PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "In 1991, Quinney’s son accused him of being the leader of a Satanic cult and said Quinney had sexually abused him and his sister. Quinney was found guilty and sentenced to 20 years in prison. He was released in 1999 and was then required to register as a sex offender his entire life. Last summer, with the help of the Innocence Project of Texas, Quinney’s son John Parker, now an adult, was back in court to testify that the entire ordeal was a lie. Parker, in testimony, said he was forced by his mother and other adults to say what he did as a child after his parents had separated."
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QUOTE OF THE DAY: "During the ‘80s and ‘90s, multiple trials took place where individuals were accused of being in Satanic cults and being convicted of sexually abusing children. It was called “Satanic Panic.” “I admire Mr. Quinney and his family so much for sticking with him and pursuing justice, truth in his case,” said Mike Ware, executive director of the Innocence Project of Texas. “I also really respect the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office in the way they handled this case.” During last summer’s hearing, the district attorney’s Conviction Integrity Unit took up the case and agreed with Ware and his team that Quinney was wrongfully convicted."
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STORY: "San Antonio man wrongfully convicted in 1991 has charges dismissed in Satanic Panic case," by Reporter Erica Hernandez, published by KSAT, on April 10, 2023.
GIST: "Melvin Quinney was wrongfully convicted in 1991 during the Satanic Panic hysteria."
GIST: "A San Antonio man wrongfully convicted in 1991 during the so-called Satanic Panic hysteria is now officially a free man.
In court on Monday, Melvin Quinney had his charge dismissed by 227th District Court Judge Christina Del Prado.
The state exonerated Melvin Quinney of his conviction of indecency with a child back in February but Monday’s hearing made the exoneration official.
“It’s like the beginning of the end of a very long nightmare,” Quinney said.
Quinney’s conviction was vacated, and he would no longer have to register as a sex offender.
In 1991, Quinney’s son accused him of being the leader of a Satanic cult and said Quinney had sexually abused him and his sister.
Quinney was found guilty and sentenced to 20 years in prison. He was released in 1999 and was then required to register as a sex offender his entire life.
Last summer, with the help of the Innocence Project of Texas, Quinney’s son John Parker, now an adult, was back in court to testify that the entire ordeal was a lie.
Parker, in testimony, said he was forced by his mother and other adults to say what he did as a child after his parents had separated.
During the ‘80s and ‘90s, multiple trials took place where individuals were accused of being in Satanic cults and being convicted of sexually abusing children. It was called “Satanic Panic.”
“I admire Mr. Quinney and his family so much for sticking with him and pursuing justice, truth in his case,” said Mike Ware, executive director of the Innocence Project of Texas. “I also really respect the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office in the way they handled this case.”
During last summer’s hearing, the district attorney’s Conviction Integrity Unit took up the case and agreed with Ware and his team that Quinney was wrongfully convicted.
Quinney now hopes, with the compensation owed to him by the state, to move to Dallas to be closer to his kids and grandkids.
“We love each other, and that’s the main thing,” Quinney said. “We’re back together.""
The entire story can be read at:
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NPR: (All things considered): Texas continues to exonerate people who were wrongly convicted during 'satanic panic': Paul Flahive: "Texas courts are still exonerating people who were falsely convicted and imprisoned amid the "moral satanic panic" of the 1980s and '90s. Their persecution was based on lies and conspiracy theories."
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PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. 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/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog;
SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL:
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985
FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
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YET ANOTHER FINAL WORD:
David Hammond, one of Broadwater’s attorneys who sought his exoneration, told the Syracuse Post-Standard, “Sprinkle some junk science onto a faulty identification, and it’s the perfect recipe for a wrongful conviction.”
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