One dog is breaking brand-new ground in the Minnesota court system.
For the very first time, a judge permitted Nova, a center dog with the Stearns County Attorney’s Office, to accompany a young victim to the witness stand throughout testament.
“The victim could pet her the whole time,” Nova’s handler and Victim-Witness Coordinator Keli Trautman said. “You can just see their bodies relax a little bit. I mean, what they’re talking to us about is not easy. I was so excited, I was so happy. I knew it was going to help our victim.”
Nova sat beside the victim out of the jury’s view for 5 hours.
“This victim in our case who was going to be testifying was a child who had experienced some traumatic abuse throughout her life,” Assistant Stearns County Attorney Jamie Reinschmidt said. “We knew that Nova could help make this situation less stressful for her if she was able to be up on the witness stand with this victim.”
A man was condemned and sentenced to thirty years in jail after the trial Nova sat by the victim.
Officials state that was Nova’s very first case however won’t be her last, as she’s already scheduled to appear with another victim in an approaching trial.
