Re: Local crime story (And stories like this?)

Kat Richardson wrote:

Francis A. Miniter wrote:



artyw2@xxxxxxxxx wrote:


Last July a 7 year old boy disappeared from a local community. His
parents said he "ran away."  There was a big search, but he never
turned up until this week when his father led police to the body.  Both
parents are blaming each other for the killing.
In the absence of other witnesses or a direct confession, it seems like
it might be difficult to convict either parent if both accuse the
other. In fact, it might even be a strategy. Would you epxect both
parents to have separate trials? Would they appear as witnesses in each
others trials?
Any fictional parallels? There must be some.
Richard Price's Freedomland* is similar in that a parent reports a
missing child and there is a big hunt, but there is only one parent
involved.
*Soon to be a motion picture.



Since the father knew of the whereabouts of the body, he is at least an
accessory after the fact.  Then there is the question of how the body was
moved
to the location where it was hidden.  Could the mother alone have moved
it?
Could the father have moved it alone?  Then there is the problem of
eliminating
all traces of evidence that might have adhered to the body.  Granted that
the passage of time would aid the killer(s) in that regard, but maybe not
enough.

As to joint or separate trials, I think that the State will want a single
trial
so that they cannot play that game.  On a motion to sever, I tend to think
that
the judge would probably deny the motion.  Even if the motion to sever is
granted, in the first trial, you would hardly expect the spouse not being
tried
to testify, given that that person's trial is yet to come.  (Simultaneous
separate trials is a fiction of "Law and Order".)

Sometimes reality mimics a law school exam.


Francis A. Miniter



Details are a little sketchy, but it would be an interesting investigation
and trial to follow.  The cross-allegations don't necessarily mean that
both parents were involved in the death or cover-up, though it does tend to
look that way.  It could be possible that one parent, alone or with an
accomplice, killed the boy and persuaded the other the boy had run away, so
only one of them was covering up while the other was an unwitting
accessory.  Though the situation as reported, here, certainly sounds like a
parental murder--possibly an accident as a result of abuse--which then came
out when the parents fell out over something else.

Francis (or John P, if you know): I seem to recall that a spouse cannot be
compelled to testify against their spouse (exes, I believe, don't count). Is that true or is it a fiction?

<snip>



Hi Kat,

I purposely avoided that issue in my response. But, here goes. The old common law rule was that a spouse was incompetent to testify in a trial of the other spouse. That meant that she or he could not testify even on behalf of the accused spouse. Somewhere in the 19th century, if my recollection serves, that rule was deemed too draconian. A spouse could not under that rule even say "He was home with me all night."

So, the rule changed and variants flew off in all directions. In some jurisdictions, a spouse cannot testify against the accused spouse [still a form of incompetency] but can testify for him or her. In other jurisdictions, a spouse cannot be compelled to testify against the accused spouse, but can choose to testify against the accused spouse. In still other jurisdictions, the rule is that a spouse can be compelled to testify but not as to communications between the spouses. Under this rule, a spouse could be forced to say, "He came home at midnight and his white shirt was covered with blood and then he burned it," but could not be compelled to say, "I asked him what happened and he said he killed my boyfriend." So the variations on the rule have to be examined from state to state.

Exes do not count as there is nothing in the relationship to preserve - supposedly.


Francis A. Miniter
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Hospice/Palliative Care
    ... decision making revert to the parents under a situation like that. ... and whose "husband" was living with another woman for years. ... healthy spouse been living and sleeping with someone other than his ... don't want to make life and death decisions, ...
    (soc.culture.jewish.moderated)
  • Re: Casey trial question
    ... spouse to testify against them. ... BUT, if it is true, does it apply to parents also? ... your child would be alot harder then testifying against your spouse. ...
    (alt.true-crime)
  • Re: Casey trial question
    ... spouse to testify against them. ... parents be forced to testify against their own child? ... your child would be alot harder then testifying against your spouse. ... marital privilege has a long history, ...
    (alt.true-crime)
  • Re: Sleep and older children
    ... between a spouse and a child--even a teen. ... If a person is still living with hir parents ... the transition to being treated as an adult occur? ... in their children's homes as dependents. ...
    (misc.kids)
  • Re: Sleep and older children
    ... between a spouse and a child--even a teen. ... the parents treat the person similarly to the ... the transition to being treated as an adult occur? ... to live as equals, ...
    (misc.kids)