STORY: "The S.A. Four — the limbo between freedom and exoneration," by reporter O. Ricardo Pimentel, published by The San Antonio Express-News on May 14, 2016.
GIST: "The four San Antonio women known as the San Antonio 4 — from right, Anna Vasquez Elizabeth Ramirez, Kristie Mayhugh and Cassandra Rivera — appear at a hearing in San Antonio in April 2015. Whether they are deemed innocent is in the hands of judges at the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. They have freedom but want something more — exoneration. A film that has been making the film-festival rounds — “Southwest of Salem” — makes a strong case that this is precisely what they deserve. A private screening occurred recently at the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center, coinciding with a showing in Toronto. Anna Vasquez, Elizabeth Ramirez, Kristie Mayhugh and Cassandra Rivera are the San Antonio Four — lesbians accused in 1994 of sexually abusing Ramirez’s two nieces, 7 and 9 at the time. They were convicted of aggravated sexual assault and indecency with a child. Ramirez got 37 years in 1997 for being the alleged ringleader. The other three were tried together in 1998, each getting 15 years. The women’s sexual orientation was brought up during trial, apparently by way of tortured explanation of why these women would have sex with little girls, according to the film. And, during their trial, an expert witness hinted at satanic ritual.
The “Salem” in the film’s title is a reference to the witch hunts and trials of yore. Tales of satanic rituals and the sacrifice of children abounded in the years just prior to the trials. And these weren’t kind times for the LGBT community generally. The lie about homosexuals as natural sexual predators has been around for a very long time. Vasquez was paroled in 2012. After one of the alleged victims recanted — saying she was coerced by her father — the four’s Innocence Project attorney, Mike Ware, persuaded the court and the DA to take a new look at the case. The other three were released in 2013. Judges at the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals will determine the women’s fate. In February, Senior District Judge Pat Priest, who presided over the joint trial of three of the women, recommended new trials for the women but said they had not proven their innocence. The state’s expert now says she was wrong to conclude back then that the girls had been abused. The science she used is part of a slew of procedures that forensic experts now label “junk science.” Priest took exception to that characterization, but it’s hard to label “certain” science now discredited as anything but.........I understand some of the other issues here. We want a system that presumes that children who make such accusations should be believed. And they should be — until it is unreasonable for them to be. If the criminal appeals judges vacate the convictions based on “actual innocence” or because a state-sponsored expert at the trial gave now discredited testimony, the initial trial court will look to the district attorney for the next steps. The DA can retry, offer plea bargains or file a motion of dismissal. In the case of convictions vacated because of junk science, how that motion for dismissal reads could determine if the women are due compensation for wrongful convictions and imprisonment. If the DA asks for dismissal but doesn’t specify actual innocence, they are still technically exonerated but face an array of difficulties ahead beyond being denied compensation. They could have trouble expunging records and traveling abroad, said Ware. The system, for a variety of reasons, has an exceedingly hard time admitting it screwed up."
The entire story can be found at:
http://www.mysanantonio.com/opinion/opinion_columnists/o_ricardo_pimentel/article/The-S-A-Four-the-limbo-between-freedom-and-7467814.php
See Phil Locke's marvellous commentary on 'the nature and state of the (US) justice system' - published on the Wrongful Convictions Blog - in which he rants (amongst other things) on an issue central to the San Anonio Four case: the massive barriers the system puts in the way of overturning wrongful convictions - such as finality and the need to establish factual innocence..." Over the past eight years, I have had the honor and the pleasure to work with many wonderful, smart, dedicated people who work diligently and doggedly for years on case after case after case to right wrongful convictions. It’s difficult, tedious, heart-breaking work. Every once in a while they will succeed, but mostly they don’t, because they’re working against a system that has been designed to prevent overturning a (wrongful) conviction. But when they do succeed, and expose a wrongful conviction, does that trigger any change in the system or expose unethical or misbehaving officials to sanctions? Of course not. The system is actually designed to deflect that, and the system will fight “tooth & nail”to keep from having to acknowledge that it made a mistake. That resistance to acknowledging error is supposedly about what the system calls “finality” (which it treasures), but I suggest it’s mostly about saving face. The justice system actually works quite well, IF you define “well” as expediently convicting people and putting them in prison – almost always by coerced plea agreement. The issues with the current system are accuracy of convictions and fairness in sentencing. Did the system get the conviction right, and once convicted, does the sentence really reflect the nature and severity of the crime? I’m afraid both these questions leave the system wanting."
https://wrongfulconvictionsblog.org/2016/05/13/comment-on-the-nature-and-state-of-the-us-justice-system/
PUBLISHER'S NOTE:
I have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses several thousand posts. The search box is located near the bottom of the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and myself get more out of the site.
The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at:
http://www.thestar.com/topic/
Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.
Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com;
Harold Levy;
Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog;