Posted on 02/09/2006 7:57:10 AM PST by Orlando
Newaygo County, Mich,February 2, 2006. A man set free after spending 13 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit is facing more trouble.
Court documents show 53-year-old Larry Souter owes about $38,000.00 in back child support after Interest and Penalties.
The amount grew because he failed to have his payments suspended when he went to prison in 1992.
Souter was convicted for the 1979 murder of 19-year-old Kristi Ringler near White Cloud. But years later, a women came forward saying Ringler was actually hit by a motor home.
More info on:
http://mlive.com/newsflash/michigan/index.ssf?/base/news-31/113900397434230.xml&storylist=newsmichigan
"...In 1987, before his conviction, Souter was ordered to pay $100.00 a week in his divorce with Christine Souter. He stopped paying when he went to prison in 1992...."
"...Federal law prohibits judges from retroactively wiping out such debts..."
IIRC defendant was convicted of beating woman to death with a liquor bottle. No witnesses, no bottle recovered, though she was last seen alive with him and he was carrying a liquor bottle. His statement that she was whapped by a passing Winnebago's rear view mirror was not believed at his trial.
A judge may not be able to "wipe out" the debt, but there are ample means for transferring the liability for it to other parties, in this case, the state which wrongly convicted and imprisoned Souter (and if the conviction hinged on deliberate misrepresentation or withholding of evidence by any individual, then that individual can get hit with the liability). Souter will not have to pay this amount himself, though it may take a while to get it sorted out.
Whiskey bottles and motor homes are so similar, you know, that sometimes it's hard to tell them apart . . .
Someone else would be paying it, or they should be, that is terrible!!
Not to mention no motive, since it seems to be undisputed that he had just met her.
Indeed, and in this case, the state will end up having to collect from itself, since its own actions are the clear cause for the existence of the debt.
Thank you for that infromation.
After reading the article, I am not surprised that his ex-wife would not let him go for a least part of the money($28K instead of $38K). My own experience shows that most ex's with children are nothing but greedy bitches only my ex has lost plenty of cases against me. He should sue the pants off of all those involved.
The mother doesn't have anything to do with it. The Nanny State is the controlling legal authority. Even if he pays it, she won't get it.
It's possible the woman didn't know someone had been convicted and imprisoned in the girl's death, or even that the girl had dies. The article doesn't explain how she came to know this. For all we know, her father was driving the motor home, did the hit-and-run without anybody else knowing (especially since it was apparently just the mirror that hit the girl), and confessed it to his daughter on his deathbed. If she has known about it all along, she will be facing some liability, though perhaps not a huge amount, assuming she didn't actually testify to the contrary. After all, if she didn't testify, she is hardly the primary cause of a man having been convicted for murdering a girl with a whiskey bottle, when in fact the girl was hit by a motor home.
If I remember correctly, someone (dad? husband? some relation) told her on a deathbed confession that they were driving the Winnebago and the passenger mirror hit the person on the side of the road.
Seriously? Wow, I'm a better guesser than I realized :-)
:-) Truth is stranger than fiction.
Madness.
If his children had any sense of decency they would have ceased eating or needing clothing and shelter during those years he was in prison.
I agree, sue them all for millions.
"This should be an easy win for a lawsuit against the offending state. The prosecutor's office and the associated law enforcement department should be required to split this bill between them, from their respective operating budgets. :-)"
Sure, let the taxpayers foot the bill. We pay for everything in the end anyway.
No, that's the point. Take it from their existing budget for the year. No increase to the taxpayer, just some pain for the departments that screwed up.
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