By Andy Furillo
Sacramento Bee
November 29, 2011
http://www.sacbee.com/2011/11/29/4085604/defense-expert-child-sexual-abuse.html
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| Lawyers for Tommy Gene Daniels had an adopted daughter, now 22, testify in his child molestation trial on Monday. |
Prosecutors offered it as powerful evidence of why children who make molestation allegations ought to be believed, but a defense expert Monday labeled child sexual abuse accommodation syndrome as "junk science."
University of Nevada professor William O'Donohue testified as the second-to-last witness for Tommy Gene Daniels before the defense rested its case in the Rio Linda pastor's child molestation trial in Sacramento Superior Court.
O'Donohue, a professor of clinical psychology, called the syndrome "a very problematical theory."
"I think it's a false account," O'Donohue testified. "I think it's potentially dangerous. I think it's junk science."
Earlier in the trial, Deputy District Attorney Kimberly Macy called UC Davis School of Medicine pediatrics professor Anthony J. Urquiza to testify as an expert on the child sexual abuse accommodation syndrome. Urquiza testified that CSAAS theory explains why children are apt to keep their molestation secret. He said its tenets also make it easier to understand victims' sense of helplessness and entrapment, their tendency to delay reporting allegations of sexual abuse and their relatively high rate – 25 percent – of recanting their stories.
Under questioning from defense attorney Michael L. Chastaine, the Nevada professor said the CSAAS theory "has many problems" and "it's accepted by no major professional organizations." He called it "a fringe theory."
While O'Donohue attacked the theory's adherence to the scientific method, he did not necessarily disagree with the substance of what it seeks to explain. He agreed molestation victims want to keep the details of what happened to themselves, and he testified it is "generally true" victims take their time to report molestation allegations – half the time more than six months.
He said the 25 percent recantation rate found in some surveys on molestation victims suggests there was some "untruth" to their stories, but he did not make the leap to call the kids liars.
"Basically, now, we don't have the percentage of children who lie about this," O'Donohue testified. He said there is no way to establish a "God's-eye view" of the truthfulness of the accusers.
Macy, in her cross-examination, cited a Canadian study that put the rate of false allegations of child molestation as low as 4 percent. O'Donohue, who said he has made $400,000 and $500,000 as a defense expert in child molestation cases over the past 25 years, said he was aware of the study. He said he also knew about its finding that false reports usually came from relatives, oftentimes in custody disputes, and never from the children themselves.
Also Monday, an adopted daughter of Daniels reluctantly confirmed a statement she gave to police six years ago that her father had disappeared down a hallway for 15 to 20 minutes on the July 5, 2005 afternoon the pastor was accused of molesting a 5-year-old girl in his Citrus Heights home.
Macy got the 22-year-old witness to admit what she told police in 2005 – that Daniels had slipped out of the living room of his home for a prolonged time period on the afternoon prosecutors charge he molested the girl.
During the D.A.'s cross- examination Monday, the daughter at first said the statement she gave to police when she was 15 years old was inaccurate. "I believe it was five to 10 minutes," she said. "He said he was going to the bathroom … Now that I'm older, I remember things better."
But Macy continued to confront the woman with the report of the police interview written by Citrus Heights investigators after their August 2005 interview. It prompted her finally to say, "It could have been 15 to 20 minutes."
The time frame is possibly important to corroborating the previous trial testimony of the alleged victim, who is now 12. The girl testified on the first day of trial that she had been sleeping in a rear bedroom off the hallway of the Daniels home when she was molested. The girl identified the intruder as Daniels. She said he came into the room a second time to molest her.
Daniels testified last week that he did open the door to the bedroom, but only to let a cat inside.
The pastor of the First Baptist Church of Rio Linda is accused on 12 counts of molesting five girls in his Wapiti Place home in Citrus Heights between 2003 and 2005. Daniels, 49, and his wife used the residence to provide day care and foster care services.
Macy is expected to call as many as three rebuttal witnesses today. Judge Trena H. Burger-Plavan said she will try to arrange for closing arguments to take place on Thursday, after which she will send the case to the jury.
Contact: afurillo@sacbee.com
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