False Allegations Of Child Sexual Abuse. Edward Nichols
statements, reports, and/or video or audio taped statements.
You will have the peace of mind and assurance of knowing what has been done, and what must be done, to maximize the likelihood that you will prevail.
How much does a case assessment cost?
The cost of a case assessment will vary depending on your case, your location, and the number of consultants involved. Simply call Nichols Consulting to get an estimate. Please know that our services are designed to be within the reach of the vast majority of those falsely accused. We even accept major credit cards! In most cases our services will actually cut the costs of your overall case. For those who have used the services of Nichols Consulting the question became: How could we afford not to use the national expertise of Nichols Consulting?
Beyond the case assessment, what other services does Nichols Consulting provide?
We assist your defense counsel with every phase of litigations. This may include: Analysis and assistance with the various motions that need to be put before the court; assistance in the cross-examination of adverse experts and factual witnesses; assistance in the cross-examination of the alleged victims[s]; securing and preparing defense experts and rebuttal witnesses; preparation of your witnesses; legal and mental health research; assistance in the preparation of opening and closing statements; jury selection; and other services that may be appropriate.
Remember, our consulting firm practices exclusively in the area of false allegations of child sexual abuse. We hit the ground running and efficiently and effectively form a winning team!
Do you provide expert testimony?
In the vast majority of cases we participate in, our assistance in cross-examining the state’s expert is all that is necessary. Besides saving you substantial funds, turning the state’s expert into yours is very effective.
When experts are required, Nichols Consulting is able to arrange for an appropriate and effective expert.
Occasionally, our founder, Edward Nichols, will agree to provide expert testimony. Though he is retired from providing expert testimony, he will agree to testify where [a] no other appropriate expert many be secured; [b] and failure to provide expert testimony is likely to result in a false conviction.
I was told that there are tests that I can take that will prove that I am innocent and the state will drop the charges. Shouldn’t I take these tests?
Sadly, no such tests exist, however, there is an industry that has emerged that attempts to persuade the falsely accused that these tests will solve their problem.
Think about it, if there were indeed such a test, based upon science, we wouldn’t need courts, all we would have to do is administer the test.
That is why so-called lie detector tests and other alleged sex abuse tests are not admissible in criminal courts.
For more information, call Nichols Consulting.
The Principles of Successful Representation
"Hysteria" may be defined as a wild outbreak of feelings that greatly exaggerate reality. With respect to the subject of allegations of child sexual abuse, it is my opinion that a certain measure of "hysteria" exists among child protective agencies, the courts, and a significant segment of our population. As a direct result of this hysteria, innocent parties are found to have perpetrated the sexual abuse of a child when in fact no such sexual abuse has taken place. This happens in civil cases in the context of domestic disputes, and increasingly, in criminal actions. Thus the false allegations of child sexual abuse has become a strategic weapon in the arsenal of some, and in other cases, persons of good intent have been seduced into the hysterical atmosphere that characterizes the false allegations. In any case, the need for this volume has become obvious. For example:
Man puts life back together after child recants molestation charge
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Sun News
Myrtle Beach, S.C.
Dec. 28, 1993
REIDSVILLE, N.C. Although he's a free man, Bill Forester fears he'll never escape the label that a then 6-year-old girl hung on him: child molester.
"...I know people will always wonder whether Billy Forester molested that little girl," Forester, 48, said in an interview published Monday by the News & Record of Greensboro.
Mindy Coppenger recanted her story, but not before Forester spent two years in prison. He was released last month.
These days, Forester busies himself with putting his Reidsville home and his life back together.
Mindy Coppenger, now 10, busies herself with multiplication tables at school in Tennessee. For a long time, she was unhappy there, but she's feeling much better now.
I'm happy now, and I'm very sorry," Mindy said. "I know that I shouldn't have told a story because it was wrong."
Before Bill Forester met Mindy, he met her mother, Vicky Bowers.
Forester, a supervisor for Brian Electric Co. of Greensboro, left Reidsville in 1989 to take a job in Maryville, Tenn. Forester met Vicky Bowers when he gave her a job on his construction crew. And after her second day of work, she invited him home for dinner. It was a whirlwind romance. Within days, the couple and child were living together in a Maryville apartment. Bowers' parents often kept Mindy.
When Forester and Bowers decided to move to Reidsville, Mindy cried. Forester built a swing set and sandbox to keep her busy, and drove her frequently to Tennessee to visit her grandparents.
But he insisted on discipline for a child he considered spoiled.
"Vicky wouldn't spank Mindy, and she usually bought her things whenever she wanted them," Forester said. Over Mindy's protests, Forester insisted she eat her vegetables and be in bed by 9 p.m. He also spanked her when he believed she needed it.
In November 1990, Rockingham County sheriff's deputies charged Forester with sexually abusing Mindy Coppenger. Soon after he was arrested, Forester and Bowers broke up. And Forester didn't see Mindy again until his trial in November 1991 for sexual assault.
The most convincing prosecution witness was a sobbing Mindy Coppenger.
Bowers told jurors that she had no reason to suspect Forester of molesting her daughter. But Forester was convicted, sentenced to two life sentences plus 10 years and sent to Raleigh's Central Prison in November 1991.
Forester eventually got a new attorney and won a new trial. Before prosecutors could build a fresh case against Forester, it unraveled when Mindy Coppenger said that Forester never molested her.
The girl admitted her lie to her grandmother, Margaret Bowers. Mindy explained that some children at school told her that getting Forester in trouble would be her ticket to life with her grandparents in Tennessee.
Forester was freed Nov. 17 after Mindy signed a sworn affidavit recanting her story and the charges were dropped.
Sadly, accounts such as this are commonplace. Indeed, several cases of false allegations, and convictions, make the national news regularly. To be sure, children are indeed sexually abused, but there is only one word to describe the thinking of those who attempt to justify the conviction of the innocent hysterical. Thus, based upon over twenty years of the author's academic and professional experience, this volume attempts to stem the tide of those whose zeal to protect children has begun to threaten the integrity of our justice system.
The primary purpose of this publication is to put at an attorney's fingers a volume of "usable" and practical knowledge that will prove invaluable to his next representation of a client