Girl's Night Out Gone Bad? Two Lives Change in an Instant Biurny Peguero Accused William McCaffrey of 2005 Rape
The 20/20 Story link: http://abcnews.go.com/2020/TheLaw/girls-night-bad-rape-accusation-lives/story?id=10435889
This girl should NOT be put in prison for coming forward and telling the truth that frees an innocent man. Punishing her with prison time only sends a bad message to others that have done this to other innocent persons that if they come forward, they go to prison. Nobody will come forward and innocent persons will live a life of hell in prison as a rapist or child molester. These cases are so difficult in the first place because a person can be convicted without any forensic evidence, no witnesses, no DNA, but only on the "word" of the victim and by the extreme emotions surrounding these types of allegations. And once in prison and labeled for your "alleged crime", you are safe from no one, guards and inmates alike. You will be beat, likely cut or stabbed, denied basics like food and showers and falsely "ticketed" so you receive in more punishment on top of your already inhumane existence. Yet the public feels that these "sex predators" deserve all they get or worse. But what if you are truly innocent and the system is blind to the facts? This IS happening in epidemic proportions around the country and the age of our supposed offenders is being reported as young as 11 or 12 with multiple felony counts. And in the example of this case, the Duke Lacrosse case and hundreds more, how do you defend against evidence that doesn't exist? But more importantly, how do they prosecute an innocent person when physical evidence doesn't exist? Had this girl never come forward, this man would live in danger in prison and then come out a registered sex offender and never have a chance of a normal life again. These wrongful convictions are life sentences and are taken much too lightly by a system that only cares about convictions rather than the truth and juries too afraid to take a chance of freeing a guilty person even though there is no possible evidence to support these verbal allegations, because it doesn't exist.
If you start to research and read about these types of cases, you will find many common elements that start to make you wonder just how many innocent persons are wrongfully convicted. And when you read the comments by the general reading public, the horrible comments and assumptions of guilt based only on allegations, is no wonder a truly unbiased jury would be hard to find in these cases. Prosecutors understand the emotions and the lack of evidence in these cases and many times ignore the presumption of innocence.Think of any other type of case, be it murder, robbery or assault, where a requirement of supporting evidence is needed in order to pursue a case. If they don't have enough positive proof, the case gets dropped period. Juries will never convict, in most cases, without strong supporting evidence. So why does the same not hold true in sex related cases? Again, no DNA, no witnesses, no forensic physical evidence of any kind, just the word of the alleged victim. How would you defend yourself in this situation? Why would the victim ever lie? How much money are you able to spend to defend against a false allegation? After all, the Duke lacrosse players paid their attorneys a million dollars a piece to defend against "phantom" non-existent evidence to win...can you?
Nobody wants to ever let a guilty person walk, but we cannot allow fear to compromise the presumption of innocence at any cost. These sensitive cases need to be examined very carefully and the methods of investigation closely scrutinized. The possible motives of the victim must be looked at as deeply as the alleged perpetrator is. A person's life, family and future can be destroyed in an instant. It is imperative that only the facts are considered and that we continue to require a high standard of requiring strong forensic evidence, proper interviewing techniques and the recording of all victim and witness statements to ensure integrity is upheld throughout the entire process.
This girl should NOT be put in prison for coming forward and telling the truth that frees an innocent man. Punishing her with prison time only sends a bad message to others that have done this to other innocent persons that if they come forward, they go to prison. Nobody will come forward and innocent persons will live a life of hell in prison as a rapist or child molester. These cases are so difficult in the first place because a person can be convicted without any forensic evidence, no witnesses, no DNA, but only on the "word" of the victim and by the extreme emotions surrounding these types of allegations. And once in prison and labeled for your "alleged crime", you are safe from no one, guards and inmates alike. You will be beat, likely cut or stabbed, denied basics like food and showers and falsely "ticketed" so you receive in more punishment on top of your already inhumane existence. Yet the public feels that these "sex predators" deserve all they get or worse. But what if you are truly innocent and the system is blind to the facts? This IS happening in epidemic proportions around the country and the age of our supposed offenders is being reported as young as 11 or 12 with multiple felony counts. And in the example of this case, the Duke Lacrosse case and hundreds more, how do you defend against evidence that doesn't exist? But more importantly, how do they prosecute an innocent person when physical evidence doesn't exist? Had this girl never come forward, this man would live in danger in prison and then come out a registered sex offender and never have a chance of a normal life again. These wrongful convictions are life sentences and are taken much too lightly by a system that only cares about convictions rather than the truth and juries too afraid to take a chance of freeing a guilty person even though there is no possible evidence to support these verbal allegations, because it doesn't exist.
If you start to research and read about these types of cases, you will find many common elements that start to make you wonder just how many innocent persons are wrongfully convicted. And when you read the comments by the general reading public, the horrible comments and assumptions of guilt based only on allegations, is no wonder a truly unbiased jury would be hard to find in these cases. Prosecutors understand the emotions and the lack of evidence in these cases and many times ignore the presumption of innocence.Think of any other type of case, be it murder, robbery or assault, where a requirement of supporting evidence is needed in order to pursue a case. If they don't have enough positive proof, the case gets dropped period. Juries will never convict, in most cases, without strong supporting evidence. So why does the same not hold true in sex related cases? Again, no DNA, no witnesses, no forensic physical evidence of any kind, just the word of the alleged victim. How would you defend yourself in this situation? Why would the victim ever lie? How much money are you able to spend to defend against a false allegation? After all, the Duke lacrosse players paid their attorneys a million dollars a piece to defend against "phantom" non-existent evidence to win...can you?
Nobody wants to ever let a guilty person walk, but we cannot allow fear to compromise the presumption of innocence at any cost. These sensitive cases need to be examined very carefully and the methods of investigation closely scrutinized. The possible motives of the victim must be looked at as deeply as the alleged perpetrator is. A person's life, family and future can be destroyed in an instant. It is imperative that only the facts are considered and that we continue to require a high standard of requiring strong forensic evidence, proper interviewing techniques and the recording of all victim and witness statements to ensure integrity is upheld throughout the entire process.
Although I feel that if the victim comes forward and tells the truth that releases an innocent person should not be criminally punished, I do however believe that if a mother or other family member uses methods such as PAS (Parent Alienation Syndrome) coaching, suggestibility or coercion to convince a child to lie about an allegation of sexual abuse, which happens in many cases, then that mother or family member involved in that activity should be criminally punished for that behavior, not the alleged victim. It is difficult for child victims to recant due to the pressure by the controlling parent or adult. Lies are very difficult to admit to at any age. There are no simple solutions in these cases but it is ultimately important to examine everyone involved and the real facts being claimed.
ReplyDelete