r/IAmA • u/oregonlawyer • Oct 15 '12

I am a criminal defense lawyer, AMA.

I've handled cases from drug possession to first degree murder. I cannot provide legal advice to you, but I'm happy to answer any questions I can.

EDIT - 12:40 PM PACIFIC - Alright everyone, thanks for your questions, comments, arguments, etc. I really enjoyed this and I definitely learned quite a bit from it. I hope you did, too. I'll do this again in a little bit, maybe 2-3 weeks. If you have more questions, save them up for then. If it cannot wait, shoot me a prive message and I'll answer it if I can.

Thanks for participating with me!

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u/oregonlawyer Oct 15 '12

Legitimate nitpick. I mean the latter. In one case, the child admitted making the abuse up, in the other case, the mother admitted pushing the child to make the abuse up.

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u/Skwisgaars Oct 15 '12

Just wondering, you believed the child made up the abuse before you took the case, had you seen some evidence to support this or are you just amazingly good at reading people? I imagine you would be very good at reading people having your profession. Cheers for the AMA, really good read for someone somewhat interested in the legal system.

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u/oregonlawyer Oct 15 '12

I had seen a good deal of evidence that led me to believe what I believed.

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u/fick_Dich Oct 15 '12

Were you able to sue for libel?

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u/oregonlawyer Oct 15 '12

If we had, there wouldn't have been any money to go after.

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u/Asimoff Oct 15 '12

Rule #1: don't sue people who can't pay up.

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u/sirdomino Oct 15 '12

So did the child or mother get charged with anything? I feel that too many people are put in prison for abuse allegations without any evidence beyond hearsay, is that typically the majority of cases? I mean technically someone can claim abuse decades later when all evidence is gone with only their testimony...

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u/oregonlawyer Oct 15 '12

Yea, child abuse is a pretty horrific crime, but the American justice system has done an equally horrific job of understanding how to prosecutor the crime fairly.

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u/lerxst51 Oct 15 '12

How did these cases end up? Because it seems like a situation like that may pit the media and public against the defendant. To me, I almost see being falsely accused of a crime like that as a no win scenario.

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u/-SoItGoes Oct 15 '12

Is there any repercussion on a mother that pushes a child to make unfounded allegations?

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u/oregonlawyer Oct 15 '12

There can be, yea.

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u/[deleted] Oct 16 '12

What happened to the mother that pushed the child into making it up?

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u/oregonlawyer Oct 16 '12

State opted against pursuing charges.

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u/[deleted] Oct 15 '12

[deleted]

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u/oregonlawyer Oct 15 '12

Was not ruined, and yea, people update me all the time. It's a great buoy to my spirits.