Posted on 02/09/2006 5:31:44 AM PST by freepatriot32
William J. Hetherington has been incarcerated in Michigan prisons for more than 20 years for having sex with his wife Linda. In 1986, he became the first man in Genesee County convicted of the new Michigan crime called spousal rape. Linda was not a battered wife; she testified at the trial that he had never beaten her in their 16 years of marriage. Hetherington was honorably discharged from the U.S. Air Force, received a National Defense Service Medal, and had no police record of any sort.
The sentencing guideline for this new offense was 12 months to 10 years but, without showing cause, the judge sentenced him to 15 to 30 years (twice the time served by the average convicted rapist in Michigan). Twenty years later, despite an exemplary prison record, the parole board routinely refuses to parole him, giving as its sole reason "prisoner denies the offense."
Hetherington has, indeed, always maintained his innocence. It was a he-said-she-said case during a custody battle; he said it was consensual sex, she said it was rape. The judge used Michigan's new Rape Shield Law to prohibit cross-examination of Linda.
No physical evidence of rape was produced at the trial. A pelvic examination of Linda at the hospital three hours after the alleged offense showed no evidence of injury or forced penetration. Apparently what persuaded the jury to convict was the testimony of two police officers that they had observed tape marks on Linda's face.
The court-designated psychologist who examined Hetherington, Dr. Harold S. Sommerschield, Ph.D., concluded: "This is not a man who would force himself sexually or hostilely on another individual, as this would be foreign to his personality dynamics. ... his histrionic personality ... would substantiate his explanation of what has occurred in regards to the relationship with his ex-wife."
The rape charge was prosecuted simultaneously with the custody case, and the divorce court had frozen all Hetherington's assets so he had no money to hire a lawyer or make bond. Nevertheless, the criminal court ruled that he was not indigent and refused to provide him with a lawyer.
For 12 years, the court refused to provide Hetherington with a transcript of the trial. Without funds, he was unable to buy one, so he was effectively denied his right of appeal, and no appeal has ever been heard on the substance of this case.
At the sentencing, prosecutor Robert Weiss called Hetherington's alleged offense equivalent to "first degree murder" and falsely accused him of beating Linda. Weiss was running for a judgeship, and observers sized up his prejudicial statements as grandstanding for support from the feminists.
Linda walked away with custody of their three daughters, the marital home, and all marital assets.
Ten years after Hetherington's conviction, a volunteer attorney, Jeff Feldman, using the Freedom of Information Act, obtained copies of five photographs taken of Linda by police at the alleged crime scene immediately after the alleged offense. The photographs were in a locker in a police garage, and the prosecution had never disclosed them to the defense.
The photographs were then examined by a forensic photographer in Miami, John Valor, using all modern techniques. Valor's four-page notarized report detailed his impressive expertise, including service as the lead forensic photographer in the trial of serial-killer Ted Bundy.
Valor's sworn statement dated January 8, 1998 stated that the pictures of Linda showed absolutely no scratches, tape marks or abnormalities of any kind, and that marks would have been clearly visible if there had been any. If a government witness gives false testimony, a convicted prisoner should be entitled to a new trial, but Hetherington didn't get it.
Years later, a completely unsolicited letter was sent to the parole board by Melissa Anne Suchy, who had been employed by Linda as a babysitter. Suchy's letter is hearsay, but it has the ring of authenticity.
Suchy wrote that Linda told her she made up the story about rape because she was then pregnant with the baby of her boyfriend, and he pushed her to press rape charges, saying that she would have to "get rid of Hetherington or he wouldn't take care of the baby."
Over the years, several pro bono lawyers and concerned citizens have tried to secure a pardon or a parole for Hetherington, but Michigan appears determined to make him serve 30 years because he won't admit guilt and because the bureaucracy won't admit it made a mistake.
Almost everyone who reads the record of what happened to William Hetherington concludes that he was unjustly accused, unjustly convicted, unjustly sentenced, unjustly denied his due process and appeal rights, unjustly denied a new trial based on physical evidence of inaccurate testimony by government witnesses, and unjustly denied parole.
A good man's life has been sacrificed, and three children have been denied their father, by the malicious feminists who have lobbied for laws that punish spousal rape just like stranger rape and deny a man the right to cross-examine his accuser. They have created a judicial system where the woman must always be believed even though she has no evidence, and the man is always guilty
Dadfreakinggum.
The herrion wife and everyone involved in this case should be strung up by their respective privates and all of their assets should go to this poor slob.
What an obscene miscarriage of justice.
That exact thing will happen,you just have to be patient.
I find it amazing that the feminists found no voice for the various Clinton rapes, but can do this without hesitation. What a vile woman Ms. Hetherington is - perhaps some lawyer can bring a countersuit for Mr.Hetherington.
Well, yes. That's precisely it. I seriously doubt that the case is so simple as it's being represented. One thing I've learned from FR is to distrust any story like this one. There's always a lot more to it.
A false accusation of rape should net the accuser the maximum time the accused was facing.
I'm thinking that this could be related to Michigan sharing a common border with Canada. That left-liberal mindset seeping through.
When (or IF) Hetherington is cleared of the charges, those responsible for putting him in prison should not only be sentenced to an identical term, their financial assets should be seized and handed over to Hetherington. His demonic ex-wife? Throw her ass in prison too, and strip her of custody. The State of Michigan should be forced to not only admit fault, but to pay for the psychological counseling necessary to erase the erroneous, evil images of Hetherington in his daughter's minds, placed there by the mother, with the State as a willing accomplice. And the cops who apparently ginned up the evidence against Hetherington?
Put 'em in general population. They deserve whatever they get.
This is why it sounds to me like they were estranged under court order before this particular whoopee ever took place.
The next time I go down the aisle, I will be lying down.
So, do you live alone or are you still living with your parents?
Maybe they need to get Kyle McLachlan on the case.
There is a place in Hell reserved for those "bear false witness" and I hope those who railroaded this man, from the wive, lawyers, judges, cops, parole board and feminists roast there from all eternity.
Perhaps the worst blame could be lodged with the legislature. The moral being that if your spouse has gotten a court order on you, don't you DARE gamble that he or she has changed his or her mind without seeing it on paper from that same court.
That's probably how Clinton felt in the old days.
****
"Hillary said that when she first set eyes on Bill Clinton back in college he had a beard and he reminded her of a Viking, which was perfect ............... because she reminded him of Iceland.
*****
Yes, it is possible.
This one takes the cake.
freepatriot32, could you add me to your ping list? tia..
ping to article
Then prove it.
I followed someone else's link and got to this:
http://www.ncfm.org/will.htm
I'm unfamiliar with the National Coalition of Free Men, but they give quite a bit of information here. I've had experience with websites that are very convincing about someone's innocence and left out details that got people convicted, but the thing that I keep coming back to is that he had to represent himself at trial (which this website says).
If he did in fact represent himself at trial, it explains a lot about how he could have been so abused by the system.
It would be interesting to see the state's case against him.
Yeah all us lawyers belong in hell. You are probably much closer to being there than most.
You have to draw the line somewhere or are you going to blame the voters as well.
The moral being that if your spouse has gotten a court order on you,
Actually the moral is don't get married. And if you are a guy and live in Calf, don't have sex with women either because a few years ago the Calf state supreme court ruled that if a man and woman have consentual sex, should the woman change her mind the morning after the event it is rape. There is a man serve time for 'rape' because of this ruling.
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