“Sometimes we will speak up if there is misinformation. We will clarify information,” she said.

If advocates can be called to testify, Thornley-Parisi said, “it basically is saying that an advocate can’t be present or if they are present, everything that happens between the victim and the advocate has to be told in court and that essentially eliminates our role,” Thornley-Parisi said.

Domestic Abuse Intervention Services also relies on this law when providing help for victims of domestic violence, said DAIS executive director Shannon Barry.

“I don’t know the details of the facts of this specific case, but I am concerned about the precedent that could be set in terms of other defense attorneys trying similar tactics with victim advocates, both with sexual assault and domestic violence cases,” Barry said.

“Victims are often at a disadvantage, just in general,” Barry said. “There’s very few support systems in many ways within the court systems, so this could have a potentially chilling effect on other victims.”

This is part of a larger issue, Thornley-Parisi said: how a sexual assault victim is treated in court can vary depending on the judge on the case.