An attorney representing a teenage girl under Marsy’s Law was arrested in 2022, and the girl was sheltered into state custody under a false DCF affidavit and forced into three forensic interviews without her attorney.
She was asked what she told her attorney, and what her attorney told her.
The girl arrived for a voluntary interview with DCF on May 6, 2022 with her parents and her attorney, Hoot Crawford. She didn’t want to be questioned without her attorney by her side. A lieutenant from the Sheriff’s Office became angry and accused the attorney of interfering with an investigation.
The attorney asked what statute compelled her to be questioned without her attorney present. The lieutenant was furious and threatened to have the girl taken into custody and then throw him out along with the parents if he didn’t stop interfering.
The attorney decided to take the girl to his office a few blocks away, and told them that he’d hand the girl over if they get a court order. When they walked to the parking lot, a DCF agent told them that she is sheltering the girl into state custody on the spot.
The attorney told the DCF agent that they were heading to his office while awaiting the court order. He put the girl in his car and headed to his office.
The lieutenant gave chase and pulled him over, never asking them to step out of the vehicle. The attorney and the girl were detained in the car for more than an hour. When the Judge signed the oder, the attorney handed the girl over.
Authorities took the girl back to the interrogation room and forced her to answer questions while they arrested the attorney for interfering with the custody of a minor. Later they added another charge: Tampering with a witness/victim.
Two days ago, the jury found him guilty for interference with child custody and for tampering with a witness/victim.
The jury had no choice but to find him guilty because Judge Kelvin Wells refused to rule on the legality of the emergency shelter order. The jury was not allowed to consider if the child was in observable imminent clear-and-present danger.
The jury was told that he was guilty if they believed that the attorney heard the DCF agent say she was immediately sheltering the child into state custody.
Our community is shocked that the teenage girl was (1) deprived of her right to an attorney; (2) had her attorney-client privilege violated; and (3) that her attorney was arrested and convicted after the DCF agent gave a false affidavit to the judge.
