Posted on 04/02/2006 7:48:47 AM PDT by Brilliant
Jury foreman Mark Gessner burst from the courtroom seething about the weak case prosecutors waged against a trucker accused of raping a 13-year-old runaway in his rig...
Jurors had reluctantly acquitted Kenneth Malcom Robinson after a daylong trial Jan. 19, blaming crucial omissions in a prosecution that could have put the thrice-convicted felon in prison for 60 years. Court-ordered DNA tests were never completed, the trucker's alleged confession to police was not recorded and detectives had failed to locate a man Robinson implicated on the witness stand.
"We didn't want to do what we did, but we didn't really have a choice," Gessner said. "We felt like we let a guilty man off."
They did.
Five weeks after Robinson, 42, of Stockton, Calif., was found not guilty of lewd and lascivious battery of a minor -- and eight months after a DNA comparison was authorized by a judge -- the Florida Department of Law Enforcement concluded that genetic material extracted from his saliva matched DNA in semen collected from the rape victim.
Assistant State Attorney Bill Gladson, whose office insisted the test be completed after the Orlando Sentinel inquired about the case, acknowledged that the system failed the teen.
"The system's not supposed to work this way," Gladson said. "We all let her down."...
The girl, who is not being named ...was used to people letting her down.
Her mother, entangled in drugs and petty crimes, dropped out of her life six years ago. She and two sisters lived with their stepgrandfather in Minneola until January 2005, when he was caught molesting her in a basement bedroom, sheriff's reports show. The stepgrandfather is scheduled for trial April 25.
Placed in foster care, the cigarette-smoking seventh-grader often wore unkempt, baggy clothes that made her look like a boy...
(Excerpt) Read more at orlandosentinel.com ...
ping
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
Though he cannot be tried for that offense, can't he still be tried for statutory rape, or is FL not willing to get rid of these people. I would raise hell, until the DA refiled new charges which can be proved. Though it stems from the same incident, I would think they can put him under the jail, as they should have done in the first place!
It's a damn shame how disposable many of our children have become. I was just watching FoxNews, and heard the story of a crack-head mom who sold her 2 yo daughter for drug money. she is pregnant again, and got enough jail time (7 mos) to keep her off drugs until the new one comes, but then she is out on probation...
He should look for another line of work. And promptly.
On the last page of the article is this:
On March 24, two months after his acquittal on charges of sexually assaulting the teen, another jury deliberated less than two hours before deciding that Robinson was guilty of trying to arrange the girl's murder. Asked repeatedly on the witness stand whether he had had sex with the girl, Robinson refused to give a yes-or-no answer.
"I was found not guilty on that," Robinson said.
But prosecutors had DNA this time, and they used it to show Robinson's motive.
"It proved it wasn't just his word against hers," juror Courtenay Ryan said.
Robinson, who will be sentenced May 1, faces 30 years in prison -- half of what he could have received if he had been convicted of rape. He maintains his innocence and says he will appeal.
Prosecutors plan to seek the maximum sentence.
Seems like they could bring some charge against him. Even a lesser crime, but one that would give him jail time so he's not out roaming the streets for another victim.
Thanks. Good to hear.
I should have clicked the link, but was too steamed. Does FL not have a 3-strikes law?
From the information I've been able to find, yes they do.
The prosecution may have not gone well but IMHO juries these days can be hit over the head with evidence and they still think it is a case of 'reasonable' doubt. Do you actually live in CA? You must have observed the show-trials out here. I guess it's amazing that juries ever convict anyone anymore.
When did a "fair trial" become "get the perp off by any means possible"? Defense lawyers now use any reason possible to generate reasonable doubt. The right to a fair trial was never meant to be used this way. It was to avoid tyranny at the local level not force prosecutors to have film of the incident in order to convict.
"On March 24, two months after his acquittal on charges of sexually assaulting the teen, another jury deliberated less than two hours before deciding that Robinson was guilty of trying to arrange the girl's murder."
Geez Louise. How did we ever convict rapists before DNA?
Nope; same set of facts.
Yeah, I don't know how the foreman can say they had no choice.
Well, that is their job...
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