GIST: A
Bexar County judge ordered Monday afternoon to expunge the convictions
of four San Antonio women wrongfully convicted of raping two young girls
nearly two decades ago. Kristie Mayhugh, Elizabeth Ramirez,
Cassandra Rivera and Anna Vasquez spent nearly 15 years in prison for
crimes they did not commit. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals
dismissed the cases in 2017 against each women in the "San Antonio
Four." The women's stories were the focus of an award-winning
documentary, "Southwest of Salem" that aired on the Investigation
Discovery channel. The "San Antonio 4" were convicted in 1998
after two of Ramirez's nieces, ages 7 and 9, accused them of sexually
assaulting and threatening to kill them in 1994. Three of the women were released in 2013 after one of the nieces recanted and challenges were raised about expert testimony. "Well, we did it!" Ramirez said. "We finally made it through." "Oh
my coming back to this court room with the original conviction, it's
difficult," Vasquez said. "It brings up a lot of memories. At the same
time it's a joyous occasion."The expunction erases all of the records related to the case. "An
exoneration is like the surgery to correct the main problem, but you
still have scars from it," said Allison Clayton, deputy director for the
Innocence Project of Texas. "The expunction gets rid of the scars.""
The entire story can be read at the link below:
http://news4sanantonio.com/news/local/san-antonio-fours-wrongful-child-sex-convictions-expunged-after-nearly-two-decade
Read National Registry of Exonerations entry by Maurice Possley at the link below:
"In March 1995, 20-year-old Elizabeth Ramirez and three of her friends
were indicted on charges of sexually molesting Ramirez’s 7-year-old and
9-year-old nieces in San Antonio, Texas. The girls claimed that Ramirez, 21-year-old
Kristie Mayhugh, 19-year-old
Cassandra Rivera and 19-year-old
Anna Vasquez
spent the week of July 24-31, 1994 in an orgy of molestation. The
nieces said the women were topless while they held them down and
inserted various objects, such as tampons coated with gel, into them.
They said the women threatened them with a gun and a knife. Before
charges were filed, police learned that all four women were gay and had
recently come out to their families. Vasquez and Rivera were dating at
the time of the allegations. All four women cooperated with authorities and vehemently denied they molested the girls. The
allegations came in the wake of more than a decade of national hysteria
over claims of satanic ritual abuse of children. Dozens of men and
women—many of whom worked in daycare centers—were targeted. Children,
subjected to leading and suggestive questioning by police and social
workers, told wild stories of being taken out on boats to watch babies
pitched into the ocean to be devoured by sharks, or of babies being
killed so adults could drink their blood. Mayhugh,
Ramirez, Vasquez and Rivera rejected prosecution offers to plead guilty
for reduced sentences and went to trial. Ramirez, who was considered the
ringleader, went to trial by herself in Bexar County Criminal District
Court in February 1997. The older girl testified that the four women
repeatedly molested them. The younger girl was not called to testify. Dr.
Nancy Kellogg, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Texas
Health Science Center in San Antonio, testified that she examined the
girls and saw evidence of a healed scar on the older girl’s hymen.
Kellogg testified this scar was physical evidence of sexual molestation.
In her notes, Kellogg speculated that the acts were “satanic related.”
Although Kellogg admitted on cross-examination that she could not tell
how old the scar was or whether it was the result of an accident,
Kellogg insisted the scar indicated sexual abuse. On
February 6, 1997, the jury convicted Ramirez of aggravated assault of a
child and indecency with a child. She was sentenced to 37½ years in
prison. One year later, in February 1998, Mayhugh, Vasquez
and Rivera were tried together in Bexar County Criminal District Court.
In this trial, both girls testified they were sexually molested and
Kellogg again testified about the physical evidence of abuse. The women
denied the allegations and told the jury that they spent the week doing
routine, mundane things such as shopping and going to Arby’s for lunch.
They testified they were never all there at the same time. On
February 14, 1998, Mayhugh, Vasquez and Rivera were convicted of
aggravated sexual assault of a child and indecency with a child. Each
was sentenced to 15 years in prison. In both trials,
prosecutors won convictions by discounting the many inconsistencies in
the girls’ testimonies and argued that the inconsistencies were
outweighed by the scientific testimony of the pediatrician. That theme
was repeated by the appellate court in affirming the convictions on
direct appeal. In 2006, Darrell Otto, a biologist from the
Yukon who was studying female sex offenders, became aware of the case
of the women. He began corresponding with them, and became convinced of
their innocence. In 2008, he submitted a request for assistance to the
National Center for Reason and Justice, a national organization
co-founded by Debbie Nathan, who wrote a book about satanic ritual abuse
cases. Nathan examined the case. In 2010, she
interviewed Stephanie, the younger victim, who recanted her trial
testimony. Stephanie said that she and her sister had made the false
claims after being pressured by their father, Javier Limon. Stephanie
said that they were coerced by Limon (who later unsuccessfully sought
to take away Stephanie’s children because of her recantation), after
Ramirez rejected his romantic advances. “I was only 7,” she wrote in a
letter to Ramirez, “and I was scared.” In the ensuing two
years, the Center, which helps people wrongly accused of crimes against
children, raised public attention and support for the four women, who
became known as the “San Antonio Four.” Nathan and the Center contacted
the Innocence Project of Texas in 2010, and in 2011, lawyers for the
Innocence Project of Texas accepted the case and began a complete
reinvestigation. Nathan also contacted filmmaker Deb Esquenazi of
Austin, Texas who began filming a real-time documentary that was
released in April 2016 titled “Southwest of Salem,” in which Nathan said
the prosecution of the four women represented “the last gasps of the
satanic ritual abuse panic.” Attorney Mike Ware, executive
director of the Innocence Project of Texas, spent two years
reinvestigating the case. During that time, Ware consulted with Astrid
Heger, a professor of clinical pediatrics at the University of Southern
California Keck School of Medicine and an expert in the evaluation of
child abuse. Through the cooperation of the Bexar County District
Attorney’s office, Ware obtained copies of the original photographs
taken of the girls during their 1994 sexual assault examinations by
Kellogg. Hager examined the photographs and concluded that there was no
physical evidence of any trauma. Confronted with Heger’s findings,
Kellogg signed a sworn affidavit saying that, had she known then what
she subsequently learned about sexual-abuse forensics, she would not
have testified that the evidence showed any physical signs that the
girls had been molested. That development meant that Stephanie’s
recantation was corroborated by physical evidence. Ware
and lawyer Keith Hampton filed a state law petition for a writ of habeas
corpus on behalf of the four women, citing two grounds for setting
aside their convictions: they were actually innocent based on the new
forensic analysis and Stephanie’s recantation, and that their trial had
been unfair because of Kellogg’s inaccurate scientific testimony. The
petition noted that Kellogg “now affirms that her trial testimony was
materially inaccurate and that if she had known then what she and others
in her field know today, she would not have testified that her
examination… revealed anything indicative of trauma or any… physical
evidence of sexual abuse.” The petition cited a 2007 study
from the American Academy of Pediatrics that concluded that torn or
injured hymens “do not leave scars as a matter of scientific fact.” The
Innocence Project of Texas had all four women take polygraph
examinations and all were deemed to be truthful when they denied the
allegations. They also submitted to psychological examinations that
revealed that none of them possessed any characteristics or traits
consistent with pedophiles or sex offenders. The expert who oversaw the
examinations concluded not only that the women did not commit the crime,
but they would never have committed the crime. In addition, Stephanie
was psychologically evaluated by Dr. Alexandria Doyle, who determined
that her recantation was truthful and reliable. The Bexar
County District Attorney’s Office agreed to relief on the basis that
inaccurate scientific testimony tainted the trial, but took no position
on the actual innocence claim. The women were released on bail in
November 2013. In April 2015, the judge who presided over
the second trial in 1998 held a two-day evidentiary hearing on the issue
of actual innocence as to all four women. In February 2016, that judge
declined to recommend that the women be found actually innocent and the
women appealed to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. On
November 23, 2016, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted the writs
and vacated the convictions of the four women, ruling in favor of them
on their actual innocence claim and the faulty science claim. The
court said that Stephanie “not only established that the offenses did
not occur through her credible recantation testimony, she explained in
detail how her father forced her and her sister to make the false
allegations to the police in the first place.” Moreover,
the court said, “Dr. Kellogg has retracted her testimony about the
physical indicators of past trauma. She now agrees with the defense that
there are no definitive signs of sexual abuse, and she has acknowledged
that her testimony at trial was wrong. “All parties and
courts, including this one, agree that all four (defendants) are
entitled to have their convictions and sentences vacated because of the
introduction of what is now known to be scientifically invalid or
inaccurate evidence.” The court declared that the four
women were factually innocent and that “they are exonerated.” All four
were awarded compensation by the state of Texas. All four were awarded
compensation by the state of Texas. Mayhugh received $1,073,000 and a
monthly annuity of $5,100, Ramirez received $1,346,000 and a monthly
annuity of $6,300, Rivera received $1,080,000 and a monthly annuity of
$5,000, and Vasquez received $1,104,000 and a monthly annunity of
$5,100."
http://www.law.umich.edu/special/exoneration/Pages/casedetail.aspx?caseid=5048
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/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;
