32 minutes after two o'clock it is Thursday. The 21st day of January 50 degrees in Santa Fe is effectively officially the third day of the 60 Day session. And we're going to talk about a bill now with the Allies assault Tan and Attorney General Hector Bald Eris. And before we start talking to both of them, I want to thank the incredible Lorraine Mill for sending me the story the op ed and suggesting that I do this topic because once I started looking at is like, Oh, my God, this is this is ridiculous. ELISA will get to your story here in a second. Thank you for joining us today. Thank you for having me on. I'm very honored to be here. And Attorney General Hector Balderas. I know you're a busy man incredibly busy appreciate a few minutes today to talk about this important issue. It's an honor to be with you and then sit down and have a conversation with your your listeners. All right. So, um, Attorney General Juan, don't you? First of all, lay out the bill by Michael Padilla. The issue here and what it is. We're trying to correct. Well, as you know, the criminal justice system is very, very complicated. But in a nutshell, we have sometimes child or Children. Who are victims of child abuse. And what we want the court to weigh into account is that the child if they have to testify Or they're brave enough to step forward and testify against The bad actors who harmed them that we want the Legislature to give Children, uh more protections. And understanding how trauma Impacts. Children make sure that we're not re victimizing brave young Children who are brave enough to testify against their accuser. I mean against the bad actor. We want to make sure that the courts Have the tools and the compassion to treat them a little bit differently because of the trauma involved and ah lot of times in the past prosecutors. We just wouldn't take these cases because a lot of times Children were afraid to come forward. But under our administration we have made protecting Children are number one issue, and we've had very many successful cases where young Children stand proudly with my prosecutors. We secure convictions, but alive is going to talk to you about her experience. And the bravery of her family, and we sought justice. We had a successful outcome in your case, but it's high time that the Legislature become a little bit more modernized and making sure that we don't re exploit Children who come forward in the justice system. When it is time that they want to seek justice, so become more modern, more compassionate. So right now this team make sure I get this straight attorney general that a five year old who is being abused by By the weird uncle may have to testify in person in a courtroom being questioned by a prosecutor. With that weird uncle sitting in front of them. Exactly And ah, lot of times judges and the rules of the past used to just treat this child like if it was some adult. In a lawsuit and now that we understand trauma better now that we understand how Children act as witnesses, it's high time that we at least balance the right of the accuser with now young Children because for many years of these church abuse scandal that we've investigated and child abuse in public schools One of the things the perpetrator relies upon, and it's time that we get a little more sophisticated is that they know the child's gonna be afraid They're going to be afraid. Tol They want generally too, please. Their family members. And so a lot of times. I'm not saying that we can't Have a defendant. Confront the accuser. But it's time that we take a little bit give a little bit of flexibility to the judge. So that we can make sure that we ultimately prosecute child abuse and that we hold those accountable. So this bill would allow for the discretion of the judge, or would would provide absolutely that a child can be Interviewed to a video conference. Exactly would would modernize everything and what allies will talk about is also it wasn't just Um, the limited modifications. In testimony she feels like the judge put her Children on trial and also required additional Review that was probably not necessary, and that should in another type of case and so Love, ELISA. Come on, but but But to your listeners, you should all know. ELISA is somebody use courage and tenacity. She found our office. Unfortunately, her case fell through the cracks. For for a long period of time, and it was her not giving up really fighting for her Children that she kept coming back to our office, and we finally took her case. But she also was I believe victimized. By a criminal justice system that they didn't investigate and prosecute this case in a timely manner. And so that Those of the other odds that kids have stacked against him in New Mexico is, you know Ah lot of time. The courts and prosecution offices and law enforcement is overwhelmed with other cases. And so I should probably talk to you a little bit about that. But I I'd love to For your listeners to really meet Eliza. Attorney General Ector ball. There's are, are you? Ah, you have time to Ah! Stick around with us who you have to run. Yeah, No, no. I want to hear what her. I'll stick around and see if you need anything else. Okay? Okay. Okay. We'll come back to you when we need help, Attorney General Hector Balderas. Analyze this whole town is the mother. I don't want to pry too much into here. So I want you to tell us much of the stories you're comfortable telling of the story of your Children and the process that your Children had to go through in the justice system, ELISA First of all, I would like to say thank you to Attorney General Hector Ball, Dennis and his team. A saved my Children's life. He saved my life. Um, we are. People have asked me..