far too likely that you might leak something that could get back to him, so they are not likely to give you much detail. That's just the way it works. Yes, it might be frustrating, but if you want the job done right you have to let it get done.

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My daughter is scared to go outside, go to school, anything and everything. I'm being told that it takes time and crap.

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It DOES take time. Sexual battery is serious, but it's not the most serious offense on the table. Depending on the workload at the agency, it may not even be in the top half of the pile. I would expect at least a month before anything of importance happens. You might be surprised, but I'd say a month or more would be at the low end.

Sorry.

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But what can I do to protect my daughter. She has started seeing it as that they don't care and don't want to help her.

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You can assure her that is not the case. However, they can't drop everything else just to deal with her case. They are likely talking to all sorts of people about him ... perhaps friends or family elsewhere ... perhaps they are looking into other victims - who knows? There are all kinds of possibilities.

One of the most important things you need to do is get her into counseling. If you and she are relying on an arrest and a prosecution to make the world right, both of you are in for a real eye-opener. Even if it DOES happen, it is very unlikely that things will be all right for her. Not to mention the fact that it's possible he won't be in jail for very long even if he IS convicted. She needs to get into therapy immediately if this incident has effected her that much. If not, then she could be impaired for the rest of her life.


- Carl

I understand all that!

But what I don't understand, is why you would say that they might not tell me everything, just so that it wouldn't be leaked out. We are dealing with that now. Everyone keeps asking why the cops were at my house. I could have said something then. But the officers did explain everything to us about not saying anything. My daughter, trust me, hasn't said anything. And I really doubt that I would endanger my daughter even more by saying anything.

It may not be their responsibility to call me and update me. But it would be or should be common courtesy to do so. Especially when it involves a child. The age of consent in GA is 16. My daughter is 14. Maybe as a mother, I thought that since we live in a fairly medium sized town that they would at least try to do something to make sure she is okay and give her some peace. The crime rate isn't very big here at all.

As far as counseling, she does have one.

The reason I thought about a lawyer, was to just know what I COULD do until the investigation was over. I never thought that it would be solved over night. I'm not that stupid. And I don't watch cop shows or any of that. So I never thought it would be solved in 2 days or an hour!

I just came for advice. I don't know the legal things of what I could do. That's why I came here. To see who could help me with that.

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Quoting TroubleBrax

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But what I don't understand, is why you would say that they might not tell me everything, just so that it wouldn't be leaked out.

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Because they very often cannot risk certain info getting out. Victims - and their family members - have this nasty tendency to muddy the waters, especially when they are so close by or have common friends.

For instance, assume out of kindness they tell you that they are going to try and trip him up using a pretext phone call the following week. You and yours get all excited about this possibility and someone just happens to run into the suspect. In his exuberance, the family member yells out something to the effect of, "You'll get yours pal - just wait til you answer the phone!"

Now, guess what happens when that call comes a few days later ... he clams up, denies everything, and now the prosecution's case just got weaker.

I supervise my agency's investigations unit. And, yes, the above scenario HAS happened before (but not to me).

The fewer people that know the details, the better off the integrity of the investigation will be. It's not about intentionally damaging the case, it's about taking action or making statements that inadvertently do damage.

Of course, this is a decision left up to the agency and to the investigators. My detectives don't release details unless I approve it, or if there is a legitimate investigative purpose at that time - that's the policy here.

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It may not be their responsibility to call me and update me. But it would be or should be common courtesy to do so.

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Maybe so. And that is something you can bring up to the supervisor if you wish. But, if they are busy, and they have to spend a few hours each week updating all their victims when there is nothing grand and new to report, then that's a few hours less that they have to actually work on the cases.

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The age of consent in GA is 16. My daughter is 14. Maybe as a mother, I thought that since we live in a fairly medium sized town that they would at least try to do something to make sure she is okay and give her some peace. The crime rate isn't very big here at all.

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Well, they can't build a wall around his house and they can't arrest him just because. If they try to make an arrest before they are ready to go to court, they could blow the whole deal. It is NEVER a good idea to rush into something when you have the time to do it right. Rushing an investigation is a recipe for failure.

I assume you would rather a prosecution succeed than fail, correct? Then they need to be given the time to do their job. Two weeks is NOT a long time.

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As far as counseling, she does have one.

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That's good.

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I never thought that it would be solved over night. I'm not that stupid. And I don't watch cop shows or any of that. So I never thought it would be solved in 2 days or an hour!

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You might be surprised how many people think that these things can be solved quickly, and that cop work is like they see on TV.

You can certainly call the detective and ask for an update. You can also ask if they can update you each week if possible. You have that right to ask. However, they have the right to politely say they don't have anything more to tell you at that time. Keep in mind, also, that depending on the size of your agency and the size of the investigations division, each detective might have a couple of dozen cases he or she is working at any one time. You will be darned lucky if you have a detective tied up on only a half dozen cases! My agency is small, and we don't have a heavy investigative case load, but even low level follow-ups take us at LEAST a couple of weeks to complete. We're doing a pair of sex crimes cases right now (less than a week old, both with the same suspect) - one of which is an alleged rape - and I suspect it will be at least a month before we can build a strong enough case to approach the DA about filing charges on either one.

- Carl