My dad was served with a search warrant. If anything comes of it he's all but committed himself to suicide. As a professional he was a social worker and knows the system. How to beat and cheat it, not to mention charming. How do I help my mother who feels helpless?
They are likely to follow up on all connections on his computer which will probably lead to other family members and his tablet which they did not find.
The best thing Chasten can do at this time is seek legal advice
But first, my understanding of being served with a search warrant is that it's served when the police are ready to initiate the search, i.e., right then and there. Has this happened?
I haven't seen such a warrant in years, but I believe that there are parameters established, i.e., searching a bedroom, or a kitchen, or garage. There has to be a reason for the search warrant as well as something specific or general for which the police are searching.
They also have to meet a certain standard of likelihood of finding something in order to get the warrant issued.
Were there any indications what the purpose of the search was, i.e., what the police were looking for?
I'm not trying to pry, just trying to narrow down the outstanding issues, so you can help your father rationalize the issue and possibilities.
If the police have searched already, did they remove anything? That would probably be an indication that they may have found something for which they were searching.
It's distressing that this should cause such anxiety for your father. But I think he has another option before committing suicide, and that's to get a criminal attorney involved. If he can't pay for one, he can ask for a court appointed attorney; they aren't always as skilled as higher paid attorneys, but a good friend was a criminal attorney who took appointments, and she was a top notch defense attorney.
If he's not indigent and has to hire his own attorney, do so, even if it seems costly. It's well worth it, and they'll work out a payment plan.
An attorney can negotiate a plea deal, if there is criminal liability. But better yet, good criminal attorneys know the system and how to defend against charges, legitimate or otherwise. Just as your father knows that the system isn't always fair, so do criminal attorneys, and they know how to play the system.
I worked for a few years in the local Juvenile Court, then the Prosecutor's Office, as a court reporter. It was amazing how often defendants got off because of a sharp criminal attorney. Anyone like your father who's seen abuses and knows the system can still never know it as well as an attorney who's studied the criminal law statutes.
Getting an attorney could relieve a great deal of anxiety for your parents. That would be my next step as soon as law offices open tomorrow. And if he's questioned, he can always decline to answer, especially if he's been Mirandized first.
My feeling on being helpless is to take control of the situation as best as you can, even if you have to hire someone to help.
Facing the legal system is daunting; it pays to get someone who knows the ins and outs of criminal law to work for you.
And, although I hope no conviction is involved, an attorney can also work out a deal that could mitigate any liability and limit any penal action against him.
As to comforting your mother, perhaps she can feel better by participating in the search for an attorney, so she's doing something to address the situation. She could do online research through the online state bar association's web site listing attorneys in the criminal law practice area, or by calling the local county bar association. She and you can make a checklist of questions, and you can help her note the information and make decisions on which attorneys might need your needs.
In my experience, criminal law attorneys are often in small practices, or sole practitioners. White collar criminal attorneys are more often found in larger law firms. But then that's just my experience.
I wish you luck, and at least some measure of peace for your whole family.
Your mom feels helpless.
Does your mom feel as though he's committed a crime, is going to take the "easy" way out and leave her holding the bag? What is there relationship like?
Chantne, ordinarily I would suggest that you contact the Admins and ask them to delete or at least scrub your post; however, since it addresses criminal issues, including child porn, they might refuse to do so b/c your statements could be considered evidence of long term child porn use, and I would think that a reliable website wouldn't normally want to be involved in tampering with evidence
In addition, your post will likely be backed up on Aging Care's servers and would be available if AC was served with a search warrant as well.
Have you contacted an attorney yet?
Chantne, I have often wondered what happens to the family and friends of people under accusation. They are going through hell, but they are rarely acknowledged to be victims and some even find themselves suspect. It must be agonising.
You ask how you help your mother, who feels helpless. She IS helpless. She is not responsible for your father's actions but she is intimately associated with them. That's the nightmare of her situation.
I should ask someone on the police investigative team if they can recommend any support groups for her.
It's two different issues - the investigation on the one hand, and then rules of evidence. US rules on admissibility of evidence are legendary, and hearsay does not qualify.
Anyway - if the police have been granted a search warrant I doubt if the OP's reported conversation with her mother is in fact going to tell them anything they don't already know. Isn't the question more about how the mother is going to handle the real-world fallout? - and what, if anything, she should disclose to her social circle that her husband won't just attempt to dismiss as her being a bit of a flake?
CM, even if there's nothing on a tablet or computer now, experienced techs (and including some computer geeks I know) have the skills to go beyond a scrubbed hard drive on which data has been deleted. They can restore that deleted data.
I sound like I've suddenly joined the "if you're not a criminal you've got nothing to worry about" brigade, which is pretty much the polar opposite of me.
I do worry about WHAT is made criminal; especially nowadays. Not since the French Revolution have we been so ready to criminalise people who even passively *sympathise* with proscribed activities or schools of thought, and that does freak me out enough to please any of my civil rights inclined friends.
But I am not remotely worried about the police having the tools they need to investigate what they're supposed to be investigating. Like I'd rather they had the fastest cars and the biggest weapons, too.
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