Posted on 01/11/2019 9:19:23 AM PST by rickmichaels
When a Newfoundland judge was about to sentence the skipper of a fishing boat for trying to throw his wife overboard, he suddenly found himself in a tricky legal position.
The skipper’s wife — the victim of the crime that had just been proved beyond a reasonable doubt — came forward to say it never happened, that she made it all up because she was angry.
This was a problem, raising fears of a miscarriage of justice, and the judge’s ultimate solution is a rare illustration of the law on victims who recant criminal accusations.
When he briefly re-opened the trial last week, Judge Wayne Gorman had already convicted Trent John White of assault and aggravated assault, plus mischief for actually throwing his wife Jessica Decker’s cellphone into the heaving North Atlantic during a fight over her use of opiates. White admitted throwing the phone, but could not explain why, and denied assaulting her.
As White put it, bluntly, if he “wanted to throw her overboard, she would have been overboard.”
But Judge Gorman did not believe his denials. He believed the two crew members who were aboard the boat in the Labrador Sea in the summer of 2017, fishing for turbot, when they heard screaming from the back of the boat. They testified they found White and Decker struggling, with Decker halfway over the side.
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalpost.com ...
But women never lie....especially not Canadian women!
wow. punchline at end of article, conviction still stands1
Tough call when the victim recants: Were you lying then or are you lying now?
That was a huge problem 30 years ago in Illinois when a woman recanted a rape allegation that got Gary Dotson years in the pokey. AFTER she recanted, she had to go through a (I think televised) hearing to make sure she recanted of her own free will. Dotson always maintained his innocence.
Gilligan is crushed.
False Witness should always be offered forgiveness and then be punished by death.
“But women never lie....”
We know she lied ... we just don’t know which was the lies!
Must have been Mary Ann’s fault.
Ginger was too high maintenance.
Great minds!!
It’s the common law rule, and still the law in California (not that we execute anyone here) that if you falsely accuse someone of a capital crime and they’re executed, your penalty is death. I’m not advocating for that here, but I think she should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law
Tricky legal situation? Walk the wife over to the appeals court, get the conviction overturned based on new evidence and let the guy go. Only lawyers could consider this a tricky legal thing. More like a judge trying to protect his name after getting publicly hoaxed.
Then, of course, nobody would ever recant their false testimony since they would be signing their own death warrant.
“get the conviction overturned based on new evidence”
The problem here is, her accusation wasn’t the only evidence against him. There were 2 other independent witnesses (presumably not opioid addicts) who claimed to see him trying to throw her overboard, so her recanting doesn’t change their testimony.
A couple of crazy Newfies.
If two crewmen saw him about to throw her over, and she was halfway over the edge, I’d say she was telling the truth initially, and changed her mind to prevent her husband from going to jail. The judge agreed with that interpretation of the recanted testimony.
She did not report the assault until several months later, when she spoke to police after they responded to reports that he was assaulting her on a roadside.
She was interviewed by an officer, but as she told Judge Gorman, she lied and exaggerated for two reasons: to get back at White, and to divert police suspicion from her own possession of drugs and the fact she had just driven a vehicle. She claimed she was very high during the interview, but the police officer found her sober and had no concerns about her mental state.
So Judge Gorman re-opened the trial and heard her out, but it had no effect on the convictions. He concluded Decker was not being honest, and that her recanting was “purposefully false” and designed to help her husband, who faces a significant jail sentence.
“I do not accept Ms. Decker’s evidence as being reliable or honest. - https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/n-l-skipper-found-guilty-of-trying-to-throw-wife-overboard-even-when-she-told-judge-the-story-was-made-up
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