New York Criminal Lawyer Blog
Queens Rape 16
The People of the State of New York are the respondents of the case. The appellant of the case is Khemwattie Bedessie. The case is being heard in the Court of Appeals in the State of New York.
The appellant, Khemwattie Bedessie has asked for the time to consider the testimony from an expert based on the issue of reliability of the confession. A New York DWI Lawyer said in certain cases expert testimony for false confessions are admitted, the expert in this particular case did not offer a testimony that was relevant to the defendant or this particular interrogation. As a result of this the trial judge did not abuse the discretion to hold a Frye hearing in the matter to determine whether the expert that offered testimonies was offering information that is generally accepted within the science community.
Case Background
The appellant, Khemwattie Bedessie worked at Veda’s Learning World as a Teacher’s Assistant. She is accused of sexually abusing a four year old boy who was left in her care. Specifically, she is accused of placing the child’s hand on her partially exposed breast and touching his penis on three separate occasions. The incidents occurred from January 2, 2006 through February 11, 2006. During the last incident the defendant is accused of placing the child’s penis into her vagina.
The suspicion of abuse came about on the 19th of February, 2006. The child had been sick and was recovering. He developed a rash in his rectal area. His mother bathed him that evening and he kept complaining about the itching. His mother asked him if anyone had touched him in his private areas. She had asked him this before and he had always said no. However, this night he responded yes. He told her that Ms. Anita (his name for the defendant) went up and down on his “pee-pee.” He told his mother not to tell anyone because it was a secret.
The child’s mother took her son to the doctor the following day. She took him to the emergency room and told the nurse what her son had told her about his teacher. The nurse asked the boy about the incident that occurred at school. He told her that his teacher had touched his “pishy” to her “pishy.” Pishy is the word the boy used to describe his penis.
The physician was called in as well as a social worker. A New York DWI Lawyer said the boy and his mother were taken to the Queens Child Advocacy Center. They discussed the situation with Detective Ivan Bourbon. Detective Bourbon was in charge of the investigation for the case.
The detective called the defendant in for questioning. During the interview the defendant told the detective that about several occasions where she would play with the boy’s penis and masturbate at the same time. The defendant was arrested after this oral confession.
On the day before the trial was set to begin the defense requested permission to submit testimony from Dr. Richard J. Ofshe, an expert in the field of false confessions. This application was denied.
Court Discussion and Decision
In this particular case the defense wishes to use an expert witness to establish that the defendant made a false confession. A Nassau County DWI Lawyer said it was determined that the expert witness was not needed in the case. The court affirms this decision. However, one of the judges dissents this decision and states that the case does have evidence that is unreliable and the expert witness should be allowed. However, the court has affirmed the decision.
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