I really think a series of brisk spankings should suffice.Posted on 02/23/2010 11:29:52 AM PST by nickcarraway
A woman due to be sentenced Tuesday for fabricating a gang rape accusation that sent an innocent man to prison was too drunk to remember much of the night she met him and believed her allegation was true, according to legal papers filed by her defense team.
Biurny Peguero started "to believe that her lie was the true story as she was intoxicated with alcohol and could not recall all the details of that night," a psychiatrist wrote in a report accompanying a defense pre-sentencing memorandum obtained by The Associated Press.
Peguero, 27, approached authorities last year to say she had made up the 2005 incident. She faces up to seven years in prison after pleading guilty in December to perjury. Her lawyer, Paul F. Callan, is asking a judge to sentence the mother of two young children only to probation, noting that her recantation was key to exonerating William McCaffrey.
"Had Ms. Peguero not stepped forward to right this wrong, Mr. McCaffrey might have spent most of the next 20 years in prison," wrote Callan, who said she was riven with remorse over the false accusation.
The Manhattan District Attorney's office didn't immediately return a phone call about the defense memo.
A judge overturned McCaffrey's rape conviction in December, after he had spent nearly four years behind bars in jail and prison. He was released on bail a few months before he was officially cleared, with DNA testing also playing a part in establishing his innocence.
Peguero, then 22, originally said McCaffrey was the ringleader among three men who raped her at knifepoint after luring her into their car after she went to a Manhattan nightclub with female friends.
McCaffrey, now 32, said she had agreed to go with them to a party, and they dropped her off
(Excerpt) Read more at seattletimes.nwsource.com ...
But NOW tells me that women would never lie about being raped, whom should I believe?
If she hadn't made up a lie then this man might not have been in there in the first place occupying the low end of the prison caste system as a raper.
Beyotch
Horse manure. If a man gets drunk and rapes a girl, “I was too drunk to know what I was doing” is not a defense. If a woman gets drunk and accuses a man of rape, I have exactly the same reaction. Send her to prison, where she belongs for trying to send a (more or less) innocent man.
Had she not falsely accued him to start with he would not have spent the last 4 years in prison. According to my idea of justice she should spend four years in prison and pay him the equivalent of what he would have earned plus interest plus punative damages for the four years.
I hope Reese Hopkins has this recourse!
So yeah, don't punish her for recanting now...
But NOW tells me that women would never lie about being raped, whom should I believe?
Well, men lie and women lie, so you don't necessarily believe that either one is telling the truth, based solely on their sex-category... LOL...
That's why we have juries ...
She "did the right thing" after being caught in her lie.
Unfortunately, in this case, the jury believed her lies. I just wonder if they thought a woman would never lie about rape? I am sure we will never know.
I am glad she has turned her life around and think it is wonderful that she has friends and family who will support her while in prison and after she gets out.
If that shows anything to everyone, it should show that it’s entirely possible to end up convicting innocent people (even by juries), so people should have a very high threshold for convicting someone.
Of course, that would mean that “others” would criticize such a system of giving as much benefit of the doubt as possible to the “accused” — as being “too soft on criminals”... doncha know... :-) [as we can all see on some of these FReeper threads, too...]
Call Gloria Allred!! She’ll defend this lying skank.
The ones who should serve the rest of the victim's sentence are the prosecutors and investigators who seemed to have taken this twit at her word without much checking up on it.
Well, what about the jury? Should they serve some of that sentence, too?
It is worse than that. If a man and a woman willingly get drunk together and then both consent to sex, and then if the next day the woman decides she regrets the sex and concludes she would probably not have consented had she not been drunk, then the man can be convicted of rape. Her consent is voided because of her diminished capacity yet he is still fully liable for both of their actions despite his equivalent state. Of course if the man regrets the sex then the woman is not liable for rape.
No, just the prosecutors and the investigators.
Well, from my understanding of our system, the prosecutors are supposed to be pushing for a conviction if there’s an indictment handed down. The grand jury will be the first step — of “citizens” deciding whether something should be prosecuted or not. And if it should be (according to a grand jury, of citizens) then the prosecutor is supposed to be doing all he can to convict.
That’s once it’s decided, by an indictment, that one should proceed to convict in the first place. The “other side” (the defense) is then supposed to be doing all it can to defend the accused.
Each side is supposed to be doing their part, the prosecution to convict and the defense to acquit.
But, the process doesn’t even start unless a grand jury — of citizens — hands down the indictment in the first place. And then one doesn’t get convicted unless a jury — of citizens — convicts.
Thus, the greater responsibility — from the way I see it — is with the citizens of the grand jury and the citizens of the jury.
That’s where the main responsibility lies...
She sould do 20 years rather than 7 since that is what he was facing. She’ll probably get probation, or, knowing how the legal system “works” these days, she’ll probably get a medal.
Why didn’t DNA evidence exonerate him at the time?? Were tests not done? Was he sentenced on her word alone? This broad deserves MORE than 7 years. And he should file one BEAUTY of a suit against her and the state!
And he should file one BEAUTY of a suit against her and the state!
As I was pointing out up above, and in light of your comment, he should be filing suit against the jurors who convicted him, as it was only them who did that part of it.
You are incorrect. Whether it is a grand jury or a district magistrate that determines whether there is evidence to proceed with the trial it is the prosecutor that presents such evidence, and the goal, anyway, of the prosecutor is (supposedly) not to get a conviction but to see justice done.
IOW, if the prosecutor should come across information -- and the prosecutor should be open to such information -- the prosecutor has an obligation to stop the trial.
Apparently, in this case neither the prosecutor nor the investigators even bothered considering DNA evidence.
The grand jury has the ability to deny a prosecutor the indictment if they decide that, and grand juries have done that, many times in many locations. It happens all the time.
Furthermore, the grand jury can order more information be sought, for example, if they didn’t see that any DNA evidence was gathered and/or sought, they could order it themselves, if they wanted to. The grand jury has powers to do that sort of thing. Just because a certain grand jury of citizens decided to not go any further than what he did — that’s their problem and their responsibility. They didn’t question things any further, themselves.
And once an indictment is handed down, it’s not the job of the prosecution to be developing evidence to help in the acquittal of the accused, but to get a conviction. That’s their job. And if they do come across evidence that clearly makes it impossible for the accused to have committed the crime, then they must make that available to the defense. The defense would be the ones to bring that up to get it dismissed at that point.
Once the trial is going, it’s the job of the prosecution to get the conviction, with all his abilities and it’s the job of the defense to get the acquittal.
And then, it’s the job of the jury to determine what is final decision. The responsibility lies in the jury’s hands, and if they think something is left out or not considered and that this possible evidence would be critical in deciding the case, but it was never presented, then the jury can say that this introduces too much doubt in the case and declare the accused not guilty on that basis (their doubt as to the case being “proven”).
It’s the responsibility that is in the hands of the jury.
This is an excellent example of why we need to have a humane prison system that combats the sick predation that goes on among the inmates. This innocent man was incarcerated with real criminals, God only knows what may have happened to him in there. Innocent people go to prison all the time (had the Duke lacrosse players not been from families who could afford decent legal representation, they might all very well be there right now).
I am pretty sure juries can’t be sued anywhere for their verdicts.
I am pretty sure juries can’t be sued anywhere for their verdicts.
Well, since it was a jury that convicted him, I would say he's out of luck then, for suing the responsible parties...
I really think a series of brisk spankings should suffice.Have you ever been on a jury? They aren't God. They do depend on witnesses to tell the truth.
So you honestly don't believe that accusers have any responsibility to tell the truth, or for the results of a lie? We shouldn't have perjury laws, or require witnesses to swear they are telling the truth?
You're going down someone's rabbit trail... but it's not mine... LOL...
I'll tell you what I think about the situation here, and part of it I've already made clear. First, it's the Grand Jury and then it's the Jury who are responsible for convicting this guy.
First the Grand Jury for not stopping the process if there wasn't enough evidence to think a crime was committed. Now either there was enough evidence or there was not. And if there was enough evidence to proceed to being charged, then the prosecutor then proceeds to prosecute the case to the fullest of his abilities. The defense does likewise on behalf of the accused.
Then secondly the Jury should not be convicting anyone unless they are convinced beyond any reasonable doubt that he is absolutely guilty. If they've got some reasonable doubt, that can be slightly nagging them in the background of their thinking -- then they should have never convicted him in the first place.
And in this scenario described above, I'm talking about anyone, whether it's this guy or some drug dealer kingpin or whatever it is. No one should convict anyone, if they are on a jury, if there is any kind of doubt that nags at them or makes them think twice about it.
Part of that kind of doubt, is very simply (and it will come to anyone's mind) is "What if she is lying about this?" And along with that, will go, "What is the external evidence to back up her assertion?" (like DNA evidence, evidence that she was raped at all, and any evidence from anyone else that was around that can given testimony). If these are ignored (and it's natural to always think, "What if the witness is lying?") -- then -- there is doubt and no one should be convicted. That was the Jury's fault on that one... they should not have convicted on that kind of doubt.
Then, in continuing with this scenario, if someone is lying under oath, then they get to have the same kinds of protections that this guy should have had in the first place (but I'm talking about "in general" now, because this case was already decided by confession from the witness...). So, in general, if someone is lying under oath, then they should be put through the same process of having a Grand Jury decide whether someone should be indicted at all, in the first place. And they should not be any kind of "rubber stamp" for anyone. They should seek out whatever they need to know to get the information that they need to proceed with an indictment -- or not proceed, and if they can't get it, then they should not indict, at all. Just because someone makes an accusation of some sort should never result in an automatic indictment, no matter what. There should be corroborating evidence that shows that there is some substance to a charge being made at all.
And then, if this person is indicted for such a charge as lying under oath, then also (just as in the case of this guy, with his jury), no jury should ever accept a charge automatically, but should consider all the evidence possible and if not enough evidence was produced to show that such a charge is proven beyond the doubt that they can have -- then they should always deliver a "not guilty" verdict.
That's the process that should be observed and the two areas where all things should be stopped from proceeding is (1) at the Grand Jury and then lastly (2) at the Jury. And the Jury needs to consider all people absolutely innocent and make it so that whatever the charge is -- needs to be proven beyond the reasonable kind of doubt that anyone can have in considering these things. If the state does not "prove it" -- then they must, and always, deliver a verdict of "Not Guilty" -- no matter who it is.
And, to follow up, all citizens when considering these things in public and discussing it -- they all need to consider all individuals as not guilty in all cases and it must remain that way, until a Jury of their peers has considered all the evidence delivered to them and seen whether they are convinced that a person is proven to be Guilty beyond their reasonable doubt that they can have.
No one, as a normal citizen, needs to ever consider a person being charged or accused with something (anything) as guilty... no matter what the public information is that has been either leaked out or printed up or whatever -- until a Jury has delivered its verdict. And then, I would only say that I can only report what a Jury has decided as I don't know what the situation was.
And so..., that's what I think... :-)
Have you ever been on a jury? They aren't God. They do depend on witnesses to tell the truth.
You don't have to be "God" -- you only have to know that the accused is automatically innocent as they sit there. That's an automatic given, without a doubt. Then the next step is that they have to be convinced with sufficient evidence that the person is guilty beyond any reasonable doubt that they may have -- and if they think it's not enough evidence, or that it is pinned on just one thing and that one thing could possibly be wrong -- then the person stays innocent, because the case has not been proven.
They don't need to be "God" -- they just need to be shown with sufficient evidence, beyond any kind of reasonable doubt that they can have, that the person is absolutely guilty.... that's all that is needed.
And as I said, if it's a witness saying something, then the first thing that comes to a person's mind is, "What if she is lying?". Unless that is proven to not be the case and it's a possible lie that can convict someone, then they need to always say, "Not Guilty"...
Juries are not infallible. At the end of the day, without an accuser, there would be no charges. Sometimes there is enough evidence for a jury to make a decision, and sometimes they have to make a decision on whether certain people are telling the truth. You are basically calling for the destruction of our entire legal system.
“I really think a series of brisk spankings should suffice.”
Oh....I’m pretty sure her cellmate will take care of that. Along with showing her what real rape is.
Nope, not destruction, just that people are innocent until proven guilty and that it has to be proven, and if it’s not... they remain “Not Guilty”... that’s our system...
Bingo.
There is no evidence that this jury didn’t consider the defendant innocent until proven guilty. We do rely on witness testimony, where it’s a witness to a crime, or a forensic expert.
“Without video, your prognostications are pointless.”
I understand cinemax might have footage.
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