Comment: Regarding the following news story: Note to the clerk magistrate who will decide whether to charge the false accusers: you need to charge them. A young man was jailed for five days and his life was turned upside down for seven months. Why is this even a question?
OXFORD - Six months after he was accused of raping a pair of teenagers in Massachusetts, an Oxford man has been cleared of all charges.
Former carnival worker Jeffrey Witham, 19, learned Tuesday that charges that he raped two girls, ages 13 and 14, on Aug. 17, 2008, were dropped.
Witham has been free since he was released on bail shortly after his arrest. News that the case had been dismissed as bogus was welcome news to the Fore Street man and his family.
"We're glad it's over and we can get on with our lives," said Doris Witham, Jeffrey's grandmother.
For many, the resolution of the case was not a surprise. The accusations against Witham began to look flimsy almost as soon as the arrest was made. Days after Witham was taken into custody, prosecutors from the Plymouth District Attorney's Office said the girls had changed their stories. Some of the charges against Witham were dropped.
Originally held on $150,000 bail, Witham was released from jail on his own recognizance after five days. He had freedom, but the accusations hung over him for nearly seven months.
"He wanted to get a summer job," Doris Witham said. "But you can't get a job when you have those kinds of charges on your record." In August, Witham's situation looked even more dire. His accusers told police they met Witham at the Marshfield Fair the day the festival opened. The girls exchanged cell phone numbers with Witham and spoke with him over a three-day period, police said.
According to early reports, Witham sexually assaulted one of the girls in the living room of the home before taking the second girl into a bedroom where he had sex with her.
But the story soon fell apart. The older girl later changed her story to say that she had consensual sex with Witham and that the younger girl never had sex with him at all. When it came time for trial, the girls refused to testify on grounds that by doing so, they might incriminate themselves in a separate crime such as filing a false police report.
The case continued to unravel until Tuesday, when a judge said there was no probable cause to proceed with prosecution. The final counts against Witham - two counts of rape and one count of indecent assault and battery - were dropped. The chances that the charges will be refiled seemed scant, although the district attorney could go back to the grand jury with the case.
For Doris Witham, the relief this week was tempered by the damage that has been done to the grandson she has raised since he was 5 years old. Many will remember the case, she said, and some will continue to think of Jeffrey Witham as a so-called "carny" although his work with the fair was temporary. "All he was doing was helping out with the rides," she said. "It was a summer job. It was no big deal."
Not to mention the time spent going to court hearing after court hearing while the case went through the system.
"It was a long drive to Massachusetts every month," Doris Witham said. "We had to pay for hotels, and on top of that there was food and gas. It gets pretty expensive."
There are other irksome details, such as Jeffrey Witham's cell phone seized by police at the start of the investigation and never returned. His grandmother said they would like to have it back, but in their relief over the recent developments, they have not yet pursued it. She said there also did not appear to be a significant chance that the girls who accused Jeffrey Witham will be ordered to repay court costs and other damages. Against the bigger picture, those details seemed slight to the Witham family.
"We just want to put it behind us," Dorothy Witham said.
According to the Patriot Ledger of Quincy, Mass., a clerk magistrate will decide whether to issue charges against the girls at a hearing March 25 in Juvenile Court.
Link:http://www.sunjournal.com/story/305383-3/LewistonAuburn/Teen_cleared_of_rape_charges/
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According to the Patriot Ledger of Quincy, Mass., a clerk magistrate will decide whether to issue charges against the girls at a hearing March 25 in Juvenile Court.
Don't hold your breath.
Are women in the U.S. punished for false rape accusations? Does anyone have any statistical data to present? I have heard of women being given short jail sentences or fines for falsely accusing men of rape but,I haven't found any data that proves they are not punished. I have been seeking this information but have not found any. Please help.
The vast majority of women are never charged. It is rare when they are. The police don't want to be bothered, and the falsely accused is so relieved the charges against him aren't being pressed that they don't do anything about it. Statistics on this are impossible to come by, but law enforcement officials sometimes candidly admit that they receive many false reports. I am at the point where I think false reports far, far outweigh actual rapes in America.
"I am at the point where I think false reports far, far outweigh actual rapes in America."
I ran the numbers one time and concluded that false rape accusations outnumber actual rapes by about 2-1.
FYI there is a similar case in Plymouth County being prosecuted by the "same DA Thimothy Cruz" and apparently the "same clerk magistrate" refused to charge the girls in the case (see SJC 10293). Plus in news articles the boy's attorney states that statistics released from DA Thimothy Cruz's office were encouraging her to file a motion to dismiss on grounds of selective prosecution.
Follow-up note to DA Thimothy Cruz and the Plymouth County Clerk Magistrate: charge the girls in both cases or charge no one.
I recall that a retired police officer (unnamed) came forward and said he believes about 70% of claims are false. It was on Glenn Sacks' board.
I've also read that in Ireland it's as high as 90%.
If he had sex with the older one, even consensual, that's still statutory rape. If there was evidence that sex had occurred, why was he not accused of statutory rape?
If there was no evidence of sex, why did they charge him in the first place?
Why did he exchange numbers with the girls - he was 19. What was he after? A boring friendship with young nearly preteen girls?
Does anyone know if DA Cruz or the Plymouth County Clerk Magistrate brought charges against the girls in this case or in SJC 10293?
It is clearly an injustice in my opinion what DA Cruz and the Clerk Magistrate in Plymouth County are doing to the kids and families in the cases noted. The boys attorney in SJC 10293 is a well known Boston attorney, so if she has seen the statistics from DA Cruz' office and is "compelled to file to dismiss on selective prosecution", I would be willing to bet that the statistics show that DA Cruz does discriminate. What a sad day in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts when a DA prosecutes a child with a law designed to protect kids!
I am glad from the comments that I am not the only one who sees the injustice in DA Cruz' and the Clerk Magistrate's handling of these cases.
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