I'm not sure what to make of this

@boomerang,

Quote:

How in the world would this discourage other girls from reporting rape?

What it does is encourage girls to report a rape that did not actually occur to get back at some one.

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@Linkat,

Waiting for Hawkeye to show up and say this proves that all rape allegations are totally bogus in 3... 2... 1....

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@firefly,

She turned 18 five years ago, she was an adult who kept lying. Not a scared little girl, an adult.

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I wonder how he was convicted in the first place, without evidence, but maybe 11 years ago we were in such a child-centered state that it was possible. Many charges against men by women at that time were jumped on by authorities and men were convicted, only to discover later that they weren't true. We had a case at a university swim coach like that. It turned out that the woman in question was hot for him and he rejected her and she got $10,000. When she admitted she'd lied, she suffered no consequences at all and the president of the university was forced to resign.

Back to this issue...

~~~

I wonder how much the mom had to do with all this.

I wonder if she ever visited or wrote to him in prison.

I wonder what he has to say about all this - does he forgive her?

I wonder what she feels about him now?

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@msolga,

Quote:

If anything, this case could be used against young people's genuine reports of rape or sexual abuse being taken seriously in the future.

I thought the exact same thing.

And like Linkat points out -- people could think that it's a good way to seek revenge on someone. Accuse them of rape, send them to prison, haha, that'll teach 'em.

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@firefly,

I think your analysis is spot on, firefly.

This is how they should have explained the reason:

Quote:

Despite the fact that she is now 23, she was only 11 or 12 at the time she committed perjury, and I don't think we should prosecute children of that age for a crime like perjury--they may know they are lying, but they may not fully appreciate how serious that lie is in terms of the consequences. Who would lock up an 11 or 12 year old, for several years, for lying under oath?

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She was an adult who kept lying. I wonder if roger's thoughts on the statute of limitations plays a role after all.....

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@Ceili,

Agree completely. And couldn't/shouldn't she be charged with lying at that point?

That's a serious charge. The poor dad.

And why does the fear that other people would or wouldn't do something enter into this? Are you never going to charge someone with murder because other people might be afraid of the consequences? Or accidental hit-and-run? That's just ridiculous.

There were a lot of trumped-up rape or molestation charges way back when psychologists/counsellors used to do that 'false memory' trick. You have to look at what's fair for everyone, not some lying little 11 yr old who's pissed at her father.

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I would submit that the prosecutors didn't think it likely that they could successfully convince a jury to convict her. So why waste time and resources? But you can't give that as a reason to the media....

Cycloptichorn

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@Cycloptichorn,

You're probably right. Still, your reason makes more sense, IMO, than the one they gave.

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@boomerang,

Lying is not a crime. Lying under oath, perjury, is the crime, and that was done when she was not an adult.

If the statute of limitations was the real issue I think the prosecutor would have said that.

Normally, the statute of limitations on perjury in that state is 3 years, but I'm not sure whether that would apply in a situation like this--11 or 12 year old children aren't prosecuted under the perjury laws because they aren't held to adult standards of conduct in that regard. A charge of obstruction of justice might also be applicable, but there would be the same problems prosecuting that one because of her age at the time.

As much as many people would like to see this woman punished for what she did to her father, it just might not be legally feasible to do so.

I can't find any info on the father's trial--it would be interesting to know what evidence, beside her testimony, the jury considered.

And, as someone else mentioned in this thread, it is possible that she told the truth in the past and that her now recanting it is the lie--maybe she decided he had suffered enough and this is her way of forgiving him. Her "confession" appears connected to her treatment for drug abuse.
We really don't know enough to draw any firm conclusions.

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@firefly,

firefly wrote:

We really don't know enough to draw any firm conclusions.

Yep, isn't that usually the way it is.

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@boomerang,

I wonder how much difficulty this guy has to put up with via the state where he lives in their pursuit to continue to label him as a sex offender even though the charges were formally recanted. He certainly will have a difficult time getting a job even when he has the documentation proving his innocence. That many years out of the work force will be highlighted by every single HR person and underlined a thousand times despite once again his documented innocence, etc....

The girl should have been charged and at least placed under probation with conditions like community service, counseling, and other similar social reconditioning so she can truly understand the costly error of her past.

I'm assuming wrongful imprisonment would only apply to the state as she herself didn't lock her father in physically in one place. The state itself has some responsibility in this legal mess. I can imagine there was no physical evidence in this case.

Maybe charges of perjury will suffice to carry a heavy probation. Not sure what else could apply unless she created physical evidence then there might be evidence tempering charges as well.

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@roger,

roger wrote:

Anybody consider the possibility her conscience got to bothering her about the time a statute of limitations had been passed?

Clever little girl then. A very astute point Roger.

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@firefly,

Quote:

As much as many people would like to see this woman punished for what she did to her father, it just might not be legally feasible to do so.

I'm not at all convinced she should be punished, firefly. My question was about the reason that they gave for not punishing her. If they hadn't mentioned punishment (or lack of) I probably wouldn't have given the story so much thought.

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@sozobe,

Quote:

I agree it's weird that she not be punished in any way for that.

Not punishing females for bearing false witness against men is standard in our US justice system see the case of the Duke players where the woman was allowed to walk after claiming a rape that never happen concerning three innocent men.

Only after she ended up murdering a boyfriend and trying to murder another boyfriend did she see jail time.

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@firefly,

Quote:

Despite the fact that she is now 23, she was only 11 or 12 at the time she committed perjury, and I don't think we should prosecute children of that age for a crime like perjury--they may know they are lying, but they may not fully appreciate how serious that lie is in terms of the consequences. Who would lock up an 11 or 12 year old, for several years, for lying under oath?

Come on you never been for any real punishment for females of any age bearing false witness against males on this website.

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Second comment by studies I had seen when I was doing research for my now wife the majority of child abused charges placed by mothers both sexual and non sexual against fathers during custodies fights are found to be false.

No punishments of the women for such behaviors either.

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The rationale is more likely to avoid creating a precedent of disincentive
of other liars from ending the predatory effects of their deceptions.

It is fun to have no children; its a natural immunity from a lot of things.

I wonder whether he will AVENGE himself upon her.

David

1 Reply

@OmSigDAVID,

Quote:

The rationale is more likely to avoid creating a precedent of disincentive
of other liars from ending the predatory effects of their deceptions.

I think that is what the proscutor did give as the reason--they didn't want to discourage other children who might have lied about sexual abuse from later coming forward and telling the truth.

That's a valid reason because the primary concern should be correcting the miscarriage of justice, clearing someone's name, and freeing someone who has been unjustly imprisoned. Whether you want to punish someone, who was only 11 or 12 years old, for giving the false testimony that led to that conviction is really secondary. We don't normally punish children that age for perjury or obstruction of justice.

Quote:

I wonder whether he will AVENGE himself upon her.

We don't know how he feels toward her--she is his child and he might still care about her despite what he has been through. He might also have some understanding and compassion for why she did lie about him. And she did finally act to try to undo the damage.

For the two people involved, the best possible outcome might be some sort of reconciliation between the two of them. They can't undo what happened, but they might be able to have some sort of relationship in the future.

1 Reply

I'm not sure what to make of this

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