Ms. Morton addressed the Jennifer Cooley report, Defendants Exhibit 17 at the hearing, which indicated numerous reports to Cooley that AW sexually acted out, touched other children, masturbated in front of other children, yet the genesis of this participation in sexual activity was not explored by the forensic interviewer. AW was described in the therapy records as being manipulative, sneaky, had problems with being honest and he liked to please, which should have made the interviewer cautious and diligent, trying to determine whether there was any secondary gain for AW by making these allegations. ( And there was, he was bought a new camper/van)(at 14).
An expert witness was absolutely necessary in this case; clearly Mr. Levitt had no idea about utilizing an expert witness (11/06/08 Tr. 77-81), he had never tried a child molestation case in Georgia 11/06/08 Tr. 68, he never attended a Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers ( GACDL) seminar Id. at 68, he is/was not a member of GACDL and he has never attended a seminar presented by noted child molestation expert, Doug Peters, Id. at 68. Consulting an expert witness but failing to provide information to the witness so an opinion could be performed, resulted in ineffective assistance of counsel. At the evidentiary hearing Mr. Levitt testified that it was "trial strategy" not to call the expert witness. 11/06/08 Tr. 90. The law in the State of Georgia, which it is believed Mr. Levitt did not know, since he only attended DUI seminars as to Georgia law Id. 61, 67, authorized the defense to educate the jury about interview techniques with children, which was not done in this case. Trial strategy cannot be implicated unless the attorney understands the legal implications of the decisions he makes at trial. There is no question that Mr. Levitt first of all, made not effort to secure all of the available evidence and provide it to the expert(it is undisputed that this evidence was disclosed and available upon request. 11/06/08 Tr. 127-132; second, Mr. Levitt did not know he could secure the school records of JH (Id. 62) and did not understand that school records are an indicator of whether or not the behavior of the child witness is consistent with that of an abused child; third, Mr. Levitt clearly had no idea of the laws of the state of Georgia as to anything other than DUI. 11/06/08 Tr. 61, 131-132. The Court should take judicial notice that every competent attorney who represents a defendant charged with child molestation comes to court armed with Doug Peters' manual, upon representing those accused of child molestation, in her briefcase.
I'm getting a little at a time on here. This was an unfinished part from the number 1. Next is Number 2. The whole thing is about 55 pages. I am doing the best I can to get it on here.
Next after the motion is completely on here, I will put the opinion that the state court of appeals wrote to us. We have since filed a reconsideration motion. It is quite hard to believe. I don't expect the reconsideration motion to make much difference. But hopefully we can get a certificate to the Supreme Court and pray they will at least look at the evidence. As the state appeals court seemed to have failed to do, according to its opinion. You will see. Thanks for the continued support from all!! From now on I am going to say this to you all, if you know anyone who can maybe help us, please contact me via email. Or Mr. Anderson has my personal info. But I am asking for any help we can get. God Bless you all and God Bless my Brother, Brad Wade.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
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which Doug Peters are you speaking of?
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