Am I an Investigator or a Trial Consultant….

Most of the time I blog about interviews or communication because that is the central part of my job as an investigator.  Many of you may not know that Investigation is not my only talent. Because I understand the dynamics of sex abuse claims so well I am always thinking of the case in the big picture sence. I work my cases as if they are going to trial tomorrow. I work the investigation in sections: 1) interview and evaluate wwitnesses, 2) locate evidence, and 3)I formulate how the story will be told. I suggest that the attorney use a combination of pPowerPoint presentations, large board exhibits (graphs, maps and photographs) and live testimony. It takes an intuitive sense of the case: history, case specific details, client personality combined with visual evidence and expert witnesses to really grab a jury. I understand this process. So the whole time I am in the field I am always thinking about how this process will formulate for the current case.

This past weekend while I was out interviewing people for my case it hit me, I need to find a way for the jury to see the size and scope of this case and not just hear it. The fact is this case starts in a neighborhood and the size of this neighborhood is small but the amount of victims is large. The families all lived within a 1/2 mile radius of the pedophile who abused their children.  I mapped out the neighborhood and went back to all the homes and photographed them. All this can be set up within a PowerPoint presentation with a map to show the jury the numbers vs the size. This can be very powerful.  This information may not get used but it is something the attorney may need and they may not even know it. I gather all the information I can, suggest the many ways it can be used and the rest is up to the attorney.  I do know they hire me for a reason and the reason is I am an expert in this type of litigation.