Jun 22, 2017 By: yunews
Daniel Pollack,
professor at the , recently published two articles in Policy & Practice, the journal of the American Public Human Services Association.
In 鈥,鈥 Pollack examines the 2015 case of People of the State of Michigan v. Ackley, in which Leo Ackley was convicted by a jury of first-degree felony murder and first-degree child abuse following the death of his live-in girlfriend鈥檚 three-year-old daughter while she was in his care. At his trial, the prosecution called five medical experts. They testified that the child had died as the result of an intentional head injury. Ackley鈥檚 attorney called no experts that might have argued the possibility that the girl鈥檚 injuries resulted from an accidental fall.
The Michigan Supreme Court concluded that the 鈥渄efense counsel鈥檚 failure to engage a single expert witness to rebut the prosecution鈥檚 expert testimony, or to attempt to consult an expert with the scientific training to support the defendant鈥檚 theory of the case, fell below an objective standard of reasonableness, and created a reasonable probability that this error affected the outcome of the defendant鈥檚 trial.鈥
Pollack's second article, 鈥淧reserving Video-Recorded Child Sexual Abuse Investigative Interviews,鈥 argues in favor of the long-term preservation of child sexual abuse investigative interviews. Pollack suggests that 鈥渢he storage, maintenance, and retrieval of video-recorded interviews are crucial to ongoing child maltreatment investigations and for use in future legal forums. If they are not properly preserved, there is a risk that constitutional rights and obligations will be impaired.鈥 To solve this problem, human services agencies face hard questions with crucial legal and budgetary implications.
professor at the , recently published two articles in Policy & Practice, the journal of the American Public Human Services Association.
In 鈥,鈥 Pollack examines the 2015 case of People of the State of Michigan v. Ackley, in which Leo Ackley was convicted by a jury of first-degree felony murder and first-degree child abuse following the death of his live-in girlfriend鈥檚 three-year-old daughter while she was in his care. At his trial, the prosecution called five medical experts. They testified that the child had died as the result of an intentional head injury. Ackley鈥檚 attorney called no experts that might have argued the possibility that the girl鈥檚 injuries resulted from an accidental fall.
The Michigan Supreme Court concluded that the 鈥渄efense counsel鈥檚 failure to engage a single expert witness to rebut the prosecution鈥檚 expert testimony, or to attempt to consult an expert with the scientific training to support the defendant鈥檚 theory of the case, fell below an objective standard of reasonableness, and created a reasonable probability that this error affected the outcome of the defendant鈥檚 trial.鈥
Pollack's second article, 鈥淧reserving Video-Recorded Child Sexual Abuse Investigative Interviews,鈥 argues in favor of the long-term preservation of child sexual abuse investigative interviews. Pollack suggests that 鈥渢he storage, maintenance, and retrieval of video-recorded interviews are crucial to ongoing child maltreatment investigations and for use in future legal forums. If they are not properly preserved, there is a risk that constitutional rights and obligations will be impaired.鈥 To solve this problem, human services agencies face hard questions with crucial legal and budgetary implications.
