Pre trial prep or advice anyone ?

[innocentson]

Trial is next month and we're all so scared ... I just wanted to ask others how pre trial prep went for them ? How often you heard from your solicitor and barrister ? What steps did they take in terms of defence strategy?
Did the cps submit the evidence materials to you in time ? Anything at all we should be doing ?

Reason being as a) I don't know what's normal b) our solicitor doesnt contact us - only if I call him & nothing to do yet he says c) the defence still have not provided any of the unused evidence list that we've asked for and d) we suspect they've lost ctv (it was in a public place) this was a student "consensual" one night stand nearly 10 years ago & never investigated at the time. A closed case re-opened by police cos of a chance DNS hit on their database , following a minor incident early this year - nothing serious and no link to the False accusation from 10 years ago

Sorry for going on - just not sure what or if we should be doing something and living our own bad dream nightmare .....sometimes I think my head will explode

Any suggestions would be most sincerely appreciated....
Thank you
Innocentson

[Staystrong1]

Keep calm and carry on

Hi there

Just thought I would say hello. My OH has very recently been through a trial following a false allegaion and was found not guilty on all counts. happy to,discuss if you want to PM me to discuss or have a chat. It is quite normal to feel the way you do. I know we were frightened worried throughout the nearly 2 years we waited for it to come to trial. The last few weeks were the hardest. Dreading the trial,but also wanting it to come to bring an end to it all. Take one day at a time and dont keep 'what if'. You and your family can get through it.

We found that the last month there was lots of work done and going on by us and the defence team. CPS are notoriously slow at providing all disclosure so its not unusual to get things right at the last minute? I hope you have a good defence team and barrister in place. We were in contact a lot at the end, sometimes by email as it is sometimes better to contact this way as they will hopefully be busy bringing your defence all,together. We had a couple of meetings in last month and also met the barrister again and went through the defence in more detail. I think this is quite usual.

Try to keep calm and you will get through this. There is a really good thread on the trial itself on here and my OH read this and found it really useful,at trial. It tells you what to expect and was spot on. It was a member of the forums account and it totally mirrored our experience. It will be a rollercoaster but hopefully you will get your NG. A few people on here advised that the truth will,out and liars dont remember their lies and that is what happened at trial.

Keep,strong and I am sure you will get lots of good advice on here as we did.

[Rights Fighter]

............... A closed case re-opened by police cos of a chance DNS hit on their database , following a minor incident early this year - nothing serious and no link to the False accusation from 10 years ago

Sorry for going on - just not sure what or if we should be doing something and living our own bad dream nightmare .....sometimes I think my head will explode

Any suggestions would be most sincerely appreciated....
Thank you
Innocentson

What's a DNS?

If the sol is on the ball then he will be requesting a court hearing for disclosure that is necessary for the defence.

If not then contact the senior partner and explain that you are worried that you are not being told anything at all (if that is the case).

Ask if the Defence Case Statement has been made. This is not the def's statement.

Has a proof of evidence been done by your son? This means going through all the paperwork and commenting on the various allegations and statements.

Have material def witnesses been contacted and statements made?

[innocentson]

Thank you for guidance .....

What's a DNS?

If the sol is on the ball then he will be requesting a court hearing for disclosure that is necessary for the defence.

If not then contact the senior partner and explain that you are worried that you are not being told anything at all (if that is the case).

Ask if the Defence Case Statement has been made. This is not the def's statement.

Has a proof of evidence been done by your son? This means going through all the paperwork and commenting on the various allegations and statements.

Have material def witnesses been contacted and statements made?

Some valuable q's for me to ask solicitor - thank you so much

Typo - I meant DNA (fat finger syndrome kicking in:-)

Sol is a partner & he's copied the court in on his requests - not mentioned a hearing tho
Defence statement has been made - kept brief on advice of barrister

Not sure on proof of evidence - just her word against his mainly .... But I'll check ; knowing what Q's to ask really helps . No witnesses on either side - other than she has a couple who claim to be in contact with her that night by phone , during and after the incident.

I know we have a good barrister & gut feel is solicitor is good but just very busy & not a people person .... its just that its drawing near and I feel like we should be doing something !!! God knows what but your steer is very helpful

Many thanks
Innocenson

[Rights Fighter]

I've added you as a contact so please do PM me. If you write your email address, or better still, your landline number in there, we can do this off-forum quicker, given the time constraints and confidentiality.

Proof of evidence SHOULD have been done by now as it will give counsel an indication of what he will say in response to various questions at trial.

Off to bed now but will pick up your PM tomorrow, or whenever you send it, if you do.

[innocentson]

Thank you - your another role model

Hi there

Just thought I would say hello. My OH has very recently been through a trial following a false allegaion and was found not guilty on all counts. happy to,discuss if you want to PM me to discuss or have a chat. It is quite normal to feel the way you do. I know we were frightened worried throughout the nearly 2 years we waited for it to come to trial. The last few weeks were the hardest. Dreading the trial,but also wanting it to come to bring an end to it all. Take one day at a time and dont keep 'what if'. You and your family can get through it.

We found that the last month there was lots of work done and going on by us and the defence team. CPS are notoriously slow at providing all disclosure so its not unusual to get things right at the last minute? I hope you have a good defence team and barrister in place. We were in contact a lot at the end, sometimes by email as it is sometimes better to contact this way as they will hopefully be busy bringing your defence all,together. We had a couple of meetings in last month and also met the barrister again and went through the defence in more detail. I think this is quite usual.

Try to keep calm and you will get through this. There is a really good thread on the trial itself on here and my OH read this and found it really useful,at trial. It tells you what to expect and was spot on. It was a member of the forums account and it totally mirrored our experience. It will be a rollercoaster but hopefully you will get your NG. A few people on here advised that the truth will,out and liars dont remember their lies and that is what happened at trial.

Keep,strong and I am sure you will get lots of good advice on here as we did.

Thank you so much : I read the post you mentioned and found them really helpful too. Also your story / thread was reassuring
..... I'm longing for my son to get the same result. The alternative is unthinkable.

I'm really hoping your last line about liars not remembering is seen by the jury as her statement made so long ago is bizarre quite frankly .... We think it's the police pushing this as they re opened a closed case because of his dna taken this year ( for something routine that resulted in nothing) being a match with a closed case : that they didn't investigate years ago ....

I'm going to start chasing solicitor from Monday to start more discussions on prep for trial now based on advice from RF . If I can keep busy it helps channel my frustration and emotions

Many thanks for your help
Innocenson

[Staystrong1]

Thank you so much : I read the post you mentioned and found them really helpful too. Also your story / thread was reassuring
..... I'm longing for my son to get the same result. The alternative is unthinkable.

I'm really hoping your last line about liars not remembering is seen by the jury as her statement made so long ago is bizarre quite frankly .... We think it's the police pushing this as they re opened a closed case because of his dna taken this year ( for something routine that resulted in nothing) being a match with a closed case : that they didn't investigate years ago ....

I'm going to start chasing solicitor from Monday to start more discussions on prep for trial now based on advice from RF . If I can keep busy it helps channel my frustration and emotions

Many thanks for your help
Innocenson

Hi

Yes good solid advice from RF as always. I found it useful to keep busy too. We were in constant contact with Solicitors especially before trial and sent many emails in Particular with various things that came to mind from the time in question from OH. Anything he can remember to help his defence is important as the devil is in the detail.Especially to help disprove allegation. It helped to pass them on to defence team so they would be at least be considered by them and Barrister. Also need to be thinking of character witnesses too. OH went through everything with defence prior to trial, dont be afraid to ask questions of defence team there is a lot at stake for you all. Keep,posting as you will get as you know lots of help from here too

[innocentson]

Thank you staystring1
We're trying as much as poss .... Fortunately my son managed to hang on to his job (after much pushing for bail relaxation ) and is very busy : mixed blessing tbh Because it's adding to his stress and he's burying his head ...... He knows he's innocent : so can't comprehend why a jury won't believe him..... But I worry it's not enough

Lots of really positive character refs coming through, many from his close female friends outlining this is just not the sort of thing you would ever dream of him being capable of ... Helps comfort wise : not sure how much jury will read / take notice of

one night stand from so long back - in the middle of his student years ...is a challenge memory wise .... but he's trying

I'll keep posting (in between melt downs). My family and friends don't know as the former are quite old and would worry them and the latter (other than know) can't add value / experience .....plus I breakdown if I talk
Many thanks - good to know we're not alone

[AmandaF]

I have no advice to give, just to let you know you have my best wishes and thoughts.
Not much else I can do

[innocentson]

I have no advice to give, just to let you know you have my best wishes and thoughts.
Not much else I can do

Thank you Amanda -
I only wish we knew of this site before I stumbled over it ......

[Rights Fighter]

Are you able to check out the accuser's Facebook and other social media profiles at all?

[innocentson]

Are you able to check out the accuser's Facebook and other social media profiles at all?

Yes ; another tip I found from this website..... Have taken screenshots as clearly no evidence of trauma eg out and about & lively ... Interesting poses if you get the drift...

Not sure if we can use them though : another point to talk through with legal team

[Rights Fighter]

Read through some threads where I explain "creating false impressions" and "correcting false impressions".

[innocentson]

I've read a few, which is another reason I took them. I'm just hoping Facebook doesn't show who's looking ...

But I'll go over all I can find : many thanks