- QUOTE OF THE DAY:(1): "It is the worst feeling ever when you now you haven't done anything and they are constantly saying you did and are a child molester."
- Cassandra Rivera:
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QUOTE OF THE DAY: (2): 'We were on shock. It was a major shock. We believed that the judicial system does what it is supposed to and that if you tell the truth you are not going to be taken to prison. 'You believe they are going to find out the truth, you go to trial, it all comes out and everything is going to be OK because we told the truth. We co-operated but that did not happen and we ended up being taken away from everybody we loved in our lives. It was just a nightmare. I was incarcerated for 14 years.'- Cassandra Rivera:
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------------------------------ ----------------------------- - QUOTE OF THE DAY: (3): "'I think there was a really a lack of critical thinking initially on the part of the investigating detective, on the part of the pediatrician who did the sexual assault examinations and on the part of the prosecutors who took the case and ran with it.'And on the part of the judiciary who presided over the trials. If only somebody had sat down and said "Wait a minute…why are we going with this narrative without a healthy dose of skepticism?" 'I suppose the authorities wanted to believe it and that is why they helped it along or went with it. 'I think they also went with it because the four young women were openly gay and it enabled them to help the narrative along. 'I think there was very likely a feeling that these women are the 'other'. "
- "Attorney Michael Ware: Innocence Project of Texas:
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------------------------------ ----- - STORY: 'We were victims of an hysterical witch hunt and anti-gay sentiment': Four Texas lesbians jailed since 1998 for gang raping two young girls and exonerated last week will share $20 million - but it won't buy back their lives," by Shekhar Bhatia for the Daily Mail, published by The Daily Mail on November 30, 2016.
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------------------------------ ----------------------------- - SUB-HEADINGS: "Texas Court of Criminal appeals ruled last week that the so-called San Antonio 4 were innocent after a 22-year battle by their legal teams; The ruling came after Elizabeth Ramirez, Kristie Mayhugh, Cassandra Rivera and Anna Vasquez spent years in prison; The women were convicted in 1998 of sexually assaulting two of Ramirez's nieces, ages seven and nine; One of the nieces later recanted, saying another family member threatened her into making the statements; The women had remained in jail repeatedly refusing offers of early parole if they accepted their crimes and embarked on rehabilitation programs; Cassandra Rivera, now 41, told DailyMail.com that her biggest regret was missing out on seeing her two children grow up. "
GIST: "Four
innocent lesbians, wrongly jailed for up to 40 years for gang raping
two little girls, have declared no amount of compensation will make up
for their lives being wrecked. They
are set to receive a multi-million dollar payout, but are adamant the
about turn by the courts in declaring them innocent is the prize they
had always set their hearts on. The
four were finally exonerated last week in a surprise announcement from
the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals after a 22-year battle by their
legal teams. The
women had remained in jail repeatedly refusing offers of early parole
if they accepted their crimes and further agreeing to embark on
rehabilitation programs for child sex abusers. They
told DailyMail.com that they had been victims of a 'hysterical witch
hunt, false evidence and anti-gay sentiment' from the judicial system
that existed in the 1990s. One said: 'Our nightmare is finally over…but
so is much of our lives.' Elizabeth
Ramirez, Kristie Mayhugh, Anna Vasquez and Cassandra Rivera had
floundered in dingy prison cells since the '90s on the word of two
children, one of who later retracted her evidence and stated they had
not been abused. Cassandra
Rivera, now 41, told DailyMail.com in an exclusive interview that her
biggest regret, however, was missing out on seeing her two children grow
up and simply 'tucking them in every night'. She said: 'I believe (the
case) was a lot to do with the fact that there was a lot of
discrimination towards gays in the 1990s. The
women's nightmare began in the summer of 1994 when the two girls, aged
seven and nine went to stay at the home of their aunt Elizabeth Ramirez,
while their mother was away in Colorado. Ramirez's
former girlfriend, Kristie Mayhugh, lived with her and another couple
-Vasquez and Rivera - would visit the apartment frequently. But after
the girls had returned home, their grandmother was said to have noticed a
transformation in the girls' behavior. It
was claimed that the girls played with their dolls in 'a sexual manner'
and one of the children claimed she had been sexually assaulted by the
four women in her aunt's apartment. The girls said the women held them
down and inserted various objects into them, while threatening them with
a gun or knife. The stories changed several times and one doctor who
examined them questioned if the crimes may have been 'satanic.' Another
expert Dr Nancy Kellogg examined the children and said the elder of the
girls showed 'physical, objective signs of sexual abuse'. All four
were arrested and in 1997 with Ramirez, considered the ringleader,
sentenced to nearly 40 years in prison. In
1998, the other women each given 15-year sentences, despite all four
fighting the charges and there being no adult corroboration of the
allegations. Four
years ago, one of the victims announced she was coerced into making a
false accusation and the courts began ordering their release with
Vasquez let out in 2012 and the others given their freedom in 2013. The
woman who accused the four, now in her twenties and a mother herself,
retracted her statement and denied she had been sexually assaulted. But
despite their freedom, the four were still regarded by the state as sex
offenders who had exploited children until last Wednesday's sudden
declaration of their innocence.........Rivera,
now 41, told DailyMail.com that her biggest regret, however, was
missing out on seeing her two children grow up and simply 'tucking them
in every night'.........'The fact
that we are lesbians and it was a sex crime and when Salem witch trials
were really big. 'They made up this huge story about us and media were
heavily involved and people believed we had committed the crime 'All
everybody heard was what was being said about us and what was being said
against us. We never stood a chance. 'It
is the worst feeling ever when you now you haven't done anything and
they are constantly saying you did and are a child molester.' She added:
'It was outrageously untrue. The four of us would never have done
anything like that. 'It
was hard for us, for our families and people who loved us because they
knew we would never do something so awful and horrendous.' She
had been married as a teenager, but before her divorce and coming out
as gay, she had two children Michael and Ashley, who were seven and
eight years old when she was jailed. She
said: 'Being charged was really, really hard…I had two small children
and we were just young adults trying to live our lives. 'We all had
futures and it was just taken away from us. It was very painful. 'We
were on shock. It was a major shock. We believed that the judicial
system does what it is supposed to and that if you tell the truth you
are not going to be taken to prison. 'You
believe they are going to find out the truth, you go to trial, it all
comes out and everything is going to be OK because we told the truth.
We
co-operated but that did not happen and we ended up being taken away
from everybody we loved in our lives. It was just a nightmare. I was
incarcerated for 14 years.' She
and the others said they felt 'like a number lost in the system' and
what kept them........The
four friends were separated in prison at Mountain View Jail in
Gatesville, Texas, which also houses the state's female death row
inmates and has the capacity to lock up 645 inmates. Rivera, prisoner
number 935477, was in segregation for the first year of her internment.
'It
was my darkest moment. I was isolated and that caused so much pain. I
read the Bible a lot and probably two or three times from front to back
because I needed to get through it,' she said. After more than ten
years behind bars, the authorities offered her and the other three
women, the chance for partial freedom. Rivera
said: 'When we came up for parole we were meant to take an 18-month
course which meant we would have to admit we were guilty just to go
home. 'That was something we were just not going to do because we knew
we had not committed a crime. 'We
were not going to participate, so our punishment was segregation for
refusing it and on the unit I was at, it was so dark and dreary, so
sad. 'You
are not allowed to speak to anybody. There was no communication with
anybody except for the guards when they would come to leave you a tray
or to check on you to see if you were still alive.......... She said
during prison visits from her children her despair deepened as she was
always behind a glass screen. 'It
was very painful because I could not kiss them or hug them. As they got
older they understood and believed in me and knew that I had not
committed a crime,' she said. Dr
Kellogg later retracted her testimony and the womens' appeal was told
she 'now agrees with the defense that there are no definitive signs of
sexual abuse'. The appeal was told that she 'has acknowledged that her
testimony at trial was wrong.' It was really really hard, but we kept
strong and made it through,' Rivera said. Texas
passed a compensation statute in 2009, which allows for wrongly
convicted people to be awarded $80,000 per year for each 12 months spent
in jail. The four womens' total compensation package could reach up to
$5 million from state funds when lawyers have finalized the claim.
Rivera
added: 'I don't think any amount of money will make up for the fact
that I was taken away from my children and family for so many years. 'I
would never have left my kids and there is no way that $80,000 dollars
per year is going to make me feel better.........'The
best part of my incarceration was that I learned that I am a stronger
woman than I have ever known.. One of strength, perseverance,
determination, and survival. 'But
I was living under this dark cloud for 22 long years. Living with this
scarlet letter that most everyone in prison despises. It is really the
worst crime to have in prison. My conviction alone was like a death
sentence in there. 'But unfortunately there are many more out there and
even some that we don't even know about. 'The
feeling (of being declared innocent) is amazing. I have been
vindicated. I have fought for my life since 1994 and here it is November
2016 and I have won what was rightfully mine all along, my freedom.'
Their case for exoneration was led by attorney Michael Ware who works
for the non-profit group, Innocence Project of Texas. He
said: 'I think there was a really a lack of critical thinking initially
on the part of the investigating detective, on the part of the
pediatrician who did the sexual assault examinations and on the part of
the prosecutors who took the case and ran with it.'And
on the part of the judiciary who presided over the trials. If only
somebody had sat down and said "Wait a minute…why are we going with this
narrative without a healthy dose of skepticism?" 'I suppose the
authorities wanted to believe it and that is why they helped it along or
went with it. 'I think they also went with it because the four young
women were openly gay and it enabled them to help the narrative along.
'I think there was very likely a feeling that these women are the
'other'. 'So
what otherwise would be preposterous allegations, made them more
plausible because "they are the other…we don't know what they are up
to".' He added: 'There is a bit of the Salem Witch trial phenomenon
there. 'And this case was assigned to a homicide detective who handled
it like he would a homicide case. 'He
basically typed out a written statement for a seven-year-old to swear
to and sign. The seven year-old at the time couldn't even read. 'That's
what you do in a homicide case, you pressure witnesses and you almost
always really start with the premise that a crime did occur. I mean,
there's a dead body, and somebody caused this person to be dead. 'This
is a case where the crime was completely imaginary. The
criminal justice system is always looking for a vulnerable population
to pick on whether it is the African American population, poor
population or whatever it may be. Ware
said: 'The criminal justice system is always looking for a marginalized
group in society to pick on. They make easy targets. .........Ware
added: 'Their lives are forever changed from this. They were identified
as child molesters and had that identity thrust upon them. This is a
start for them to getting their lives back. 'When
you are accused of something as horrible as this, it is important for
the world to know that not only did you not get a fair trial but that
you are actually innocent.' A
film about the women called South West of Salem has been made, and a
new ending is being prepared to mark the innocent verdicts. Director
Deborah Esquenazi said: 'It was clear they were living some sort of
dystopian nightmare. I visited them in prison and they were in a dark
web. 'But
they have suffered for 23 years both inside and outside prison. There
was this false notion that gay people are more pre-disposed to harming
children.'"
The entire story can be found at:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/
See Sarah Marloff - A new beginning for the San Antonio Four - in the Austin Chronicle, at the link below; "The San Antonio Four were granted full exoneration by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals last Wednesday, 22 years after their arrest for aggravated sexual assault and indecency against two young girls. As one of the final misguided rulings from the country's decade-long obsession with satanic ritual abuse, the four queer women (Elizabeth Ramirez, Kristie Mayhugh, Cassandra Rivera, and Anna Vasquez) were imprisoned for a crime they never committed. After one of the young accusers recanted her story and forensic evidence from the trial was debunked in 2012 and 2013, the four were released on bail with the help of the Innocence Project. They were not, however, granted exoneration until the Nov. 23 ruling. Bexar County District Attorney Nico LaHood said in a statement shortly after the ruling: "The court's opinion has exonerated the women and their convictions are overturned. Today's ruling prevents any further prosecution of these cases. I pray peace and a new beginning for them."
http://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2016-12-02/a-new-beginning-for-the-san-antonio-four/
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. 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/
