STORY: "Punishment without crime," by Judith Levine, published by "Seven Days" (Vermont's independent voice) on December 4, 2013.
GIST: "After reading an exposé in a local paper, one of the “victims,” by now a young woman, recanted, tearfully recounting how her father — whose repeated advances were spurned by Ramirez — coerced her into lying about the “abuse.” In a letter, she asked her aunt’s forgiveness. “I was only 7,” she wrote, “and I was scared.” Kellogg signed an affidavit saying that, had she known then what she knows now about sexual-abuse forensics, she would not have come to the same conclusion. In fact, she should have known then. In 1992, Kenneth Lanning, the FBI’s eminent behavioral scientist and sex-crime expert, released a report shedding serious doubt on the existence of satanic abuse. In 1994, the National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect concluded a five-year nationwide investigation of more than 12,000 satanic-abuse accusations, most in daycare centers. It found “not a single case where there was clear corroborating evidence.” The trials were not until 1997 and 1998. Before Kellogg testified, her theory had been discredited as “junk science.” This last fact is what got the SA4 out of prison. The women’s attorneys used a new Texas law allowing retrials for people falsely convicted on junk science. The DA has agreed not to retry the women, effectively dropping the charges. It’s up to a higher court to clear their names."
The entire story can be found at:
PUBLISHER'S NOTE:
Dear Reader. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog. We are following this case.
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.
I look forward to hearing from readers at:
hlevy15@gmail.com;
