Suit against Wenatchee [WA] in sex cases reinstated

The Seattle P-I ^ | Friday, November 1, 2002 | Mike Barber

[Eala]

Suit against Wenatchee in sex cases reinstated
Judge's shock ruling says key files were withheld

By MIKE BARBER
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

In a stunning and strongly worded decision, a Spokane County judge yesterday reinstated a key civil lawsuit against the city of Wenatchee in the infamous child sex ring investigations of 1994-95.

Superior Court Judge Michael Donohue agreed that key files concerning Bob Perez, the former Wenatchee police lead detective in the case, were never turned over to lawyers for the plaintiffs. They include East Wenatchee pastor Roby Roberson and others acquitted in 1995 of bizarre accusations of child molestation that made news around the world.

The city's defense lawyers had "blindsided and misled the plaintiffs" while the court itself was also misled, Donohue said in granting the plaintiffs' motion that a previous ruling in favor of Wenatchee and against Roberson be set aside and a new trial held.

[Eala]

Despite the blatant notoriousness of the case, neither our do-nothing Gov. Gary Locke nor Janet Reno (of Waco and Bobby Fijnje fame) could see anything wrong going on.

[Eala]

Doing a search on "Wenatchee" brings up a number of earlier articles about the case, I discovered.

[zingzang]

Big surprise, considering the leftist leanings of all the politicians in this state. God forbid that evidence presented in a case might hurt someone's feelings or make them feel bad!!

[lelio]

Thanks for the post. It looks like a lot of naive people (naive in the sense that they thought justice could see through this junk) were caught up in an ambitious plot by a detective and the legal system.
From the article:
Since then, all 18 of those convicted in the Wenatchee child sex investigations have been freed by higher courts, their convictions overturned or agreements made to plead guilty to lesser and usually unrelated charges. Many were aided through the volunteer efforts of lawyers and law students through the Innocence Project at the University of Washington law school.