State v. Ms. R (DMC No. 18291) – (2 Counts) Felony Child Abuse (Dangerous Crimes Against Children) – Not Charged/”Turned Down” by Yavapai County Attorney’s Office – Prescott Police Department Investigated – (Case No. PR2X-XXXXX3 and PR2X-XXXXX1)
Ms. R had gone through a contentious Divorce with her husband, and there were constant battles regarding Child Custody. Her husband was abusive when they were married, and he was now attempting to “alienate” the children from Ms. R. When he would drink to excess, he would start manipulating the children during Custody visits on his weekends. He would give them gum or money if they would tell him “something bad mommy would do”. The children would then make things up simply to get candy or money.
Eventually, her ex-husband had the children make two separate Police Reports. On one of the Reports, the 15-year-old daughter had stated that the Mother would grab her and pull her by her hair, and slap her and grab her arm.
The second Report was made two months later, immediately after the Father had gotten the children for his parenting time, regarding abuse. When the Detectives showed up to question the children, the son stated that he’d be pinched on the arm, dragged by his bangs to bed, and grabbed by the arm and slapped. The Detective noted “his body language was contradictory to the incident he was telling” and in regards to the daughter, “her behavior was counter to the incident that she was reporting. She was smiling and had an upbeat, joyous nature when reporting that her mother and grandmother had assaulted her”. Even though these Reports were made, the Detective routed them over to the Yavapai County Attorney’s Office for review.
Thee services of DM Cantor were secured, and we ultimately contacted the Yavapai County Attorney, and presented all evidence from their contentious Divorce Proceedings (which had gone on for years). In addition, we had our Client take and “pass” a Polygraph Examination. Ultimately, a decision was made that Charges would be “Turned Down”. If Ms. R had been Charged and Convicted, she could have spent potentially over 5 Years in Prison.
