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  1. #1

    Default Sexual Assault Against a Child

    My question involves child abuse or neglect in the State of: New York, ideally - but if you would suggest another state, I am open to discussion.

    Hello everybody. I am currently writing a feature lenght script and my main character is a lawyer.
    I am asking these things as part of my research for my script. I am not familiar with law in any way, so please excuse me if my wording is a bit silly.

    - A worker in a big company is one day accused of embezzlement and fired. He pleads innocent time and time again, but no one believes him. In order to take revenge on his boss, he kidnaps his 12 year-old daughter and takes her to a forest where he rapes her for several hours continuously. He then leaves her there, where she is eventually found by the police. -

    My questions are:

    1. What would the process be in this case? Let's say there is no evidence it was the rapist who did it, except for the little girl's testimony, who, at first, is too shocked to even speak to anyone. Would her testimony be enough? What other kinds of evidence would be needed in order for the rapist to be imprisoned?

    2. Would the rapist be taken to court? Would he be represented by a lawyer who would try to get him out of it?

    3. Would the little girl need a lawyer to represent her in court, then? Or would it rather be a prosecutor? Would she need to be present in the trials?

    4. How many trials would there need to be? What would be the one thing that would definitely show the rapist to be guilty? (Besides finding semen anywhere near the scene or the girl - not sure if I want that to happen tho)

    5. How many years would the rapist be convicted to?

    6. Regarding the embezzlement, would he have already been processed for it after being fired? Is this also a matter that would be taken to court? How many years would he get for this?

    I apologise for the multitude of questions, and for my lack of knowledge in the field, haha!

    Thank you to anyone who's taken time to read all of this. I'm open to any changes/suggestions you might have.
    Also, let me know if you believe there's a better state I could base my story in, specifically for the laws.

    Hope you're having a great day!

  2. #2
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    Default Re: Child Abuse Questions for Movie Script

    Quote Quoting youngpandawan
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    In order to take revenge on his boss, he kidnaps his 12 year-old daughter and takes her to a forest where he rapes her for several hours continuously. -
    As you are a writer, I can’t help point out a grammer problem here. Your phrase “he kidnaps his 12 year-old daughter” would mean that your character kidnapped his own daughter, not the daughter of his former boss. I assume, however, that it was indeed the daughter of his former boss that he kidnapped.

    Quote Quoting youngpandawan
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    1. What would the process be in this case? Let's say there is no evidence it was the rapist who did it, except for the little girl's testimony, who, at first, is too shocked to even speak to anyone. Would her testimony be enough? What other kinds of evidence would be needed in order for the rapist to be imprisoned?
    First, depending on what how long it took for the girl to be found and what had occurred during the rape and after there may indeed be phyiscal evidence, like the semen of the attacker, hairs, etc, that the police could obtain to help postively identify the attacker. The girl would likely be taken to a hospital for treatment for any injuries she had and also for extraction and preservation of any semen left in her body.

    But if the only evidence was her testimony of the kidnap and rape that testimony is sufficient to get him convicted if the testimony is believed by the jury. Nothing else would be necessary.


    Quote Quoting youngpandawan
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    2. Would the rapist be taken to court? Would he be represented by a lawyer who would try to get him out of it?
    If the police and prosecutor have the probable cause to bring charges for the kidnap and rape the prosecutor would file the charges or get an indictment against the alleged kidnapper/rapist and would obtain from a court a warrant for his arrest. Once found by the police, he would be arrested on the warrant and then brought to court for a bail hearing and for an arraignment on the charges. At the arraignment he enters his plea and if he is not able to afford lawyer he may ask for a court appointed lawyer to represent him.

    Quote Quoting youngpandawan
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    3. Would the little girl need a lawyer to represent her in court, then? Or would it rather be a prosecutor? Would she need to be present in the trials?
    The victim does not need her own lawyer for the criminal prosecution. The district attorney (prosecutor) would handle the prosecution for the state. The girl would need to be present to testify if the prosecutor needs her testimony to make his/her case against the attacker. It would be hard to make that without her testimony.

    Quote Quoting youngpandawan
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    4. How many trials would there need to be? What would be the one thing that would definitely show the rapist to be guilty? (Besides finding semen anywhere near the scene or the girl - not sure if I want that to happen tho)
    There is only one trial unless either a mistrial occurs or the defendant wins an appeal after conviction and a new trial gets ordered. A confession by the attacker himself or a video of the attack would likely be the best evidence other than the semen to prove he was the attacker, but understand the prosecution can win with all kinds of evidence; it’s just a matter of convincing the jury that the evidence presented is good enough to prove all the elements of the crime. As noted above, the girl’s testimony alone can be enough to win conviction. Her testimony along with some physical evidence would be even better, and then thow in a confession and the case is stronger still. Often it is the combination of several pieces of evidence that make for a strong case, not any one single thing. Each case is different and the prosecutor has to work with what evidence is available to him/her.

    Quote Quoting youngpandawan
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    5. How many years would the rapist be convicted to?
    That depends on all kinds of factors. Sentencing is complex and it would matter exactly what offenses he was convicted of committing. The kidnapping and rape are two separate offenses, both of which can draw long prison terms, and the court can run those terms at the same time or first one sentence followed by the other. Very likely if convicted of kidnapping and forcible rape on a 12 year-old he would spend many decades if not his entire life in prison.

    Quote Quoting youngpandawan
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    6. Regarding the embezzlement, would he have already been processed for it after being fired? Is this also a matter that would be taken to court? How many years would he get for this?

    The embezzlement is also a crime for which he could be prosecuted. That is a theft offense and the sentence for that also depends on a variety of factors, but the main factor there is the amount of the theft.

    Note too that the employer could sue the guy for the embezzlement and the girl could sue him for the kidnapping/rape, too. Those actions would be separate from the criminal prosecutions.

    Your main character is a lawyer. How does he or she fit into this story? The prosecutor? Defense attorney? Or what?

    If you want to write a legal thriller and have it be at all accurate then I recommend you find a criminal defense attorney in the state where you want this to take place to consult with. You are not at all familiar with the law and criminal procedure, and that is a big handicap to writing this kind of novel or screenplay.

  3. #3
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    Default Re: Child Abuse Questions for Movie Script

    If you put any focus on the personal life of the victim victim, after the fact. There are some things you might want to consider. The emotions the victim goes through waiting to find out if she might be pregnant from the rape. If she was given a STD, Hepatitis C or HIV. Some of these conditions take time to show up on tests. If the rapist was infected. He may or may not have known his status at the time of the rape. Then there is the emotional and mental damage rape victims suffer

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