Another decades long USAian miscarriage of justice has finally been resolved. :rolleyes:
On Tuesday the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals finally cleared Elizabeth Ramirez, Kristie Mayhugh, Cassandra Rivera, and Anna Vasquez of all wrongdoing. The four women were convicted of child sexual abuse in 1997, during one of the periodic USAian bouts of "satanic panic".
The alleged victims (there is no actual evidence any sexual assault took place) were Ramirez's nieces, then aged 7 and 9 who claimed to have been sexually abused at Ramirez's apartment on multiple occasions.
An "expert witness" (Dr. Nancy Kellogg who is still practicing medicine and specialising in the field of child abuse pediatrics) used by the Texan authorities described the alleged assault as "satanic-related" ritual. The girls were allegedly held down by the women and raped repeatedly with small objects including syringes, vials of white powder and a handgun.
Ramirez was sentenced to 37.5 years in prison, while the others were sentenced to 15 years each with Vasquez being paroled in 2012, and the others being bailed a year later, after one of the two alleged victims recanted and the state's "expert witness" retracted her testimony. Earlier this year a state district court judge overturned their convictions, which came at one of the USA's periodic "gay panics" (all four women are gay) and "national hysteria … over satanic sexual abuse".
On Wednesday the judges found the woman, all now in their forties, "have unquestionably established that they are innocent". And they also noted the father of Ramirez's nieces "engaged in a pattern of threatening behavior towards the complainants and false allegations of sexual assault"
Nancy Kellogg, head of the child-abuse unit at the University of Texas Health Science Center, testified during the trials that the thickness of the sisters’ hymens was a sign of trauma, and that reddening of the younger girl’s hymen was evidence of assault and a white line on the older girl’s was a scar. This wasn't even generally accepted back then is is now considered complete rubbish. Additionally, in the absence of the jury, Dr. Kellogg also testified that the unusual situation of multiple female perpetrators made her think it was a case of "Satanic ritual abuse". Even in 1997 this opinion was utter rubbish; indeed back in 1991 an FBI agent (Kenneth Lanning) published a landmark summary in the journal Child Abuse and Neglect, in which he summarised eight years of looking unsuccessfully for evidence of the bloody rituals commonly reported in cult-abuse cases. Lanning stated that child sexual abuse is a real problem, and blaming it on elusive cults wastes resources and impedes the credibility of those seeking to protect children.
Kellogg has refused to comment on the case, as she has on other miscarriages of justice where her testimony was involved, such as the wrongful conviction of Frank Navarijo in 1991.
Hopefully a truly massive lawsuit against the incompetent and bigoted Texan authorities will ensue.
More.
Vice.
The Guardian.
On Tuesday the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals finally cleared Elizabeth Ramirez, Kristie Mayhugh, Cassandra Rivera, and Anna Vasquez of all wrongdoing. The four women were convicted of child sexual abuse in 1997, during one of the periodic USAian bouts of "satanic panic".
The alleged victims (there is no actual evidence any sexual assault took place) were Ramirez's nieces, then aged 7 and 9 who claimed to have been sexually abused at Ramirez's apartment on multiple occasions.
An "expert witness" (Dr. Nancy Kellogg who is still practicing medicine and specialising in the field of child abuse pediatrics) used by the Texan authorities described the alleged assault as "satanic-related" ritual. The girls were allegedly held down by the women and raped repeatedly with small objects including syringes, vials of white powder and a handgun.
Ramirez was sentenced to 37.5 years in prison, while the others were sentenced to 15 years each with Vasquez being paroled in 2012, and the others being bailed a year later, after one of the two alleged victims recanted and the state's "expert witness" retracted her testimony. Earlier this year a state district court judge overturned their convictions, which came at one of the USA's periodic "gay panics" (all four women are gay) and "national hysteria … over satanic sexual abuse".
On Wednesday the judges found the woman, all now in their forties, "have unquestionably established that they are innocent". And they also noted the father of Ramirez's nieces "engaged in a pattern of threatening behavior towards the complainants and false allegations of sexual assault"
Nancy Kellogg, head of the child-abuse unit at the University of Texas Health Science Center, testified during the trials that the thickness of the sisters’ hymens was a sign of trauma, and that reddening of the younger girl’s hymen was evidence of assault and a white line on the older girl’s was a scar. This wasn't even generally accepted back then is is now considered complete rubbish. Additionally, in the absence of the jury, Dr. Kellogg also testified that the unusual situation of multiple female perpetrators made her think it was a case of "Satanic ritual abuse". Even in 1997 this opinion was utter rubbish; indeed back in 1991 an FBI agent (Kenneth Lanning) published a landmark summary in the journal Child Abuse and Neglect, in which he summarised eight years of looking unsuccessfully for evidence of the bloody rituals commonly reported in cult-abuse cases. Lanning stated that child sexual abuse is a real problem, and blaming it on elusive cults wastes resources and impedes the credibility of those seeking to protect children.
Kellogg has refused to comment on the case, as she has on other miscarriages of justice where her testimony was involved, such as the wrongful conviction of Frank Navarijo in 1991.
Hopefully a truly massive lawsuit against the incompetent and bigoted Texan authorities will ensue.
More.
Vice.
The Guardian.
via International Skeptics Forum http://ift.tt/2gbyKMv
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