The practice of wrongfully convicting based on false accusations is well documented.
These stories are literally unbelievable, and yet, they are true. There are so many examples of false accusations - if you wonder how it happens, read up on the way the investigators talk to children and convince them to say they were molested.
This is how it starts: the prosecution shifts from investigating to see if a crime had been committed to building a case against someone they've concluded (with no actual evidence) is a pervert. This web site has some very interesting details: http://www.crimemagazine.com/daycare.htm
Monday, July 7, 2008
Sunday, July 6, 2008
McMartin Preschool accuser recants
In the McMartin Preschool case, the so-called victim didn't recant until he was an adult. As a child, he said what he knew the adults wanted him to say. This practice did not start and stop with McMartin - the public needs to know it goes on to this very day.
From the Daily Breeze 10/31/05
McMartin Preschool accuser recants One of the 360 children who made accusations says he lied to protect his siblings and was never raped.From staff reports:
Saying he lied to please his parents and protect his younger siblings, one of the children who claimed he was molested at the notorious McMartin Preschool in Manhattan Beach more than 20 years ago has recanted his original story.
Kyle Zirpolo, now 30 and living near Santa Barbara, was among 360 children who told lurid stories of rape, animal mutilations and satanic rituals that would shock the South Bay and reverberate around the world starting in 1983.
But in a lengthy first-person account appearing in today's Los Angeles Times Magazine, Zirpolo said none of it was true: He was never raped by his teacher Ray Buckey. Buckey is the son of school administrator Peggy McMartin Buckey and grandson of founder Virginia McMartin. They, along with four other employees, were charged with 206 counts of child abuse.
"I felt uncomfortable and a little ashamed that I was being dishonest," wrote Zirpolo, whose stepfather was a Manhattan Beach police officer. "But at the same time, being the type of person I was, whatever my parents wanted me to do, I would do. And I thought they wanted me to help protect my little brother and sister who went to McMartin.
"The court proceedings -- including an 18-month preliminary hearing and two trials -- would last six years to become the longest and most expensive criminal case in U.S. history. The other defendants were Buckey's sister, Peggy Ann Buckey, and teachers Mary Ann Jackson, Bette Raidor and Babette Spitler. In 1986, the district attorney called the evidence "incredibly weak," and dropped all charges against all the defendants except Ray Buckey and his mother, Peggy McMartin Buckey, who remained in custody.
Zirpolo, who was known as Kyle Sapp when he testified, remembered feeling "weird" when he was examined by a doctor in a room surrounded by stuffed animals and dolls."I remember them asking extremely uncomfortable questions about whether Ray touched me and about all the teachers and what they did -- and I remember telling them nothing happened to me. I remember them almost giggling and laughing, saying, 'Oh, we know these things happened to you. Why don't you just go ahead and tell us? Use these dolls if you're scared.' "Despite telling authorities that there were no improprieties, Zirpolo said he felt pressured to change his story.
"Anytime I would give them an answer that they didn't like, they would ask again and encourage me to give them the answer they were looking for."But while he stressed that he didn't know what happened to other children, he knew he was not telling the truth and he was tortured by it. Even his parents were caught up in the frenzy and didn't believe him when he tried to come clean."I was maybe 10 years old and I tried to tell my mom that nothing had happened," he wrote. "I lay on the bed crying hysterically -- I wanted to get it off my chest, to tell her the truth. My mother kept asking me to please tell her what was the matter. I said she would never believe me ... and she kept assuring me she would. I remember finally telling her, 'Nothing happened! Nothing happened at the school."She didn't believe me."
Zirpolo did not return telephone calls to the Daily Breeze.
Although he never testified at trial, Zirpolo and hundreds of others were interviewed for the prosecution at the Children's Institute International, where therapists later were criticized for their questioning techniques.Virginia McMartin, the crusty, wheelchair-bound matriarch of the family, died in 1995. Peggy McMartin Buckey died in 2000. Raidor died in 2001. Buckey has moved from his Torrance home and could not be reached for comment, but in a 1995 interview with the Daily Breeze he said he was the victim of a witch hunt.
The Buckeys were eventually acquitted of a combined 52 charges in 1990. Ray Buckey was retried on eight charges, but the second jury also stalemated in July 1990 and the case was dismissed.
"It was really only a small minority that was causing all the trouble," Buckey said. "To believe them, you had to believe that half the community, half the businesses and the police were all part of an underground group of satanic pedophiles. This wasn't about somebody who saw somebody touch a kid. It was a huge underground that was undermining the system."
While some of the students maintain they were molested, in his account, Zirpolo said he regrets his part in the drama."
I'm a supermarket manager and the thing I like best about my job is the interactions I get to have with customers' kids," he wrote. "I love talking and listening to them. I've been told I would be a perfect for opening a children's day care. That's very ironic. "I would love to look at the defendants from the McMartin Preschool and tell them, 'I'm sorry.' "
From the Daily Breeze 10/31/05
McMartin Preschool accuser recants One of the 360 children who made accusations says he lied to protect his siblings and was never raped.From staff reports:
Saying he lied to please his parents and protect his younger siblings, one of the children who claimed he was molested at the notorious McMartin Preschool in Manhattan Beach more than 20 years ago has recanted his original story.
Kyle Zirpolo, now 30 and living near Santa Barbara, was among 360 children who told lurid stories of rape, animal mutilations and satanic rituals that would shock the South Bay and reverberate around the world starting in 1983.
But in a lengthy first-person account appearing in today's Los Angeles Times Magazine, Zirpolo said none of it was true: He was never raped by his teacher Ray Buckey. Buckey is the son of school administrator Peggy McMartin Buckey and grandson of founder Virginia McMartin. They, along with four other employees, were charged with 206 counts of child abuse.
"I felt uncomfortable and a little ashamed that I was being dishonest," wrote Zirpolo, whose stepfather was a Manhattan Beach police officer. "But at the same time, being the type of person I was, whatever my parents wanted me to do, I would do. And I thought they wanted me to help protect my little brother and sister who went to McMartin.
"The court proceedings -- including an 18-month preliminary hearing and two trials -- would last six years to become the longest and most expensive criminal case in U.S. history. The other defendants were Buckey's sister, Peggy Ann Buckey, and teachers Mary Ann Jackson, Bette Raidor and Babette Spitler. In 1986, the district attorney called the evidence "incredibly weak," and dropped all charges against all the defendants except Ray Buckey and his mother, Peggy McMartin Buckey, who remained in custody.
Zirpolo, who was known as Kyle Sapp when he testified, remembered feeling "weird" when he was examined by a doctor in a room surrounded by stuffed animals and dolls."I remember them asking extremely uncomfortable questions about whether Ray touched me and about all the teachers and what they did -- and I remember telling them nothing happened to me. I remember them almost giggling and laughing, saying, 'Oh, we know these things happened to you. Why don't you just go ahead and tell us? Use these dolls if you're scared.' "Despite telling authorities that there were no improprieties, Zirpolo said he felt pressured to change his story.
"Anytime I would give them an answer that they didn't like, they would ask again and encourage me to give them the answer they were looking for."But while he stressed that he didn't know what happened to other children, he knew he was not telling the truth and he was tortured by it. Even his parents were caught up in the frenzy and didn't believe him when he tried to come clean."I was maybe 10 years old and I tried to tell my mom that nothing had happened," he wrote. "I lay on the bed crying hysterically -- I wanted to get it off my chest, to tell her the truth. My mother kept asking me to please tell her what was the matter. I said she would never believe me ... and she kept assuring me she would. I remember finally telling her, 'Nothing happened! Nothing happened at the school."She didn't believe me."
Zirpolo did not return telephone calls to the Daily Breeze.
Although he never testified at trial, Zirpolo and hundreds of others were interviewed for the prosecution at the Children's Institute International, where therapists later were criticized for their questioning techniques.Virginia McMartin, the crusty, wheelchair-bound matriarch of the family, died in 1995. Peggy McMartin Buckey died in 2000. Raidor died in 2001. Buckey has moved from his Torrance home and could not be reached for comment, but in a 1995 interview with the Daily Breeze he said he was the victim of a witch hunt.
The Buckeys were eventually acquitted of a combined 52 charges in 1990. Ray Buckey was retried on eight charges, but the second jury also stalemated in July 1990 and the case was dismissed.
"It was really only a small minority that was causing all the trouble," Buckey said. "To believe them, you had to believe that half the community, half the businesses and the police were all part of an underground group of satanic pedophiles. This wasn't about somebody who saw somebody touch a kid. It was a huge underground that was undermining the system."
While some of the students maintain they were molested, in his account, Zirpolo said he regrets his part in the drama."
I'm a supermarket manager and the thing I like best about my job is the interactions I get to have with customers' kids," he wrote. "I love talking and listening to them. I've been told I would be a perfect for opening a children's day care. That's very ironic. "I would love to look at the defendants from the McMartin Preschool and tell them, 'I'm sorry.' "
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Texas man freed by DNA after 15 years in prison
Click here to read the whole story:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080703/ap_on_re_us/dna_exoneration
This is the second Texas inmate who's been freed in a couple of months and the 19th man freed in Dallas County since 2001 .
Texas has a new district attorney, Craig Watkins. Watkins has started a program in which law students, supervised by the Innocence Project of Texas, review old cases in which inmates have requested DNA testing.
What a forward-thinking DA Craig Watkins is, teaming up with the Innocence Project!
Of course, DNA testing cannot exonerate inmates when they are convicted on false accusations, but this story proves what the followers of this blog already know - that innocent defendants actually are being convicted.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080703/ap_on_re_us/dna_exoneration
This is the second Texas inmate who's been freed in a couple of months and the 19th man freed in Dallas County since 2001 .
Texas has a new district attorney, Craig Watkins. Watkins has started a program in which law students, supervised by the Innocence Project of Texas, review old cases in which inmates have requested DNA testing.
What a forward-thinking DA Craig Watkins is, teaming up with the Innocence Project!
Of course, DNA testing cannot exonerate inmates when they are convicted on false accusations, but this story proves what the followers of this blog already know - that innocent defendants actually are being convicted.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Any intelligent person would know he was NOT GUILTY
Lori wrote (about Larry Vanderberg):
I attended both of Larry's trials not knowing if he was innocent or guilty. after hearing all ( or lack of ) of the evidence, any intelligent person would know he was NOT GUILTY.
This is my point - people falsely accused are not getting fair, unbiased trials. The jury is NOT supposed to assume the defendant must be guilty or why else would they be there? But it's obvious this is what is happening when so many falsely accused defendants are ending up wrongfully convicted.
I attended both of Larry's trials not knowing if he was innocent or guilty. after hearing all ( or lack of ) of the evidence, any intelligent person would know he was NOT GUILTY.
This is my point - people falsely accused are not getting fair, unbiased trials. The jury is NOT supposed to assume the defendant must be guilty or why else would they be there? But it's obvious this is what is happening when so many falsely accused defendants are ending up wrongfully convicted.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
A society victimizing children
We as a society are victimizing children by creating an environment where adults are afraid to interact with children. Loving, kind adults who could be wonderful role models for children, children many of who so desperately need good role models are having that taken away from them because of the threat of something being mistaken for what it isn't.
Conventional wisdom used to be "children don't lie about molestation." That was true in a society where children didn't KNOW about sexual behavior unless they had it forced on them. But in this permissive society we live in today, children know about sex very early on. In the trial I attended, the first girl who suggested molestation was going on, a girl in 4th or 5th grade, told her younger friends - that's child abuse, I saw that on Law & Order! - and before anyone knew what was happening, the favorite teacher's reputation began to be smeared.
And now that this practice is so prevelant, teachers are afraid to interact with children in a way that was completely normal and welcomed a few decades ago. It is a huge loss to young children in school that teachers are not allowed to comfort them with, say, a pat on the back for fear that it could be misinterpreted as something dirty.
When someone is falsely accused and prosecuted, the children involved are victimized by the system that empowers them to tell on their teacher. It's not even so much that they lie - in the trial I attended, I didn't hear children lie, other than saying "I don't remember." They cried on the witness stand and also said "I don't want to talk about it." Juries need to understand that simply because the children seem traumatized doesn't mean the defendant is the abuser. Of course the girls were traumatized - imagine how they must have felt knowing their actions caused an innocent man to go to prison!
One girl actually testified that she could not tell the difference between what happened and what she dreamt. Believe it or not, the teacher was convicted of pulling down that girl's underwear in front of the class. How would it be possible that not one of the other children or the aide in the classroom saw such an unusual occurrence? The girl was very clear that it occurred while the teacher was teaching the class. What she described was every girl's worst nightmare, and it obviously WAS a nightmare. When that same girl was asked why she originally said nothing happened and eventually changed her story to say the teacher had touched her in a wrong way, she said it was because her father was so annoying - he kept asking her and asking her and eventually, she said it had happened. I heard this testimony with my own ears - as I've said before. If someone told me this happened, i'd find it hard to believe.
Conventional wisdom used to be "children don't lie about molestation." That was true in a society where children didn't KNOW about sexual behavior unless they had it forced on them. But in this permissive society we live in today, children know about sex very early on. In the trial I attended, the first girl who suggested molestation was going on, a girl in 4th or 5th grade, told her younger friends - that's child abuse, I saw that on Law & Order! - and before anyone knew what was happening, the favorite teacher's reputation began to be smeared.
And now that this practice is so prevelant, teachers are afraid to interact with children in a way that was completely normal and welcomed a few decades ago. It is a huge loss to young children in school that teachers are not allowed to comfort them with, say, a pat on the back for fear that it could be misinterpreted as something dirty.
When someone is falsely accused and prosecuted, the children involved are victimized by the system that empowers them to tell on their teacher. It's not even so much that they lie - in the trial I attended, I didn't hear children lie, other than saying "I don't remember." They cried on the witness stand and also said "I don't want to talk about it." Juries need to understand that simply because the children seem traumatized doesn't mean the defendant is the abuser. Of course the girls were traumatized - imagine how they must have felt knowing their actions caused an innocent man to go to prison!
One girl actually testified that she could not tell the difference between what happened and what she dreamt. Believe it or not, the teacher was convicted of pulling down that girl's underwear in front of the class. How would it be possible that not one of the other children or the aide in the classroom saw such an unusual occurrence? The girl was very clear that it occurred while the teacher was teaching the class. What she described was every girl's worst nightmare, and it obviously WAS a nightmare. When that same girl was asked why she originally said nothing happened and eventually changed her story to say the teacher had touched her in a wrong way, she said it was because her father was so annoying - he kept asking her and asking her and eventually, she said it had happened. I heard this testimony with my own ears - as I've said before. If someone told me this happened, i'd find it hard to believe.
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