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  1. #1
    Join Date
    May 2005
    Location
    Tucson, Arizona
    Posts
    2

    Default Civil Suit By a Convicted Child Molester

    A friend has been in prison for 5 years on absolutely false accusations. He was accused by a girl in his 2nd grade classroom after he requested that the school librarian talk to 2 girls, take them to the principal's office, and "try to get to the bottom of what was happening" -- after he overheard them giggling and engaging in an extremely inappropriate conversation, and he suspected abuse in her home (her 5th grade brother had been referred to the principal 5 times that year because his teacher suspected abuse in that home).

    The girl became afraid in the principal's office because she was repeatedly "in trouble" for talking "dirty", lying, etc. She told the principal her teacher asked her to take her clothes off in front of the class, so the principal called the police due to mandatory reporting of abuse -- but DIDN'T suspect abuse since what the girl said was by many accounts "typical of what would come out of her mouth", and the teacher had NEVER been reported for any kind of inappropriate conduct. He is from a large and well respected family and he was respectful and respected, wholesome, intelligent, personable, etc.

    It would take a book to explain all that followed, but he was railroaded and convicted -- I will briefly outline a FEW of the MANY issues:

    --He was hung out as a scapegoat by the Diocese (it was a Catholic school) to divert attention and protect Diocesan officials as they were embroiled in lawsuits because of THEIR mishandling and coverup of actual abuse cases by priests at the same school years before.

    --The police and prosecutors were out to get a man they "had" since they could not prosecute actual past abusers because the statute of limitations had run out. There are many provable instances of lying by the police detectives, prosecutors, and prosecution witnesses. This young man has not been caught in ONE lie in the 5 years since he was accused.

    --As always happens in an accusation in "witch hunt" scenarios, the police eventually (and coercively) got an accusation by four other girls of some kind of touching, despite saying that nothing happened until subjected to repeated interviews. In the McMartin preschool case, Bobby Finje, Dale Akiki, Kelly Michaels, and MANY others, hundreds of children gave cooborating statements in police interviews, yet were found to be false. In Greg's case, 5 accusers in a school setting is a small number; most of the children clearly stated that he "would never do anything like that" and that "Everyone knows [the girl] lies all the time".
    --There is no tangible evidence of any abuse. There are many witnesses as to the bad charactted in the accusers' background and the families involved in the accusations. The teachers and staff of the school support this teacher.

    --I am the mother of 5 children and a youth group leader and would tolerate NO abuse of any child in any way. I have seen every transcript, police and witness interviews, and have attended every court hearing and there is NO doubt about this young man's innocence.

    --He was allowed no expert witnesses regarding the faulty police interviewing of the children (leading questions, assumption of guilt, negative stereotype induction, etc.) and he was allowed no character witnesses -- in fact, literally every defense motion was turned down by the trial judge.

    --The prosecution was granted by the trial judge literally every motion it entered, including experts and "character assassination" witnesses -- including that by several "child savers" known to exist in almost every false accusation case, who will attest to incriminating "facts" (AND THERE IS PROOF that they lied!) -- yet he was not allowed witnesses to rebut the testimony.

    These facts barely "scratch the surface" of the whole story -- it is unbelievable and is an egregious miscarriage of justice.

    His convictions have all been reversed, but he remains in prison since, among his many issues presented on appeal, the insufficiency of evidence issue was appealed by his defense attorneys to the AZ Supreme Court, since the appellate court didn't rule with him on that issue, and if the ASC rules with him on that issue, the case could never be retried.

    There is SO MUCH more to say, but HERE IS MY QUESTION:

    His attorneys want to try to work out a plea -- but NOT to a sex offense. This happened in a small town where the "hysteria" makes a fair trial impossible, so IF it were to go back to trial, "what are the chances" of winning?

    He will NEVER plea to a sex offense. This is not a case where he committed a minor inappropriate act that was blown out of proportion -- he committed NO INAPPROPRIATE ACT.

    The attorneys want him to plea to a felony child abuse for "pushing" this girl, therefore "child abuse" -- ridiculous, but our justice system is so "messed up" that without a plea, innocent people can end up incarcerated for life! The abuse "offense" is that one time this girl, who was a very challenging discipline problem to say the least, was "acting up" and causing trouble with other students, so he put his hands on her shoulder, told her to sit down, and to stay there until he told her she could get up.

    The sentence would be less than he has already served, so it would be for "time served", and he would be on 5 months parole.

    The prosecutors could turn this down, and in that event, he would go back to trial, because he will not take a plea to any "worse" action that he never committed.

    IF HE WERE TO TAKE A PLEA on this basis, where he could then be out of prison within weeks -- as opposed to years if it goes back to trial -- how would that affect any civil action against those who caused and allowed this to happen:
    --parents of the children who lied (one mother was ejected from the courtroom for feeding her daughter answers while her daughter was on the stand) -- and these parents received $1.8 milliion in a settlement from the diocese for what they said Greg did -- in a fraudulent suit -- claims were that the "Diocese knew Greg was a child molester and hired him anyway" -- yet seminarian, diocesan, and employee records showed not one inappropriate behavior or action by anyone ever -- he was chosed the Outstanding Graduate Student of the Year when he received his Masters of Theology. Another claim was that "The teachers and staff of St. Francis School knew he was molesting children and allowed him to do it" -- an affront to every teacher and staff member of the school! They attest to wholesome interaction with the children and that he was an excellent role model for the kids.

    --prosecutorial misconduct

    --numerous flawed investigative techniques

    --slander. libel, defamation of character by numerous persons

    --bias

    --intentional and fraudulent handling of "evidence" by an FBI computer lab

    --and many other issues

    SO FINALLY my question: Would accepting a plea to a NON-sexual offense have the effect of precluding any civil actions against the parties guilty of tortious acts against him?

    AND when does the Statute of Limitations run out for a civil suit -- does the two years begin, as he has been led to believe, when he is released from prison?

    Thank you. There is documentation of everything I have said, and I will be happy to answer any further questions. There is a great deal more information I would like to post, but this is already very long.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Michigan
    Posts
    28,906

    Default Re: Civil suit by innocent but convicted

    Quote Quoting justicetruthnow
    This happened in a small town where the "hysteria" makes a fair trial impossible, so IF it were to go back to trial, "what are the chances" of winning?
    That, unfortunately, is impossible to guess - his attorney may be able to provide an estimation of his chances at trial, but we don't have the necessary background.

    Quote Quoting justicetruthnow
    The sentence would be less than he has already served, so it would be for "time served", and he would be on 5 months parole.
    It is not unusual for a prosecutor to agree to a plea deal with a "time served"-type sentence following a reversal.

    Quote Quoting justicetruthnow
    IF HE WERE TO TAKE A PLEA on this basis, where he could then be out of prison within weeks -- as opposed to years if it goes back to trial -- how would that affect any civil action against those who caused and allowed this to happen:
    It's not particularly easy to win a civil suit over a criminal prosecution, even where you are acquitted of all charges.

    Quote Quoting justicetruthnow
    Would accepting a plea to a NON-sexual offense have the effect of precluding any civil actions against the parties guilty of tortious acts against him?
    He needs to consult with a lawyer who is interested in handling the case about whether any particular plea deal would hurt his chances. But he also needs to consider the very real benefits of getting out of jail.

    Quote Quoting justicetruthnow
    AND when does the Statute of Limitations run out for a civil suit -- does the two years begin, as he has been led to believe, when he is released from prison?
    Whether the statute of limitations for any cause of action has run, and whether there might be some basis for asserting that it was tolled during his period of incarceration, is something he should discuss with his lawyer. You can read the Arizona Statutes of Limitations on the Arizona State Legislature website (scroll down to Article 5).

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    San Diego
    Posts
    1

    Default innocent and convicted

    I am the webmaster for www.families4mrj.com - which tells the story of an innocent teacher who was wrongly accused and falsely convicted - TO LIFE - for molesting some children. There was not one shred of evidence that any crime had been commited by this man, and no reason to believe that he did anything wrong.

    I am shocked to discover how often this happens, and how many innocent people are in prison. The public needs to be educated about this practice and it needs to STOP.

    If anyone has any resources to recommend - please let me know. I want to use the Web site to reach out to families of people who are falsely incarcerated; and provide support to people who are ensnared in this system gone awry.

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