Friends of Justice is a personal blog. Here I speak only for myself.
December 5th, 2012
A study of past cases reveals startling similarities: The accusation always begins with a single complaint and is always parent-driven. The children’s accounts contain fabulous or impossible elements—magic tunnels, bullets that find their target, walls and people that disappear, and so on. The conspiracies being alleged are far-reaching and highly improbable. There are untrained professionals involved driving the investigations. There are nearly always claims of video recording and of being forced to watch porn and adults having sex.
This history is relevant because, to borrow Lanning’s term, a multi-dimensional sex ring has never once been substantiated. Never, despite the enormity of the crimes in question, and despite the numbers of times they’ve been alleged, has any independently corroborated evidence been found. Many of the children who testified in these cases have, as adults, recanted their testimonies, and courts have, over the years, turned over convictions that were based purely on children’s testimonies. In the most famous of these cases—the McMartin preschool trial in California, which ran from 1984 through 1990 and in which more than 350 children claimed they had been abused at their daycare center—every single allegation was thrown out.
http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/117839/panic-in-jerusalem/4
Posted in Sex Panic | Comments Off on Panic in Jerusalem
Friends of Justice is a personal blog. Here I speak only for myself.
November 21st, 2012
The compilation of new evidence, which is being made available to view online, featured interviews that Jarecki and his team conducted with children involved in the case, all of whom are now adults. In addition to Michael Epstein, several other former students say in the movie that they were, contrary to their testimony, never molested. A few of the adults interviewed admit that they lied to the police and detectives as children in order to stop the endless questioning that they had to endure. The audience reacted with gasps and sighs at the footage of Judge Abbey Boklan, who told the filmmakers while sitting in her office that she believed Jesse was guilty without needing to see any evidence and that she knew he smoked pot and did LSD.
http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/117317/exonerating-the-friedmans
Posted in Innocents, Sex Panic | Comments Off on Exonerating the Friedmans
Friends of Justice is a personal blog. Here I speak only for myself.
November 21st, 2012
[Attorney Mike] Ware characterizes the case as a witch-hunt based on flawed forensics, bogus witness testimony and a vendetta to lock-up the women because they are lesbians.
http://www.kens5.com/news/exoner-180233571.html
Posted in Innocents, Sex Panic | Comments Off on Witch-hunt, junk forensics? San Antonio Four fight for exoneration
Friends of Justice is a personal blog. Here I speak only for myself.
November 18th, 2012
“Since then, a number of advocates have fought for the exonerations. Darrell Otto, a college instructor from Canada, became aware of the case in 2006. He submitted an application to the National Center for Reason and Justice, which advocates for those believed to be wrongfully accused of crimes against children. ”
Darrell Otto did far more than just bring this case to our attention. He thoroughly researched the case, created a web site, befriended all four women and travelled frequently from Alaska to Texas to visit them. For years he was their only outside support.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/18/us/fighting-to-exonerate-texas-women-convicted-of-child-sexual-assault.html?pagewanted=1&ref=texas
Posted in Innocents, Sex Panic | Comments Off on The New York Times on the San Antonio Four Case
Friends of Justice is a personal blog. Here I speak only for myself.
November 16th, 2012
“I’ve probably lost some friends along the way because they don’t understand and they don’t care to understand, but that’s okay. I know it’s the right thing to do. I sleep well at night,” Molnar said.
Read more: http://www.myfoxaustin.com/story/20112540/woman#ixzz2COQlArvT
Posted in Innocents, Sex Panic | Comments Off on An Interview with NCRJ Board Member Mary Sue Molnar
Friends of Justice is a personal blog. Here I speak only for myself.
November 14th, 2012
From the San Antonio Current:
“I can say that these four women were convicted and falsely imprisoned for a crime they were completely innocent of,” insisted Dallas lawyer Mike Ware, the women’s attorney with Innocence Project. Before taking the case, Ware headed Dallas County’s District Attorneys office’s conviction integrity unit and was responsible for getting the wrongly convicted out of prison. “This is a crime that never even occurred,” Ware said. “What the system has done to these women is horrible.”
http://sacurrent.com/news/freeing-the-san-antonio-four-1.1402560
Posted in Innocents | Comments Off on Freeing the San Antonio Four
Friends of Justice is a personal blog. Here I speak only for myself.
November 11th, 2012
Friedman said, “I had always hoped that the men, who as children had been pressured into filing charges against me, would someday step forward and say, ‘It never happened.’ I am so grateful that they have had the courage to tell their parents and to tell the DA’s office the truth…So many people were harmed and need to heal, not just me.”
http://greatneckrecord.com/2012/jesse-friedmans-team-new-evidence-to-be-presented/
Posted in Innocents | Comments Off on Jesse Friedman’s Team: New Evidence To Be Presented
Friends of Justice is a personal blog. Here I speak only for myself.
November 3rd, 2012
In a previous interview, Ware speculated that the parole board approved Vasquez’s release after he gave its general counsel a polygraph test taken in the past year that she passed.
The National Center for Reason and Justice paid for the polygraph test. The NCRJ also foud Mike Ware, the Texas Four lawyer.
Posted in Innocents | Comments Off on Attorney Credits Polygraph For Anna Vasquez’s Release
Friends of Justice is a personal blog. Here I speak only for myself.
November 2nd, 2012
In the days leading up to her daughter’s release, Maria Vasquez said she and her family had been preparing Anna’s room, buying a new bedroom suite, mattress, TV and blankets.
They also planned to get whatever groceries they needed for Saturday morning.
“I’m going to cook her a big breakfast just like she asked for,” Maria Vasquez said in a previous story. “She hasn’t had a good breakfast in 13 years.”
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/article/Woman-fighting-for-exoneration-released-on-parole-4003817.php
Read more about the Texas Four.
The National Center for Reason and Justice (NCRJ) found Mike Ware, the Texas Four lawyer. Ware credits the polygraph test, paid for by the NCRJ, for convincing the Parole Board to release Anna.
Posted in Innocents | 1 Comment »
Friends of Justice is a personal blog. Here I speak only for myself.
November 2nd, 2012
“This is messed up. These laws are messed up,” Molnar adamantly stated. “A lot of these people who are on this registry for life would never hurt anyone.”
http://www.kens5.com/news/dEFENDING-SEX-OFFENDERS-176881741.html
Posted in Innocents | Comments Off on NCRJ Board member Mary Sue Molnar Interviewed on KENS, San Antonio
