Martha Coakley's Convictions [role played in a notorious sex case raises questions]

The story of the Amiraults of Massachusetts, and of the prosecution that had turned the lives of this thriving American family to dust, was well known to the world by the year 2001. It was well known, especially, to District Attorney Martha Coakley, who had by then arrived to take a final, conspicuous, role in a case so notorious as to assure that the Amiraults' name would be known around the globe.

The Amiraults were a busy, confident trio, grateful in the way of people who have found success after a life of hardship. ...

Gerald Amirault spent nearly two years more in prison before being granted parole in 2004. He would be released, with conditions not quite approximating that of a free man. He was declared a level three sex offender—among the consequences of his refusal, like that of his mother and sister, to "take responsibility" by confessing his crimes. He is required to wear, at all times, an electronic tracking device; to report, in a notebook, each time he leaves the house and returns; to obey a curfew confining him to his home between 11:30 p.m. and 6 a.m.

If the sound of ghostly laughter is heard in Massachusetts these days as this campaign rolls on, with Martha Coakley self-portrayed as the guardian of justice and civil liberties, there is good reason.

What a winner!! Ms "Law n' Order" played a significant role in

...the 1997 murder trial of au pair Louise Woodward -- or the death of the child left in her care -- and the 2002 prosecution against serial child molester Father John Geoghan. But Coakley has also left considerable controversy in her wake in her zeal to prosecute high-profile sex offenders, including a reliance on junk science.

Four cases in particular have raised questions about Coakley's judgment and zeal. First, seven years before Coakley convicted Geoghan, she cut a plea bargain with him.

... Coakley, then the head of the Middlesex child abuse unit, had Geoghan in her sights and took a dramatically different approach. Back then, three grade-school brothers told investigators that Geoghan had inappropriately touched them during numerous visits to their Waltham home, and had made lewd telephone calls to them. Rather than prosecute, Coakley agreed to grant Geoghan a year of probation in a closed-door proceeding that received no media attention at all. Because of the deal, Geoghan faced no formal charges and no criminal record.

You can read the whole sordid tale at the American Thinker. The title is, Something About Martha.

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