SCENE THREE, ACT ONE.
"...here my little flower, you're shivering...let me wrap my flabby man-arms around your wet, naked, child-like body..."
Ileana smells the vodka on its fetid breath.
LIGHTS FADE TO BLACK.
Posted on 04/28/2002 4:32:37 PM PDT by JulieRNR21
Reno owes the public answers
© St. Petersburg Times, published April 28, 2002
Janet Reno's reputation as a state attorney, the foundation for her eight years as the nation's attorney general and her present candidacy for governor of Florida, was built in significant part by her aggressive prosecution of three sensational child abuse cases in Miami-Dade County. She pioneered a controversial technique for eliciting intimate details from young children and inspired passage of a law allowing them to testify by closed-circuit television, out of the possibly intimidating presence of their suspected molesters. It is open to dispute, however, whether this is a record of which she should be proud.
Janet Reno's reputation as a state attorney, the foundation for her eight years as the nation's attorney general and her present candidacy for governor of Florida, was built in significant part by her aggressive prosecution of three sensational child abuse cases in Miami-Dade County. She pioneered a controversial technique for eliciting intimate details from young children and inspired passage of a law allowing them to testify by closed-circuit television, out of the possibly intimidating presence of their suspected molesters. It is open to dispute, however, whether this is a record of which she should be proud.
One of the defendants, a 14-year-old boy, was acquitted after his attorneys discredited the children's persistent interrogations by a psychologist who called herself the "yucky secrets doctor." Another was freed by a federal appeals court after 12 years in prison. Only the first, Francisco Fuster Escalona, remains behind bars, serving 165 years on 14 counts of abusing children at the Country Walk day care center in southwest Dade. His 18-year-old wife, Ileana Flores, had pleaded guilty and testified against him.
The 17-year-old Fuster case was the focus of a PBS Frontline documentary Thursday night which broke the news that Flores, who later signed a document recanting her testimony and then repudiated that, is now saying once again that he was innocent, she was innocent and that she was coerced by Reno and others into denouncing her husband. She said she was kept naked in a suicide watch cell and given cold showers and that Reno visited her late at night in pursuit of her confession and damning testimony. If true, that detail would be particularly troubling. No suspect should be interrogated by anyone under such degrading circumstances, and in the absence of her attorney, no matter how sincerely the prosecutor believes in what she's doing.
There are, of course, two sides to the story. The jury believed the state's. Fuster's plea for exoneration depends in large part on the word of his ex-wife, who has contradicted herself three times. But there can be no ambiguity about the implications of Reno's refusal to discuss her role in the case.
"I haven't looked at the file in 15 years, I would need you to bring me all the files, and I don't foresee having the time to go through the files," Reno told Frontline. This has become a familiar form of stonewalling with her. When Times political editor Adam Smith tried to ask her whether she is comfortable with Florida's death penalty, she answered, "I have not reviewed all the cases within the system, so I can't answer that." One of those death cases, among the 100 or so she prosecuted at Miami-Dade, was so flimsy that the Florida Supreme Court not only reversed the conviction but dismissed the charge.
Many politicians duck and weave, as she does, to avoid saying how they'd finance their campaign promises. To refuse to discuss one's record in office is a different, more serious matter. It suggests arrogance of power, a trait that becomes less and less tolerable in inverse proportion to the importance and authority of the office sought.
In Florida, it is the governor, not the attorney general, who oversees the 20 state attorneys. When they err, courts can correct them; on many occasions, however, the governor is the only person who can ensure that justice is eventually served. Reno knows this from personal experience. On assignment by then-Gov. Bob Martinez in 1989, she documented that James Richardson, a fruit-picker, had been unfairly convicted for the poisoning deaths of his seven children, and he was freed after 21 years in prison. On that occasion, she did not shrink from faulting the work of another prosecutor. With her own record now under attack, she serves herself poorly by refusing to discuss it. The voters will not let it go at that.
...not to mention abducting a six-year old at gunpoint and sending him back to a Communist regime, from which his mother had risked her life to escape.
Exactly....agree with you that many RATs would prefer McBride as the candidate since Reno has so much 'baggage'! As for JEB beating them both easily.....considering how the 'condo commanders' will get out the vote in Broward, Miami-Dade, etc. & 'raise the dead' to vote....I will not take anything for granted.
The RATs will do anything & everything to defeat JEB! It is the DNC's main goal.....they will say that a vote against JEB is a vote against GWB.
What Jeb has already done and what he intends to do after re-election, runs circles around the shallow plans of these guv wannabees. And, the next time McLawyer spouts off about raising taxes, I'm sure his poll standings will take a dip.
We didn't even want to pay $1 more a year for local phone service and Jeb got the message. There's no chance Floridians WANT ANY NEW TAXES! McLawyer is a tax and spend wild card. That's what needs to get out if they dump Janet via shenanigans in Sept.
Frontline Pre-Show Announcement by St. Pete Times
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/672651/posts
His record is superb indeed but after Election 2000.....I will continue to worry until the last vote is counted & JEB is declared the winner! We MUST get out the VOTE FOR JEB (and Katherine Harris)....big time!
Bingo!
The Rat media is sending a message that they don't want to, pardon the expression, go down with Janet Reno.
She has, Julie, just last Thursday. Check out:
The Prosecutors - A little sunshine on Janet Reno's pre-Clinton legacy.
she [Ileana Fuster] was kept naked in a suicide watch cell and given cold showers and that Reno visited her late at night in pursuit of her confession and damning testimony.Reno was in pursuit of what? This sure seems like abuse of power, and has pretty obvious sexual overtones.
Is it a decent, honest paper or are they just trying to push another RAT into office by jumping on Reno?
Most think that the St. Pete Times would prefer McBride to Reno as democRAT candidate.
SCENE THREE, ACT ONE.
"...here my little flower, you're shivering...let me wrap my flabby man-arms around your wet, naked, child-like body..."
Ileana smells the vodka on its fetid breath.
LIGHTS FADE TO BLACK.
Simply Amazing
I did not think I'll live the day to see that.
They must really be scared Reno will win the Democratic node for the Governor's race
Many politicians duck and weave, as she does, to avoid saying how they'd finance their campaign promises. To refuse to discuss one's record in office is a different, more serious matter. It suggests arrogance of power, a trait that becomes less and less tolerable in inverse proportion to the importance and authority of the office sought.
That's absolutely right.
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