Posted on 12/19/2005 6:40:52 PM PST by mcg2000
MARYVILLE, Tenn. A mother charged in the shooting death of a man she said raped her young daughter was sentenced to four years in prison today.
Authorities say Kimberly Cunningham must serve nearly a third of the sentence before being eligible for parole, The Knoxville News Sentinel reports.
Her attorney Bruce Poston told Blount County Circuit Court Judge D. Kelly Thomas that he would appeal the sentence.
In October Cunningham was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter in the death of Coy Hundley, her daughter's uncle.
Cunningham was tried on a charge of first-degree murder in April in the case, but the jury acquitted her of that charge and deadlocked on all lesser charges.
Cunningham has served about two months in jail since the October 7th 2003 killing and Poston said that would be deducted from her sentence.
Copyright 2005 Associated Press.
All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
What possessed the prosecutor to go after first degree murder?
Two Words: McMartin Preschool.
This kid is a fervent Christian (actually he is a pastor), and Randy is a gruff sort of guy who grew up hard and tough. The kid protested that all that was unnecessary, to which my friend replied. "No, NOW it is unnecessary, because it is out there on the table. I look forward to seeing you become the man in her life and as you love her, I will love you like my own son. It just needed to go on the book. Now let's close the book and go on."
If there were more of that, there would be less NEED for the cops to show up and drag someone thru the highly questionable court and jury system.
Sorry for the circle in which you grew up, but I too, believe that number to be hocum.
Dittos here....May you have a blessed Christmas and 2006
I said it earlier and I'll say it again.
*This* Christmas will be a lot easier than those in the past and I owe it all to you guys.
You're not half-bad therapists, ya know....:)
Merry Christmas to ALL of you....and thanks.
DNA evidence released him after 18 years. 2 years later he's back in jail, this time for murder.
I do believe that there are people, families, communities and groups that have very, very low stats and others where it nears 100% (like my chunk of the universe ;) )
Also, like I said before, like knows like. Something about automatic empathy or recognizing the signs or maybe our view of the world is skewed. So while it may seem that you personally know few to no one, I can walk into the same group and find a large number.
That is why some find it hard to believe the stats are so low and others so high :)
Dear lord in heaven! You're my long lost sister.... SMOOCH!
I know a family who is going through the same hell.
Grandpa (pillar of the community, deacon of the church, Bible thumper) was a child molestor and managed to molest two generations of kids. To this day nobody in that family is allowed to admit it, but his victims live with this hell everyday.
If this were my family, I probably wouldn't have shot him, I'd PAY someone to hurt him really bad, though. Had it been my daughter, niece, or anyone close to me, he'd have been beaten to a pulp everytime he looked at a girl the wrong way.
There is something about this easy recognition of others that have been abused that is haunting to me. I believe that this is part of the spiritual battle that is going on in this world. I don't even like to talk about it because it sounds like I'm using cliches and I don't want to sound like that. I think that kids who have been abused have their innocence stolen and that uncovers their eyes to things they shouldn't see. That you say you can easily spot others in similar circumstances is really disturbing, but it makes sense to me.
I am speaking as a Christian, past Sunday School teacher, and mother. I know what I would do if I found out someone had done harm to my boys. The body would never be found, and if it was, a few years in prison would be nothing at all to me. It would be worth it to protect my sons and any other kids. After reading your comments, I want just a few minutes alone in a room with your parents, the abusers, and any other enablers responsible for your continued abuse. Just me and them and my trusty aluminum baseball bat.
Bad example and makes the point I was saying. This boy {at that pre-school} Denied an assault took place. Kids that age eat weird things, get pin worms etc. That is a sharp contrast from a kid telling a parent they were molested.
In the thread article we have a 14 year old girl who said it happened twice once at an earlier age by the same person. I wasn't making the point kids could not be brainwashed into lying by professionals {that can happen} but I doubt before her mom killed the man she had ever seen one. But most any parent knows their child well enough that if the child told them they had been molested or raped they could within a few minutes get the truth of the matter. The truth is usually in the first statement a kid makes about the attack to someone and in the description of the event. In the case you pointed out the kid denied being abused from the beginning.
This is what parents tell themselves, but parents are really the last to know when their child is lying about something. It's understandable since parents, especially mothers, have a strong instinct to protect their children. Children use this to manipulate parents - it's nothing new.
As I posted earlier, one study showed that 41% of alleged rapes ended up being fabricated. Parents aren't the ones that figure it out - they're busy being protective as that instinct kicks in.
A person can say that about anything. I know that people mean well when they do it because it's a subject that they are sensitive to, but it is a fallacy.
For example, homosexual activists use the same argument all the time. Here's how it goes: an activist will cite statistics that show that something like like 2% of high school students identify themselves as gay.
Then the activist says that in his homosexual support group meetings, he has asked around and over 9 out 10 people say that they hid that they were gay in high school.
Ah ha, the activist says, that means that the number of homosexuals in high schools is actually underreported by 90% so really, about 20% of high school students are gay.
That is, of course, totally bogus, but it is the technique that many well intentioned people use to further their activism. Pick any subject in the world(racial discrimination, alcoholism, medical malpractice, baby seals being clubbed on the head, etc) and an activist in that area will claim that it's underreported and that it is really an epidemic if people would just knew what they knew.
No, but they'll act out of spite and do and say truly cruel and horrible things to get even with someone they don't like, and in our society today, calling sexual assault is a great way to get even with a grown up you're mad at.
Because it presumes guilt. Because it does not provide for a trial. Because it operates on hearsay. Because it is rule of the strong over the weak.
There was a great Hitchcock Presents episode. A woman is raped and her husband is taking her home after filing the police report. As they're driving a deserted road, she cries out: It's him! It's him! The husband asks: Are you sure? She gets hysterical. "It's him! It's him!"
The husband leaves the car and kills the man. He returns back to the car, satisfied that justice has been done. They start driving down the road and the woman sees another man.
She cries out: "It's him! It's him!..."
That's what happens with vigilantism.
That this even needs to be explained is disquieting.
No most any other crime doesn't not attach a stigma to the victim as rape and molestation does. That added to family pressure to not air dirty laundry keeps such things for the most part unreported. I have an idea you would be the last person in your family anyone would come to with such a problem perhaps even your own kids if you have any.
Look I'm not some type of activist I speak from some first hand knowledge on the matter and know of {personally} many, many, others who have been through it. It usually doesn't not get reported and the families label the victim a trouble maker usually alienating them while the perp remains a respected family member.
If a person robs you and you report it no big deal. If someone beats you up and leaves you in a ditch and you report the public does not judge you. If you rob a bank and get caught or even kill someone you still face less a stigma from society than many victims of child abuse or rape. Most victims do not talk about it because in some how or some way someone is gonna say they asked for it or were lying about it.
As I said all it takes in one predator in anyones family being mine, yours, or anyones to destroy many lives and only a handful within the family may even know what is going on. I would say there is better than a 75% chance a female in your family including cousins etc is a victim of it. It doesn't mean all females in a given family but likely at least one and if one has been likely several were as well.
BTW most victims never tell anyone till years later. Most of the cases I know of {personally} involve women now in their 50's and these events happened to them from the 1950's on. IOW non fabricated stories. Society is just now getting to a point where this issue can be addressed and dealt with to some degree. It happens a hell of a lot more than you believe it does.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.