An updated version of the twinkie defense.
When the
suspect in a criminal
case uses the accusation that a close friend or relative violated them or fondled them as part of their defense, typically as a way to avoid taking responsibility for what they did. Most notably used in the Casey Anthony and Diane Downs cases, in which young mothers who killed their children accused their fathers of touching them inappropriately (
even though this was irrelevant to the cases at
hand and most likely completely false, as both women are pathological liars).
The intent of the molestation defense is to pander to the sympathy of jurors and media, to distract from the point of the
case, and to escape taking responsibility.
Most of the time, the molestation defense is a cheap defense and a way for the suspect to excuse their crime; most victims of rape or incest do not
kill, rape, steal, or commit other crimes, which should make anybody following a serious criminal case very wary about such accusations.
Casey Anthony, for one, has proven herself a sociopath by how willing that she is to accuse her
father of a serious offense to save her own
arse; this from the same
woman who partied and whored it up in the month before her daughter was found.