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Pretext Phone Calls In felony sexual assault cases, law enforcement is increasingly likely to have the purported victim call the alleged offender in what is colloquially termed a pretext phone call. During this phone call, or series of phone calls, the alleged victim attempts to induce the alleged offender to make incriminating statements that are tape-recorded by police and can latter be used against the individual during prosecution. The danger of this procedure to an innocent client, as for example when there has been consensual sexual activity, is that in an effort to appease the alleged victim, the individual might say words to the effect that they are sorry. While this may in fact mean that they are sorry if they caused anyone distress, taken in the context of the phone conversation and later criminal prosecution, it becomes viewed as an admission that the individual has done something wrong. Otherwise why would they apologize? There is no indication that law enforcement is taping the conversation and the telephone call comes without warning. There are some of the same issues involved with interpreting what is meant by a confession when someone acknowledges, for example sex with someone, but they believed it was consensual sex.
Computer Investigation Another trend is the use of computer searching software to completely examine
a computer. Even files that have been "erased" are recovered and may be
used in the prosecution of an alleged crime. These programs analyze the
downloads made to a computer, the websites visited, and the pictures looked at,
even if the pictures were just sent by email and were looked at in order to
be deleted from the computer. |
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