jmdrake
11-22-2014, 01:25 AM
I was in a jury pool a few years ago when the prosecutor asked the following question:
"Members of the jury. Things aren't like they are on CSI. You don't always have physical evidence. For example in child molestation cases there often isn't any physical evidence. So do you believe you should convict someone on the basis of nothing but the victims testimony if victim is credible, or should child molestation be legal."
Needless to say I got kicked of the jury. I tried to stay on. The fact that I had graduated law school and clerked for someone doing criminal defense was a red flag for the prosecutor. It was a domestic assault case that was charged as especially aggravated kidnapping and especially aggravated assault. There was no weapon as required by statute. (The prosecutor during jury selection held up a pen and said "You realize this could be a deadly weapon right?") The "victim" went back to the defendant after the alleged incident happened but then later filed charges. The defendant got 40 years. It still makes me sick to my stomach thinking about it.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/21/us-usa-washington-conviction-idUSKCN0J50AV20141121?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews
Washington state man convicted of molestation freed after accuser recants
SEATTLE Fri Nov 21, 2014 12:20am EST
(Reuters) - A Washington state man convicted of child molestation nearly two decades ago was freed from prison on Thursday after a judge ordered a new trial because his accuser recanted her story, court officials said.
Jerry Lee Brock, 55, was convicted in 1995 of first-degree molestation charges stemming from the accusations of an 11-year-old girl who said she was sexually assaulted in her sleep, according to court records.
He was given a life sentence under Washington's persistent offender law, in which individuals convicted of three serious crimes are incarcerated without the possibility of parole. Brock had two previous felony convictions for burglary and promotion of prostitution, court records show.
The woman who accused Brock of molesting her as a child came forward in 2012 and said she had made the story up to get her mother's attention, according to court documents.
Last week, Thurston County Judge Erik Price held a motion hearing on the new evidence and on Thursday released Brock based on the woman's latest statement and ordered a new trial in 90 days, court records show.
Prosecutors could choose to drop Brock's case ahead of a new trial in February.
Brock had previously appealed his case, records indicate.
His public defender could not immediately be reached for comment.
(Reporting by Victoria Cavaliere in Seattle; Editing by Curtis Skinner & Kim Coghill)
"Members of the jury. Things aren't like they are on CSI. You don't always have physical evidence. For example in child molestation cases there often isn't any physical evidence. So do you believe you should convict someone on the basis of nothing but the victims testimony if victim is credible, or should child molestation be legal."
Needless to say I got kicked of the jury. I tried to stay on. The fact that I had graduated law school and clerked for someone doing criminal defense was a red flag for the prosecutor. It was a domestic assault case that was charged as especially aggravated kidnapping and especially aggravated assault. There was no weapon as required by statute. (The prosecutor during jury selection held up a pen and said "You realize this could be a deadly weapon right?") The "victim" went back to the defendant after the alleged incident happened but then later filed charges. The defendant got 40 years. It still makes me sick to my stomach thinking about it.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/21/us-usa-washington-conviction-idUSKCN0J50AV20141121?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews
Washington state man convicted of molestation freed after accuser recants
SEATTLE Fri Nov 21, 2014 12:20am EST
(Reuters) - A Washington state man convicted of child molestation nearly two decades ago was freed from prison on Thursday after a judge ordered a new trial because his accuser recanted her story, court officials said.
Jerry Lee Brock, 55, was convicted in 1995 of first-degree molestation charges stemming from the accusations of an 11-year-old girl who said she was sexually assaulted in her sleep, according to court records.
He was given a life sentence under Washington's persistent offender law, in which individuals convicted of three serious crimes are incarcerated without the possibility of parole. Brock had two previous felony convictions for burglary and promotion of prostitution, court records show.
The woman who accused Brock of molesting her as a child came forward in 2012 and said she had made the story up to get her mother's attention, according to court documents.
Last week, Thurston County Judge Erik Price held a motion hearing on the new evidence and on Thursday released Brock based on the woman's latest statement and ordered a new trial in 90 days, court records show.
Prosecutors could choose to drop Brock's case ahead of a new trial in February.
Brock had previously appealed his case, records indicate.
His public defender could not immediately be reached for comment.
(Reporting by Victoria Cavaliere in Seattle; Editing by Curtis Skinner & Kim Coghill)