Rosie is a very special dog. She is the first judicially approved courtroom dog in the State of New York. Like any assistance dogs, part of Rosie’s duties are silent companionship during difficult times. Rosie works in the court system in New York, where this past June she sat beside a fifteen year old girl in the witness stand. Rosie’s soft coat and sympathetic gaze no doubt provided much needed comfort to the girl, who Duchess County Court judge Stephen L. Greller described as being traumatized and facing a defendant who Judge Greller described as threatening. Going on a 1994 New York appeals court ruling that allowed for a teddy bear to accompany a child witness, Judge Greller allowed Rosie to sit with the young teen as she testified.

The defense for the trial has now submitted written arguments that Rosie “infected the trial with such unfairness”, stating that the defendant’s constitutional rights were violated by the presence of the Golden Retriever. In a New York Times article on the incident, the defense lawyers objection to Rosie raise questions as to how the jury was to know if Rosie was comforting the young girl as she confronted a guilty defendant, or if the dog were responding to the stress of lying under oath. One defense lawyer raising the further point that he was unable to cross-examine Rosie.

The case was Rosie’s first court appearance and ended in a guilty judgement in June, the defendant sentenced to 25 years to life for the rape and impregnation of his 15 year old daughter. Since June, Rosie was part of a second case where she provided companionship to two girls, ages 5 and 11, who’s mother had been murdered. The defendant plead guilty to the killing, when, according to his lawyer, it became clear that the children were going to testify.

The Times article also brings up a case of a developmentally disabled man in his late 50′s who was aided by another courtroom dog in testifying against a man that tried to steal from him. The dog in that case, a Labrador retriever, has made over 50 appearances in court. The dog provided companionship to the man in a situation where he felt completely alone save for the comforting Labrador.

Dogs have been proven to provide comfort. They do not judge people, they do not have any of the judgmental opinions that a person might think other people might feel toward something that is said. They keep secrets whispered to them with unparallelled mastery.  And they have an ability to make people feel more confident in themselves, simply by the silent gentle aura of their own strength supporting the person who reaches out to thread their fingers into the dog’s soft coat.

I think that legal assistance dogs for witnesses is a great idea, most especially when it comes to traumatized children, and would love to hear anyone else’s perspective on dogs in the witness stand.