The Assignment: Your assignment here is to develop an interview. Select a series of questions that you would want to ask Martha to determine if she committed the crime. In addition, not only will you be required to ask the questions but you must ask them as if you were Martha this forces you to examine the crime from the suspect's point of view get into their head. Now since you are playing the role of a police officer you must understand Miranda and when it should be read. This will also require you to do some research on Child Abuse so that you have a better understanding of your subject and why he or she might have committed such a crime.

The Crime: You have been dispatched to the local hospital regarding the death of a 10 month old baby boy by the name of Nathan. From your initial interviews with the mother she states that Martha Willingham is her babysitter and has been for the five years. Today like every other weekday Martha arrive at 7:45 am and Ms. Bledsoe the mother left for work. When she arrived home at 3:00 pm she went into the bedroom to check on Nathan and he was sleep so she did not bother him. Ms. Bledsoe advises that this was unusual because he is usually up and Martha is playing with him. When Ms. Bledsoe asked Martha why Nathan was sleep she said that she had just laid him down about 15 minutes prior noting that he had been cranky and fell right to sleep. There was nothing unusual after the explanation and Martha left for the day stating that she would see tem tomorrow. After a couple of hours Ms. Bledsoe went in to check on Nathan and found that he was unresponsive and cold to the touch. She immediately called 9-11 and began CPR until the paramedics arrived.

Ms. Bledsoe's Background: She is a 30 year old single mother of one child Nathan. She works in corporate America and makes six figures. She has no contact with Nathans dad in fact Ms. Bledsoe was artificially inseminated and has no idea who the father is. She states that not having a man in her life allows her to focus on the two most important things work and her son. She is not taking medication nor does she have a mental health history.

Martha's Background: Martha is a 45 yr. old white female with no criminal history. She has an associate's degree in Early Childhood Education. Martha has no children of her own and has been babysitting since she was 22 years old and at times has served as a live in nanny. Checking with other families they have never had a problem with Martha and have always recommended her. In essence she has been the model employee. She has been the sole babysitter for Nathan for the last year and is at the house 40 hours per week while the mother is at work. Martha lives on the east side of town which is middle class and she is married. Her husband is a police officer in the adjoining jurisdiction. She has been married for 20 years to her husband and she has no children because medically she is incapable that is why she babysits. Martha is not seeing anyone outside of her marriage and was at the house alone with Nathan. There have never been any calls for service to this residence for anything. Martha takes Lisinopril which is a blood pressure medication that's it. There is also no history of substance abuse for either Martha. There have never been any complaints of erratic behavior for either mom or Martha.