POST: "Who doesn't love ritualistic abuse?" published by "Simple Justice" on November 30, 2013.
GIST: "In 2008, the Chronicle began a reinvestigation of the case against Fran and Dan Keller, discovering that Austin Police and prosecutors were embarrassingly credulous in their belief that the children had been abused in all manner of impractical – if not simply impossible – ways and despite the fact that there was scant evidence to suggest any crime ever happened at all. But in the 80′s and early 90′s, the hysteria of child-care workers engaged in satanic rituals remained believable. We wanted to believe the children, even though it wasn’t really the children we believed but the adults who manipulated them to tell these ridiculous stories. Yet, even in 2008 as the Austin Chronicle proclaimed that Fran Keller had likely spent 17 years (then) in prison for a crime that never happened, she remained in a cell. As bad as the stories were, and as poor as the evidence in support of any crime was, we adhered to the plot line rather than admit it was absurd hysteria. Representing Fran Keller, Keith Hampton persuaded District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg following a hearing last summer that Keller was denied due process upon her conviction for Mouw’s false testimony. Finally, having served 21 years of her 48 year sentence, she was released. She’s now 63 years old. Her husband, Dan, 72, remains in prison awaiting papers to be signed for his release. Of course, this insane hysteria happened back in the dark ages of the legal system, many years ago. We’re so much smarter and more sophisticated now that we would never buy into such a crazy, ridiculous story of satanic rituals and babies’ murders. We now know that the well-intended believers who coaxed these stories from the mouths of babes created the fantasies that gave us the story line that captivated a nation. We’re so much smarter now. And yet we still haven’t figured out that the ritualistic abuse didn’t happen on some impossible plane trip to Mexico, but in courtrooms right here in the good ol’ U.S. of A., where wild stories are told by “experts” incompetent to tell them and complicit in their invention, and yet we continue to believe them because we still want so desperately to believe the children. How wonderful for the legal system that we are so much more sophisticated than when we thought this bad plot line made any sense at all. Because it will never happen again, and we’ve learned so much from it about our willingness to buy into any bizarre story and the frailty of a system that isn’t supposed to allow such absurdity to happen. And Dan Keller will be out of prison when the papers finally get signed."
The entire post can be found at:
http://blog.simplejustice.us/2013/11/30/who-doesnt-love-rituatlistic-abuse/#more-19192GIST: "In 2008, the Chronicle began a reinvestigation of the case against Fran and Dan Keller, discovering that Austin Police and prosecutors were embarrassingly credulous in their belief that the children had been abused in all manner of impractical – if not simply impossible – ways and despite the fact that there was scant evidence to suggest any crime ever happened at all. But in the 80′s and early 90′s, the hysteria of child-care workers engaged in satanic rituals remained believable. We wanted to believe the children, even though it wasn’t really the children we believed but the adults who manipulated them to tell these ridiculous stories. Yet, even in 2008 as the Austin Chronicle proclaimed that Fran Keller had likely spent 17 years (then) in prison for a crime that never happened, she remained in a cell. As bad as the stories were, and as poor as the evidence in support of any crime was, we adhered to the plot line rather than admit it was absurd hysteria. Representing Fran Keller, Keith Hampton persuaded District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg following a hearing last summer that Keller was denied due process upon her conviction for Mouw’s false testimony. Finally, having served 21 years of her 48 year sentence, she was released. She’s now 63 years old. Her husband, Dan, 72, remains in prison awaiting papers to be signed for his release. Of course, this insane hysteria happened back in the dark ages of the legal system, many years ago. We’re so much smarter and more sophisticated now that we would never buy into such a crazy, ridiculous story of satanic rituals and babies’ murders. We now know that the well-intended believers who coaxed these stories from the mouths of babes created the fantasies that gave us the story line that captivated a nation. We’re so much smarter now. And yet we still haven’t figured out that the ritualistic abuse didn’t happen on some impossible plane trip to Mexico, but in courtrooms right here in the good ol’ U.S. of A., where wild stories are told by “experts” incompetent to tell them and complicit in their invention, and yet we continue to believe them because we still want so desperately to believe the children. How wonderful for the legal system that we are so much more sophisticated than when we thought this bad plot line made any sense at all. Because it will never happen again, and we’ve learned so much from it about our willingness to buy into any bizarre story and the frailty of a system that isn’t supposed to allow such absurdity to happen. And Dan Keller will be out of prison when the papers finally get signed."
The entire post 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;
