Deputy District Attorney Paul Dickerson says of the case two years ago: "I felt the guy was guilty and did everything I could to try and get him convicted."
Posted on 07/19/2002 2:05:31 PM PDT by FresnoDA
Man Arrested was Found Innocent in 2000 Molestation Trial |
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Lewis Davis the brother of the ex-girlfriend of Alejandro Avila in an exclusive interview with ABC7 Eyewitness News said that Avila had gone to the complex of Stanton townhomes where Samantha Runnion lived to visit his ex-girlfriend’s daughter.
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| RIVERSIDE — The man arrested in the investigation of the kidnap-murder of little Samantha Runnion, has in the past been accused of molesting two girls under the age of 14. This was two years ago and at that time a Riverside County jury found Alejandro Avila innocent. Deputy District Attorney Paul Dickerson says of the case two years ago: "I felt the guy was guilty and did everything I could to try and get him convicted." |
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July 18, 2002 From San Diego, Salt Lake City and Stanton, Calif., the grim news reports suggest an epidemic of child abductions. Yet experts say kidnapping by strangers – the crime so dreaded by so many parents – has always been rare and is probably on the downswing. "Any child that's missing is one too many," FBI spokeswoman Angela Bell said Thursday. "But the media publicity that these cases are getting is making it seem like a big jump, and that's just not the case." The FBI has offered its help to local authorities working on the case of 5-year-old Samantha Runnion, who was seized outside her Stanton apartment building Monday, then sexually assaulted and murdered within 24 hours. Her slaying follows the high-profile abductions of 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart in Salt Lake City and 7-year-old Danielle van Dam in San Diego. Danielle's body was found and a neighbor is on trial; Elizabeth is still missing. Most abductions are carried out by relatives of the child as part of a family dispute. In other cases, the perpetrators are acquaintances of the child, acting out of various motives. Statistics indicate abductions of children by strangers are declining. Bell said the FBI opened investigations in 93 such cases last year, compared with 134 in 1999. Some abductions by strangers do not result in FBI involvement, but the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children estimates the total number of cases annually at 100 now, down from 200 to 300 in the 1980s. "It's still a terrible problem," said Ernest Allen, the center's president. "But the good news is, these cases have been coming down. Cases like Samantha Runnion's, as outrageous as they are, are pretty rare." Experts in the field say precise statistics on child abductions are elusive, in part because different jurisdictions define the crime differently. "For a crime that gets as much public attention as it does, its pretty appalling that there are not better statistics," said David Finkelhor, a sociology professor who heads the University of New Hampshire's Crimes Against Children Center and has worked with the Justice Department to discern patterns in child abductions. However, he agreed that the number of worst-case abductions, like the Samantha Runnion case, is probably declining. "From the context of things – including a decline in sexual assault and abuse – I can't imagine there's been any increase," he said. "But you get a couple of these cases in proximity, which can happen at random, and all of a sudden it seems like an epidemic." Finkelhor's research has found that the risk of abduction by a stranger is relatively low for preschoolers, and increases through elementary school to peak at age 15. Teen-age girls are considered most vulnerable. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has been trying to call attention to some missing children whose cases have not attracted as much publicity as the Van Dam, Smart and Runnion cases. In those three cases, the victimized family is white. Allen said the news media may sometimes be less interested in missing minority children, especially if they are from urban areas where crime is assumed, rightly or wrongly, to be a constant problem. As an example, Allen cited the case of Laura Ayala, a 13-year-old Hispanic girl from Houston who disappeared in March after buying a newspaper at a convenience store near her home. "Her shoes and the newspaper were found on sidewalk – that screams of foul play," Allen said. But Allen also said the Van Dam and Smart cases generated intense coverage in part because the girls were seized from their bedrooms. "If your child isn't safe in her own bed in her own home, where is she safe?" he said. "It sends a message of powerlessness and fear and 'Oh my God, they're everywhere. They're coming for my child.'" The Runnion case had similar elements, Allen noted: Samantha was playing with a friend outside her apartment building and was dragged away by a man in a car. "It's an outrageous case, and there's no question it's going to generate fear," Allen said. "What we're trying to do is send a message that you don't have to be paralyzed by fear, you don't need to lock your child in a room, but you do have to be cautious, you do need to know where your children are."
I'm surprised and shocked an american would even entertain the question.
The forensic profilers are out in full force and IF any of the DW Juror's are listening to them, which of course, they are...then they can determine if DW matches up with the definition of a "serial pedophile rapist/murderer". I just don't see it with DW...neither do alot of other people.
sw
If the freed guilty man's next victims are you and your family, would you be so sanguine? If he was a serial murderer who had stashed away enough anthrax to take out two million souls and intended to do just that as soon as he was acquitted, would you still be self-righteously smug about releasing him into your city?
Of course it is morally reprehensible to condemn an innocent man. On the other hand, there is no reason to cheer and applaud the acquittal of a sick, murdering madman either. I am shocked you would feel some sort of moral superiority on account of it.
It is a grave flaw of our system that sometimes requires us allow guilty men to go free. A necessary flaw it may be, but it is a grave flaw nonetheless. We ought to hate it, we ought to despise it, while admitting we are condemned to follow it. We ought never to feel comfortable or pleased with it.
Thanks for the ping,Sir.
Which isn't to say necessarily that her father and/or DW might not have done something improper with her on other occasions.
Sermon on the mount, Magna Carta, The Federalist, the Constitution ... Yes it is. I hope you have a point in there ?
On the other hand, there is no reason to cheer and applaud the acquittal of a sick, murdering madman either.
Cheer ? please give a cite where I was "cheering".
And if this fellow is a "sick, murdering madman" --I'm positive you have legal proof of it, right ?
I am shocked you would feel some sort of moral superiority on account of it.
It is not any "moral superiority" on my part, just a understanding of the allegiance I owe, and every american owes to common law principles, and a faithful understanding of the US Constitution.
Temecula, where he worked, is 46 miles north of the Van Dam home, and Chula Vista is some 31 miles south of it.
Fres...the title of this particular thread claims Avila was found innocent. I thought he was aquitted..which doesn't necessarily mean innocent. Am I figuring that correctly? THanks.
Ya learn something new everyday, ya know? :o)
Yes we will. Just like we know who killed Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown. Get used to it.
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The body of Samantha Runnion, who was kidnapped in Orange County Monday evening, was found in neighboring Riverside County on Tuesday.