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!

