Recently, courts in Arizona, Hawaii, Indiana, Idaho and New York have allowed therapy dogs to sit with witnesses, many of whom are children, as a way of relieving the witnesses' stress. Defense lawyers of a man convicted in New York, objected:
No one denies that Rosie, a New York therapy dog who works with witnesses in criminal cases, is very cute. However the defense lawyers of a man convicted of raping his daughter claim that the golden retriever's cuteness swayed a jury too much.
During trial, the New York Times reports, the dog sat in the witness box and nuzzled the 15-year-old girl testifying. The witness told the jury that her father raped and impregnated her.
The judge in the Dutchess County Court trial overruled defense objections to the dog, on the basis that she was similar to a teddy bear. At least once during the witness' testimony, the New York Times reports, Rosie seemed to nudge her gently.
Aww. Therapy dogs have generally been used in hospitals or nursing homes, so this breaks interesting new ground. There are some days at work when I could use one. And wouldn't it be nice if they were around in other places full of stress, like waiting rooms and the supermarket produce aisle?
Comments
Therapy dog, schmerapy dog. Until they learn to open the fridge a fetch me a beer, I'd just as soon have a wife.
I'll be driving somewhere, and my wife and I get involved in, ahem, an animated discussion.
At that point, my dog reaches up and licks me on my right ear, telling me that I'm not totally beyond redemption.
If your wife is short enough that her mouth is about zipper-high, and the top of her head is flat, so you can rest a beer on it, it sounds like you have a winner, but otherwise, my dog is much better at relieving my stress.