Saturday, April 05, 2008
Rogue prosecutors gone wild
Did you think the Duke fiasco might have taught anyone anything? Ha. Not a bit.
Here's a truly egregious case of a criminal conspiracy by police and social workers to destroy a man who did absolutely nothing.
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Granted, in today's witch-hunting climate it's mighty dumb for a coach to be a "huggybear".
It's good that the jury saw through the criminal conspiracy, it's especially good that the students had the guts to push back against the criminal conspiracy, and also good that KGW-TV has managed to tell the story truly.
Unlike, for instance, the wild-eyed cable coverage of today's Waco-style official pogrom against a Warren Jeffs compound ... which will undoubtedly turn out the same way.
I wonder how many more thousands or millions of ruined lives we'll have to endure before some fucking body finally tells a prosecutor to obey the goddamn law? ¶ 6:42 PM
Here's a truly egregious case of a criminal conspiracy by police and social workers to destroy a man who did absolutely nothing.
NewsChannel 8 was the first TV station to interview Coach Don King. In a 30 minute talk at King's Lake Oswego home, the coach told reporter Jack Penning that he feels lucky to have won his case, but he's still upset by the way detectives in both Linn and Clackamas County handled the investigation.
King says the case has done irreparable damage to his reputation, and made it difficult for him to work as a coach in the Northwest.
King described the day, last June, when detectives came to his home, and hauled him off to jail.
"If you know anything about people, that's scary," King said.
He said Detectives told him they had videotape of him abusing girls he was coaching at a swim meet in Albany. They told him those girls had already talked.
"They tell me a bunch of lies. They tell me, your girls have already admitted you abused them, so you might as well admit it. They told the girls that I had admitted abusing them so they might as well admit it. The girls said, I want to talk to my mother. They said, not until you admit it. It was really scary."
At no point did any of those girls accuse King. In fact, they testified for him. A jury found the videotape showed nothing but a coach hugging his kids.
"You see a huggy bear," King said. "A guy who hugs his boys just like he hugs his girls. Kisses his boys just like he kisses his girls."
The jury didn't take long to come back with its verdict. King described the moment. "Not guilty. And I'm starting to get tears in my eyes. And count two same... count three same... count four same. The jury's crying. We're crying."
But the acquittal didn't fix everything. King is now fighting to get back to coaching. Some are scared away by the arrest. "Everyday starts the same way. You wake up and you think about it, what the hell's going on? How could you do this? Well, I didn't do it. There were a total of seven dectectives working on this case. Quite an expense, for six not guiltys and case dismissed. The roughest part is over."
King says he'll fight to coach again, just like he fought to prove his innocence. And he says he's considering a suit against the agencies that falsely accused him.
= = = = =
Granted, in today's witch-hunting climate it's mighty dumb for a coach to be a "huggybear".
It's good that the jury saw through the criminal conspiracy, it's especially good that the students had the guts to push back against the criminal conspiracy, and also good that KGW-TV has managed to tell the story truly.
Unlike, for instance, the wild-eyed cable coverage of today's Waco-style official pogrom against a Warren Jeffs compound ... which will undoubtedly turn out the same way.
I wonder how many more thousands or millions of ruined lives we'll have to endure before some fucking body finally tells a prosecutor to obey the goddamn law? ¶ 6:42 PM
