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-The most important part of a lewd acts
with a child trial for the defense
is cross examination of the child accuser
because that child is going to have to go into court,
take the witness stand, point at the defendant
and say, that person over there molested me,
and tell the story.
And if the jury believes the child, it's all over.
The defendant is going to be convicted,
is going to go to prison for years,
and if he ever gets out of prison,
is going to be a registered sex offender for life.
So the consequences are just devastating.
But on the other hand, if the jury
is skeptical of the child's testimony,
if there are credibility problems with the child's
story, then they may well render a not guilty verdict.
And of course, as defense lawyers, that is our goal.
Therefore, it is absolutely critical
to discredit the child.
And we do this by showing inconsistencies
in the child's testimony, by showing that the child's story
changed over time as it almost always does,
by showing that the child was coached and manipulated
by parents and police and prosecutors,
by showing that the child's story is not plausible,
by showing that the child has a history of being dishonest,
and perhaps most importantly, by showing that this child has
a bias against our client and a motive
to make up false allegations.
If we can do this effectively, and we have in case after case,
but if we can do this effectively,
we stand a very good chance of walking away
with a not guilty verdict.