Legal Question in Criminal Law in Washington

My son-in-law (soon to be ex) confessed to my daughter and to me, that he had been sexually molesting my baby grandaughter (17 mos old at the time), and it later came out in questioning by the detectives that he had in fact raped her on multiple occasions. My question is: His criminal attorney now wants to question me and my daughter, so what should we be expecting?

How should we prepare? Should we have our own attorney with us?


Asked on 2/04/11, 4:43 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Steve Graham Law Office of Steve Graham

Often times the witness will ask that the prosecutor be present for the interview, and that the interview take place at his or her office. You should expect that the interviews will be done separately, meaning that you will not be in the room when you daughter is interviewed and vice versa. I would not prepare together for the interview because that might look like you are getting your stories straight. In some counties you will be asked to submit to an audio-recorded interview. I would ask the prosecutor or victim/witness coordinator about this. Usually the defense attorney has an investigator present who may ask questions too, and he may take notes. Sometimes witnesses ask to review any previous statements given by them on earlier occasions. Usually these interviews take about 30 minutes or more. Typically I witnesses don't have their own attorneys present unless they are worried about maybe incriminating themselves. Submitting to an interview is never fun, but the system expects defense attorneys to prepare in this manner. If the defense lawyer recommends that the defendant plead guilty to a major felony, usually he or she will want to talk to the main witnesses. This is just being thorough and covering all your bases.

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Answered on 2/08/11, 5:29 pm


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