Posted on 08/18/2004 12:25:35 PM PDT by pabianice
CLINTON, MA- The case against a father accused of raping his 2-year-old daughter has been dismissed because the mother, charged with slashing the baby's wrist, refused to testify against her husband.
The charges against Ashok K. Yadlapalli, 35, of Oxford Court were dismissed June 29 by Judge Martha A. Brennan in Clinton District Court.
A motion to dismiss the case without prejudice, meaning the plaintiff can bring the same charges forward again, was made by the prosecutor, Anthony J. Marotta, a Worcester County assistant district attorney.
In the motion, Mr. Marotta said all rape kit results from the child were negative, and there is no other independent evidence. Police said it is unclear if the alleged rape took place on the night Mr. Yadlapalli was arrested.
Also, the motion says the child would not likely be able to testify because of her age and limited verbal abilities.
As for the mother, Srilatha Meka, 30, who called police to report the rape on April 5, the motion says she, "does not wish to speak with this undersigned prosecutor (Mr. Marotta) and she will not cooperate with prosecution."
Mr. Marotta said the case against Mr. Yadlapalli, a software engineer, cannot proceed without Ms. Meka's cooperation and testimony.
Meanwhile, Ms. Meka is awaiting trial for attempted murder and other charges for allegedly slashing the baby's right wrist after reporting the rape. Ms. Meka also cut her own wrists after calling police about her husband.
Both mother and child were taken to a Worcester hospital, where they recovered from the injuries.
In May, Ms. Meka was ordered to undergo two psychological evaluations.
A spokeswoman for District Attorney John J. Conte said Ms. Meka was indicted by a Worcester Superior Court grand jury in June, and is scheduled to be arraigned on Aug. 25. She is being held at Taunton State Hospital.
She is charged with assault with intent to murder, assault and battery upon a child, causing bodily injury, and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon (a knife).
Police have said cultural factors could have had a role in Ms. Meka's alleged attempted murder-suicide. In the couple's native India, they said, rape and child abuse victims are often treated as outcasts.
Ms. Meka called the dispatch center in the early evening of April 5, and reported a domestic problem, alluding to the alleged sexual assault of her daughter. Mr. Yadlapalli was subsequently arrested and taken to the police lockup.
A few hours later, the dispatcher received a call from a man identifying himself as Ms. Meka's brother, frantically asking police to check on his sister and the child, in case Ms. Meka tried to hurt herself or her daughter because of a perceived social stigma.
When police arrived the second time, they found Ms. Meka and the child bleeding profusely. The child had a deep cut on its wrist.
Ms. Meka had attempted to go back to India a few days before the rape was reported, but had a visa problem at the airport, police said.
Well somebody has been accusing Bush of killing a dozen or so old folks out in the trailer park in Florida...
Here, I think, is where I went off the rails, if you will. Right here in my own county (Contra Costa, CA), the DA always brings charges in any child molestation case, no matter how unreliable the accuser or flimsy the evidence. Given the politics in this area, this has made him a popular DA. Most of these defendants cannot afford first-class representation so they plead out which boosts the DA's "batting average." The same thing may be at play in this other jurisdiction, who knows?
Then there is the behavior of Mrs. Y (sorry, I'm a foreign name coward). Her sudden, unexplained refusal to testify at trial and her confinement to the state facility at Taunton suggest that delusion may have played a role in this matter. The attempt she made on the lives of herself and her daughter is presented as a "cultural thing," but could also have arisen from mental instability. It could well be that Mr. Y's only sin here is his unlucky choice of a mate.
In my county, if they take a plea, they usually get at least a year of felony time and go on the sex offender registry. Doesn't matter if they didn't commit the crime. If they live by modest means and especially if they have unrelated priors on their records (or worse, are on probation/parole) they're not going to risk the much longer stretch they're likely to get if they go to court without Perry Mason.
Just next door, in Alameda county, the DA handles these cases much like they're handled in your area. There, if it's a slam dunk, the defendant is cooked. Otherwise, he's likely to skate.
It bothers me too. A lot. It's not like the old days, when we deported any non-citizen who got out of line, even somebody like Lucky Luciano who was very difficult to nail and had vast resources. Now there are concerns arising from our radically altered trade relationship with Mexico (NAFTA -- I think they're our second largest trading partner now); our need to preserve every source of oil we can, including Mexican oil;the fact that Clinton allowed 10 million of them to come here illegally (that presents Bush with some very delicate political problems in view of voting demographics, etc).
It's easy for me to talk about how I'd round them all up and put 20,000 guys on a fortified border with dogs and turrets, but I know I couldn't think -- much less talk or act -- like that if I were President and wanted to be re-elected.
In the Bay Area, there's a whole industry devoted to these prosecutions. Consisting of legal, psyc, medical and other specialists, all with a social agenda, it's been in place for about the past 25 years. Their object seems to be to put as many males behind bars as is humanly possible and to subsequently put them at maximum disadvantage re property, income, freedom, employment and visitation. It's a well-oiled machine, deeply networked with the feminazis and other leftist persuasions. If the high-visibility cases like the McMartins and George Franklin have created a backlash to it, I certainly haven't noticed.
The flip side of this is that, like other convicted sex offenders, many of them eventually slip out of compliance and re-locate, often out of state. When they do, the system loses track of them. Those who were truly offenders, re-offend. Those who were falsely accused and convicted try to start a new life, walking the straight and narrow and laying as low as possible. They may as well be living as an "untouchable" in old India.
Then there's that can of worms known as prison over-crowding and court-ordered early release, whereby some of the worst scum is put back on the street. I have to wonder how much of this over-crowding results from the incarceration of defendants who are unjustly railroaded into these plea bargains.
What has this geek been doing for the past 17 years?
Whenever we see these types of perverted, filthy behavior on the part of American humans, it can be blamed on the leftist commies in congress.
There is no additional information in that article which is not based upon the mother's testimony. Testimony from one who tried to kill their child seems a little suspect at best.
I'd like to see that too and for the same reasons you've brought up. But I think we both know it's not going to happen, not until the political climate changes. Most people in my county don't see the DA as a politician, even though that's just what he is, even though his name appears on the ballot, just like the county assessor or water district manager.
See posts 20/23
You are deluded if you believe this behavior is limited to Lefties. Read the Bible.
I did later. Further indication that this was no rape was the absence of physical trauma which would have been obvious even had no ejaculation occurred.
Not defending the father but the article does not support your claims.
It stinks that someone is not charged when there is NO evidence of a crime other than the mother's claim. The mother that slit the wrists of the baby and slit her own wrists?
I would bet that you would be on the side of the dad's in a forum about how dad's were victimized by their wife's false allegations of sexual abuse to the children.
...and you want to EXECUTE?!
Actually, for this case, I would agree there was no evidence to convict. No DNA evidence, and the mother, even if she testified, was a completely inadequate witness. God help the child.
I was talking about the way illegals are not deported and simply walk away from most punshiments or arrests.
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