Municipal Court, Maricopa County, Arizona

Start Date: 12/02/2020

Description:

We were asked to assist the Asst. City Prosecutor, Maria Nilmeier, in an upcoming case involving a 7 year old victim of a sexual assault. The trial is scheduled for Dec. 7th but Maria wanted us to meet the young girl and her father the week before, we met on Wednesday, the 3rd of Dec. Our meeting went smoothly, Cinder and the victim were a scene of "love at first sight". Maria asked her a lot of questions to get her used to answering truthfully or say "I don't know" etc. I took this opportunity to give the victim a small stuffed Golden Retriever toy she could keep with her and told her to think about Cinder if she got scared and I attached an extra leash onto Cinder's collar so she could have some control over Cinder's whereabouts. We then proceeded to the actual courtroom where the trial will be held so the victim could get used to the surroundings, know where she would sit at the witness stand, where the jury would be, use the microphones and also see where Cinder and I would be right up there with her. This brave young girl is a real inspiration, I'm just sorry she has to go through this.
That afternoon Maria emailed me to let me know that due to the increase in COVID 19 cases in Maricopa County all jury trials have been suspended until at least March. She will contact me at some future date and we will pick up where we left off.

Agency: Municipal Court, Maricopa County, Arizona
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