Opinion ID: 729726
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Denial of Independent Psychological Examination

Text: 121 The defense moved for a psychological examination of the children stating that this examination would be crucial to the defense in preparation of the case and observing: 122 The children have been subjected to countless, unrecorded interviews by social workers, FBI and tribal officers, the U.S. Attorneys Office and others. There is simply no way of telling what occurred at these interviews, the nature and form of the questions, or whether or not some children who are now complaining witnesses, at first denied the abuse occurred, or whether there have been retractions or recantations. 123 In response to the government's objections, the movants also asserted the stated claim in preventing contact with the child by the accused or the appointed psychologist for the accused is to protect the children from any further abuse or possible intimidation or harassment by the accused or the appointed psychologist. 124 The movants further argued that social workers interrogated the children several times; that the police and the FBI interrogated the children several times; that the children were told to keep dream journals by the foster care provider; that the children had been the recipients of constant interrogation by the foster care provider; that the counselor had interrogated the children on numerous occasions; that the prosecuting attorney had interviewed the children several times; and that there had been dozens of interrogations by various agencies involved. The movants noted that at no time was the cry of trauma, embarrassment, invasion of privacy and possible harassment by these interrogations raised, and that perhaps this was because the various agencies were building their cases. 125 This motion was well taken. 126 Although it is addressed to the discretion of the district court and the district court denied the motion on the grounds that such examination was unnecessary and intrusive, the record in this case amply indicates that the defendants suffered substantial prejudice by the nature of the case against them without the opportunity to indeed show that possible falsification in testimony had occurred because of the nature of the government's investigations. Given their lack of access to the children and the amount of suggestive interviewing done to support the prosecution, we believe the defendants were entitled to an independent psychological examination. 127 This belief is strengthened by the failure to videotape or audiotape any of the investigatory or counseling interviews. Electronic recording of child witness interviews (particularly, the preliminary interviews) is crucial to rule out the potential influences of coaching and interrogative suggestion. Written summaries by the adult interviewers (be it Kelson, Jordan or law enforcement agents) are no substitute for electronic recordings of these interviews, particularly in legal proceedings: 128 Although one would excuse such missing data when the allegation was first made to parents, one would hope that it would be normal procedure for the police, social workers, and therapists to have recorded all interviews with the children, if the purpose of the interview could -- even remotely -- be considered forensic. 129 Ceci, supra, at p. 242. No tape or audio recordings were taken of any of the multitudinous interviews which took place in this case. Many of the discrepancies in testimony in this case might have been resolved by a taped record of these interviews. 130 In addition, some of the children's testimony reflects an element of fantasy -- possibly the tying up of practically every member of the household and locking up multiple children in closets in light of the previous abuse experience Melanie Rouse had shared with the other children. 18 Studies show that children will fantasize --telling elaborate stories about an event that never happened or fabricating an entire episode or sequence of events within a larger episode, particularly over time on the basis of acquired interviewer stereotypes, or they may produce convincing false narratives to explain fictitious events suggested to them. See Ceci, supra, at 133-34, 218-222, 227; see also, Ceci & Bruck, supra, at 407, 417 (boundaries of children's fantasy-reality distinctions can be fragile; children's disclosures may become increasingly bizarre and incredible, sometimes caused by interviewers not drawing children back to reality when they made fantastic claims; and children may have trouble distinguishing what they experienced through perception and what they only imagined they experienced). Defendants had the right to have some of these stories explored by an independent psychological examiner. 131 In light of the manner in which the prosecution, state agencies and others had proceeded in the investigation, the district court abused its discretion in denying the defense a fair opportunity to determine whether the children had, in fact, been influenced by the manner in which the investigation had taken place. 19