Archive for November, 2013

FREEDOM!

Wednesday, November 27th, 2013

FREEDOM! Fran Keller, of the infamous, 1993 satanic daycare case in Austin, was freed a few minutes ago after 20+ years in prison! This is a National Center for Reason and Justice-sponsored case. Many parallels to the San Antonio Four case, including junk science medical evidence now discredited. Her husband, Dan, is slated to be freed next week.

http://kut.org/post/austin-woman-set-be-released-prison-satanic-ritual-abuse-case

Please support our work: http://ncrj.org/donate/

Joseph Allen has Been Moved

Saturday, November 23rd, 2013

Here is Joseph’s new address:

Joseph Lee Allen #A293-486
Belmont Correctional Institution
P. O. Box 540
68518 Bannock Road
St. Clairsville, Ohio 43950

In his most recent letter, Joseph expresses thanks for the cards and letters he has received:

“Thanks for the cards and letters. They mean a lot to me during this difficult time. Tell everyone I say “Hi!” and that I thank all of them for their letters and cards and prayers.

“May God bless and keep you all well and in good health I pray.

“Joseph Lee Allen”

San Antonio Four Segment on Anderson Cooper

Friday, November 22nd, 2013

We’ve been informed that a long segment on the San Antonio Four will be featured Monday November 25th on Anderson Cooper. 8 P.M. Eastern on CNN.

The San Antonio Four Speak

Thursday, November 21st, 2013


See Also
Finally Free, San Antonio 4 Want Full Exoneration from Texas Public Radio

Board Member Debbie Nathan talks about the Mission of the NCRJ

From NBC.com:

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Please support our work: http://ncrj.org/donate/

San Antonio 4 Case: the Big, National Picture

Wednesday, November 20th, 2013

photo: debbie nathan

(Kristie Mayhugh, Cassandra Rivera, Elizabeth Ramirez, Anna vasquez — photo by Debbie Nathan)

The National Center for Reason and Justice has sponsored the San Antonio 4 since we learned about their plight, in 2008. Before Anna, Cassie, Kristie and Elizabeth found us, they’d written to other groups asking for help but were turned down.

NCRJ is a unique, watchdog group. One of our missions is identifying false allegations of harm to children, including sexual abuse. We investigated the San Antonio 4 case and discovered that the medical evidence which helped convict the women was severely flawed. We were the first to receive a call from one of the alleged victims when she came forward to recant her accusations. We recruited the Innocence Project of Texas (IPTX) to do legal work.

NCRJ is overjoyed that, with our assistance and IPTX’s, as well as that of a growing and vibrant support community, these women are on the road to freedom and hopefully exoneration.

But the road is long. In America, anyone accused of hurting children is automatically condemned as the lowest of the low. Such people find it almost impossible to get help to preserve their due process rights, even from those who otherwise passionately defend civil and human rights.

This has to change. This is why NCRJ sponsors cases like the San Antonio 4 and others nationwide. We do this to help free innocent people and make the criminal justice system more rational, humane, and just. We do it so people can learn about the larger issues embedded in these cases, then confront them. What are these issues?

For one, what happened to the San Antonio 4 shows how easy it is in America for ordinary people to be falsely accused, denied due process, and banished from society. All kinds of ordinary people get caught up in our justice system. Some are more vulnerable than others.

Anna, Kristie, Elizabeth and Cassie are lesbians. The authorities knew that back in 1990s. As their case shows, gay people are not always protected by the criminal justice system. On the contrary, they can be targeted. The San Antonio 4 are low-income people of color—also easy targets for our culture’s growing anxieties and tendency to maintain order by accusing, punishing, and ostracizing.

As the criminal justice system can railroad the innocent, it tramples the civil and human rights of people who have committed crimes. Child sex abuse is a terrible crime. But using society’s revulsion for this crime, the system has employed sex offenders as a wedge to treat every accused person with increasing harshness both in prison and afterward—sometimes for a lifetime.

Even guilty people have human and due process rights. Yet even when they have served their time and paid their debt to society, they are typically banished from the community, undermining their ability to reintegrate as law-abiding people, and hurting their families and communities.

One form of banishment is the sex offender registry and accompanying restrictions on housing, work, travel, and social life. These policies do not protect children. In fact, studies show that they may put children at increased risk. These rules are often senselessly cruel.

More than two million people are in prison in the U.S. Per capita, and in pure numbers, we incarcerate more people than any other country. Many good people are disturbed by this. Many worry about the barbaric way that the accused and convicted get treated. But when confronted with people labeled as child abusers, many good people stop thinking.

This situation endangers us all. As long as we allow some people to be turned into pariahs, the justice system will be able to get away with injustice—denying due process to anyone and everyone.

That’s why the San Antonio 4 case is nationally important. That’s why NCRJ is proud to support Anna, Cassie, Kristie, and Elizabeth.

Please support our work: http://ncrj.org/donate/

The San Antonio Four are Free!

Tuesday, November 19th, 2013

photo: debbie nathan

(Kristie Mayhugh, Cassandra Rivera, Elizabeth Ramirez, Anna Vasquez — photo by Debbie Nathan)

Free!

From Associated Press via ABC News:

“Their case came to the attention of attorneys affiliated with the nonprofit Innocence Project of Texas and National Center for Reason and Justice more than a decade after the women were imprisoned. The groups investigate potential wrongful conviction cases and Mike Ware, an attorney for the women who has worked on the case for two years, filed petitions on their behalf last month with the state appeals court.”

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/attorneys-san-antonio-free-20925304

Some more press:

4 released San Antonio Women to Pursue Exoneration — from Huffington Post

San Antonio Four Freed After Years In Prison — from San Antonio Current

4 released San Antonio Women to Pursue Exoneration — from Associated Press

The San Antonio Four are Finally Free from Texas Monthly

Please support our work: http://ncrj.org/donate/

San Antonio Four Prisoners to be Released Today

Monday, November 18th, 2013

The NCRJ brought this case to the Innocence Project of Texas. We recognized the junk science presented at trial and educated the attorneys, the media, and local supporters.
3 of ‘San Antonio 4’ to be released pending new trial decision, lawyer says
from NBC News

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/11/18/21520263-3-of-san-antonio-4-to-be-released-pending-new-trial-decision-lawyer-says

Three of San Antonio Four could go free after judge grants bail from The Guardian.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/18/san-antonio-four-granted-bail-free

Please support our work: http://ncrj.org/donate/

3 of imprisoned ‘San Antonio 4’ could soon go free

Saturday, November 16th, 2013

“More than a decade later, their case came to the attention of attorneys affiliated with the nonprofit Innocence Project of Texas, which investigates potential wrongful conviction cases and pushes for criminal justice reforms.”

It was the National Center for Reason and Justice that brought this case to the attention on the Innocence Project of Texas.

http://www.statesman.com/news/ap/crime/apnewsbreak-san-antonio-4-could-soon-go-free/nbs9D/

New Hope For San Antonio Four

Friday, November 1st, 2013

The National Center for Reason and Justice took up the case in 2008, enlisting legal defense help from the Innocence Project of Texas three years ago. Lawyers with the Innocence Project said one of the two child victims (now an adult) recanted testimony last summer, saying her father “coerced and coached her into making false allegations against her aunt and three friends.”

From the San Antonio Current

http://blogs.sacurrent.com/thedaily/new-hope-for-san-antonio-four/