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It's been 5 yrs since my friend has been in prison. He was sentenced to 30+ yrs for multiple counts. The abuse supposedly happened at a daycare where my friend lived for a while. There is a strong possibility he didn't do it and seems like he just got convicted because of hearsay. The little girl said it was him, but no direct evidence, as far as we know, only circumstantial like he was with her so then he could have done it. No medical evidence, again as far as I know. My friends attended every court day and never heard anything substantial that would point to him. It was concluded that the girl was abused though, just nothing really indicating it was this guy. He had some troubles with the law, but nothing related to sex crimes or violence or anything like that, even still that prolly had some effect on how he was viewed. Is it possible he got convicted only based on jury's assumptions and the girl's testimony or it has to be some other circumstances I am not aware of? The part that is messed up everybody in the daycare said they never left the girl alone with him, except when he walked her home from school like twice, which is two blocks away and he couldn't really do nothing outside so I guess nobody believed these daycare people plus they said the abuse was continuous over the yrs, not just once or twice. He wasn't even living there when he got arrested, but his license listed the old daycare address so nobody believed him when he said he moved a long time ago. There is a chance the girl was coached by her mom cuz she was either trying to protect her bf by blaming someone else or sue the daycare or both cuz she did sue later. Some parents also saw the bf kiss the girl on the lips when he picked her up, which is somewhat weird, esp when he is not her dad. Moreover, and this is 100% verified, police found child porn on mom's bf computer so I don't know why he wasn't the prime suspect. My friend's mom didn't wanna spend money on good lawyers so perhaps he got convicted because he had a public defender represent him, but I still thought there has to be some solid evidence for someone to get convicted like that.
It's been 5 yrs since my friend has been in prison. He was sentenced to 30+ yrs for multiple counts. The abuse supposedly happened at a daycare where my friend lived for a while. There is a strong possibility he didn't do it and seems like he just got convicted because of hearsay. The little girl said it was him, but no direct evidence, as far as we know, only circumstantial like he was with her so then he could have done it. No medical evidence, again as far as I know. My friends attended every court day and never heard anything substantial that would point to him. It was concluded that the girl was abused though, just nothing really indicating it was this guy. He had some troubles with the law, but nothing related to sex crimes or violence or anything like that, even still that prolly had some effect on how he was viewed. Is it possible he got convicted only based on jury's assumptions and the girl's testimony or it has to be some other circumstances I am not aware of? The part that is messed up everybody in the daycare said they never left the girl alone with him, except when he walked her home from school like twice, which is two blocks away and he couldn't really do nothing outside so I guess nobody believed these daycare people plus they said the abuse was continuous over the yrs, not just once or twice. He wasn't even living there when he got arrested, but his license listed the old daycare address so nobody believed him when he said he moved a long time ago. There is a chance the girl was coached by her mom cuz she was either trying to protect her bf by blaming someone else or sue the daycare or both cuz she did sue later. Some parents also saw the bf kiss the girl on the lips when he picked her up, which is somewhat weird, esp when he is not her dad. Moreover, and this is 100% verified, police found child porn on mom's bf computer so I don't know why he wasn't the prime suspect. My friend's mom didn't wanna spend money on good lawyers so perhaps he got convicted because he had a public defender represent him, but I still thought there has to be some solid evidence for someone to get convicted like that.
Looks like you answered your own question. In my mind circumstantial evidence should never be used alone to convict a person of a crime. When a person is convicted he is supposed to be guilty "beyond a reasonable doubt". You never know what a jury will decide, much depends on the instructions given to them by the judge. If a person has had a brush with the law, he better have a darn good attorney, because he already "looks" guilty. Remember it is the policeman's job to collect evidence and report what that evidence is. Most of the time the police look only for evidence to find you guilty, not to find you innocent.
There have been cases of this sort where the verdicts were later overturned. Children can be coached and, contrary to what some say, they are perfectly capable of lying. That she had knowledge means she was probably abused, the who and the extent become the issue. Once the child has been interviewed multiple times their testimony becomes less credible. They see the interviewer as their friend and want to please them. As an experienced teacher, I guarantee you that, if I were inclined to do so, I am probably capable of getting about 75-80% of 11-13 year olds to confess to stuff they haven't done. After a while they question their own experience, assume I must be right, and just want me to leave them alone. So yeah, it's possible. The boyfriend with the kiddie porn should have been looked into.
Absolutely. How old was the victim? Was there more than one? What were his prior crimes?
she was 6 when it started and it was happening over the course of 2 yrs and it was only her, when the trial started she was 8 i believe
he was speeding and ran from the police
Can you be found guilty of child sex abuse without any evidence?
Is testimony from the child, "evidence"?
There was a case 20-plus years ago, in California I believe. A guy was accused of molesting children. Cops and social worker grilled the kids, and came out with statements from them saying the guy definitely did this to them here, touched them there, etc. He was convicted.
Years later, it turned out that the children, afraid from all the hoopla and serious-looking people, told them what the kids thought the adults wanted to hear, but was not actually true.
Genuine child molesters, of course, almost never have witnesses. The molester makes sure of it. It's just him and the child, alone in a room somewhere. If he genuinely HAS done something, how do you convict him?
she was 6 when it started and it was happening over the course of 2 yrs and it was only her, when the trial started she was 8 i believe
he was speeding and ran from the police
Ok. Those are rather benign priors.
Here we have the tender years exceptions regarding heresay.
That sentence tells me there's more to the story than what we're getting here. That's a severe sentence like I've never seen with what you're telling me.
I've been involved in the system, both prosecution and corrections for many years.
Did you attend the trial? Or are you going on just what he is telling you? They tend to underestimate the severity of their crimes.
Also, what state was this in?
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