The Great Recession Has Forced a New Exploration of Rehabilitation Instead of Retribution in Sentencing
SCOTUS 2.0: A New Website for a New Century?
SCOTUS Set to Rule in G'tmo Case
Is Texas About to Execute Another Innocent Defendant?
Today’s New York Post contained a troubling story involving an a demonstrably false allegation of rape. Biurny Peguero Gonzalez repeatedly told police, prosecutors, the grand jury, and the petite jury that she had been raped by William McCaffrey. The jury believed Ms. Gonzalez and convicted the defendant. Mr.McCaffrey served more than four years in prison before exonerated by DNA test. At that point, Ms. Gonzalez coached on by her priest recanted her testimony and admitted she was never raped. What is sickening about the case is her underlying reason for the false allegation of sexual abuse. Ms. Gonzales was out with friends and temporarily left with the Mr. McCaffrey. Her friends were upset with her for leaving. In order to garner her sympathy, she invented the story that she was raped. At the original trial, she testified that she was 110% sure that the police have the right defendant and that he had raped her. Like many allegations of sexual abuse, the state had relied on her contemporaneous and distressed outburst over it to demonstrate that it was not a fabrication. While I recognize the danger of anecdotal evidence, the Gonzalez case demonstrates just how difficult it is to tell a genuine allegation of sexual abuse from a false one. It also paints a troubling picture about how easily some people won't make up such a damning lie. Click here to read the New York Post story.
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New York Test Case Highlights Deplorable Nature of Appointed Counsel System
She was charged with smuggling a small amount of marijuana into a prison for her husband (an inmate at the facility). The court appointed counsel was a local favorite and the low ball bidder on the public defender contract. Counsel had multiple reprimands, suffered from depression, and was in trouble with the bar on other matters of neglect. He pled his client guilty to a non-existent felony. Tipped off about the case, the New York Civil Liberties Union sent an observer into the courthouse and watched. They reported that the attorney had virtually no contact with his client who rushed the case through. Ms. Hurell-Harring is the lead plaintiff in a civil suit challenging whether New York is providing adequate counsel to its indigent defendants and challenging the decision to leave the appointed counsel system in the hands of various counties. Except for the name of the suit, this could be Michigan. A similar suit is pending in the Michigan Courts and is currently on appeal to the Michigan Court of Appeals. Except for the names of the parties, the facts are virtually the same. The ruling in this case could have a dramatic effect on Michigan law.