Dog Offers Comfort To Victims, Witnesses In Courtroom
ANDERSON COUNTY, S.C. — She’s become a fixture in some Upstate courtrooms, and this week Roma, the courthouse dog, made history in South Carolina.
After getting the judge’s approval, Roma sat hidden beneath the stand next to the witness. Jurors were sent out of the courtroom when the dog was brought in, so they had no idea she was there, 10th Circuit Assistant Solicitor Chelsey Moore said.
“We hid her under the stand and put the poster board up just to make sure that they couldn’t see her when they came in from the jury room,” Moore said. “We don’t want to prejudice the defendant in any way. We don’t want the jurors biased for or against anyone, so we wanted her completely hidden. We didn’t want the jury to know that she was there at all.”
The witness has special needs and was excused after testifying on Tuesday. “(Roma) helped me out a lot yesterday, she told WYFF News 4 on Wednesday, Aug. 24. “I never had to do something like that before.”
Roma went through nearly three years of training similar to what an assistance dog undergoes. Moore is also Roma’s handler.
“The effect that she has on almost everyone she meets is pretty instantaneous,” Moore said. “It’s an instant kind of love. She calms them down. She just helps them be able to kind of take a breath and say, ‘Ok, she’s not scared, so I’m not scared’.”
“I’ve seen that at the Children’s Advocacy Center with some of our especially smaller, younger victims who come in very nervous, very afraid to talk to anyone, and by the time they leave they’re playing dominoes with Roma or they’re loving on her and loving on everybody there.”
Moore said there are similar courthouse dogs in other states.
Source: WYFF