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?
