Saturday, May 24, 2008

Due Process in Texas affirmed

The 3rd Court of Appeals in Austin, in response to motions from 41 sect mothers, ruled that Child Protective Services did not present enough evidence at an April hearing to show that the children were in immediate danger of abuse, which would have justified keeping them in state custody.ABC News

Texas Third Court of Appeal ruled the grounds for removing the FLDS children from their parents were "legally and factually insufficient" under Texas law. The FLDS might have unconventional beliefs many do not agree with, however those individual families are entitled to “Due Process.” That is just not some platitude that we roll out when “our side” is threatened. It is fundamental to our legal system and traces back to our English law heritage.

That concept was first expressed in Chapter 39 of the Magna Carta, King John of England promised as follows: "No free man shall be taken or imprisoned or disseised of his Freehold, or Liberties, or free Customs, or be outlawed, or exiled, or any other wise destroyed, nor will we go upon him nor send upon him, except by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land."

The over reaching actions of the Texas CPS(Child Protective Services) remind us of the actions of the former Durham DA Nifong, DPD, and the campus-community uproar that occurred in March 2006. In that situation we were bombarded daily by the press with stories of an out of control Lax Team. We saw as the DPD tried to prove that something happened; whereas the reality is they had no evidence anything had happen but the wild accusations of an accuser which the responding offcier thought false. Indeed they were FALSE and Nifong and the PD had overwhelming exculpatory evidence which they hide from the public and defendants.

In the FLDS case it has become clear the initial accusations were made by one person anonymously, who was out of state pretending to be underage and assaulted. She was again a false accuser. Over the last month we have seen CNN, Nancy Grace, and other pundits parade out stories that inflamed rather than coldly look at the evidence. It is an all too familiar repeat of events.

While none of us want to stand by and do nothing while children are abused we cannot forego “Due Process!”

The 5th Amendment along with the 14th gives citizens the right of Due Process.
Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. 14th Amendment

Whether or not there was actually abuse was an issue that CPS should have faced before removing children from their parents. None of us can stand abuse of the little ones. The Texas CPS might have acted out of good intentions but history is filled with good intentions gone bad.

Has the well been tainted beyond repair?

Will the Texas CPS now go out to prove something happened because they were slap-downed by the Appeals Court?

We hope this is not just another, “It’s not about the Truth!”

We applaud the quick action of the Texas Third Court of Appeal.

If only Durham Superior Court Judge Stephens had thought of "Due Process" when he signed a 46 Man DNA sweep.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

I still don't agree with NC AG Cooper's decision to not prosecuted Crystal for making a false accusation. She knew what she was doing and repeatedly held to that story for over a year. Apparently she was sane enough during that timeto continue with her classes at NCCU. False accusations should be treated harshly when it it clear they were made under false premises like the woman in the FLDS case.

Anonymous said...

I applaud the ruling of the appeals court.

Forced underage marriage is repulsive , and tends to cloud the issue of due process with emotion. Absolutely, the state should intervene to protect teenagers in danger of forced marriage. In this case, out of 460+ children taken, there are 5 minor girls who are pregnant or who have children, there are another 15 or so who are now adults with children conceived as teens (thus not subject to CPS, though their husbands could be prosecuted for statutory rape.)

Having worked several years as a therapist in children's mental health, as a foster parent, and as a guardian ad litem, I am well aware of the massive damage that is inflicted by unnecessary removal from a parent. To be "rescued" by CPS, is from a child's point of view, the equivalent of being kidnapped. To be separated for any length of time from the primary caregiver leaves lasting trauma. In those children who are not yet fully verbal, these memories are very difficult to access and affect through later therapy. It is predictable that for a signficant proprotion of the youngest children that the results will be lifelong and pervasive, undermining emotional, academic, and social functioning. Older children are in a better position to understand what is happening and to have cognitive hope for the future. Little ones live in the nightmare of the here and now.

What CPS has done would be the medical equivalent of this scenario: You go to the doctor because your urine appears to have blood in it. Your doctor schedules you for surgery to remove your bladder that day. You begin chemotherapy the next. This might be the right thing IF there is cancer of the bladder. If the tests (investigation) comes back and shows that it's just a UTI, or is discoloration because you ate blackberries the day before, then you have been permanently damaged by a "well-intentioned" doctor. The intervention is justified ONLY if there is cancer. You must investigate first, and use that information to choose the best course of treatment.

CPS has inflicted horrific trauma on over 400 kids to rescue 5. This is what the laws are written to prevent--the laws that the appeals court upheld.

Alev

Anonymous said...

Whats to prosecute? It is a five hundred dollar fine for a false claim of rape. It is not prison for life or burning in the public Square. Crystal was at NCCU for the last two years, finishing her degree and no one knew about it on these boards, is a surprise.

Anonymous said...

I don't understand why so many people are still upset about the DNA collection. The DNA order did not create the false accusation. Rather, the order produced the physical evidence that exonerated the entire team, not just the three accused players. If the whole team had not participated -- and I think participated is the right word, since they were told they could have appealed the order if they had wanted to -- then people would have said that the male DNA that was later found on the accuser came from some of the other players, and that the accuser had simply identified the wrong "perpetrators."

Ken Duke
Durham

Anonymous said...

Please note: Durham Superior Court Judge Stephens does not think.

Anonymous said...

Exactly. She should go to prison for the rest of her life.

Anonymous said...

What the state of Texas did in this case is nothing less than cultural genocide. They should drop the hysteria and just leave these people the hell alone. They have done nothing but preserve their traditional faith and way of life.

Anonymous said...

The penalty for a false claim of rape is not $500! If you think this is some trivial matter then you need to be victimized by one of these bloodsuckers.

Anonymous said...

As the posters were unable to get Nifong burned at the stake in a public square,they have to have something to complain about. The DNA collection is as good as anything.
Why are they upset with the Rape Kit? Cause their pals the "nurses" wrote early on that Nurse Levicy did the worse "SANE" in the history of man. It turned out that a SANE was not done - that the Rape Kit was done the "old fashion way" with a Physician doing the Rape Kit with a nurse assist.No SANE was done in this event. They also refuse to understand that it was DUMC's responsibility to collect the evidence and SBI to do the testing and ruling. No one, including these nurses have seen the written report or have any evidence that the record was falsified. There is no testimony under oath or not that the record was falsified, That does not stop them from making their own "false allegations". In spite of the lessons, everyone should have learned in the hoax about false allegations, it does not stop posters from committing the same "crime" as Nifong.

Anonymous said...

Although for some reason I am not allowed to post on lie stoppers anymore?

I am glad you finally see my point of view on this case. To let this case stand is far worse then what happened to the LAX players. It would have given any government agency carte blanch to remove any child from any home at any time based on anything any government employee wanted to do.

Tom E.

Anonymous said...

1:07 PM- Poor Nifong; poor Mangum. Why don't we just pass a constitutional amendment legalizing perjury and corruption so these poor dears don't get their hair mussed?

You must either be a false accuser or an accomplice; nobody else on earth would trivialize this level of criminality.

Anonymous said...

No, what happened in Texas is nowhere near at the level of Duke Lax, but yes, it is troubling.

Anonymous said...

If Nifong and Mangum aren't criminals, then there's no such thing as crime and we should just legalize everything. A false rape allegation is many times more harmful to the victim than rape itself, and is the worst thing that can happen to anyone in this country.

Anonymous said...

Several times in the last few weeks I have tried to register at the new Liestoppers Meeting Place. I complete and submit the registration information, receive an email with a URL that I click on after which I can log on but not post until approval is granted. A day or so later, I can no longer logon under my registered user name. I wonder if that means I was rejected or whether there is some technical glitch. Does anyone know?

Mandelbrot's Chaos said...

People are upset because of the DNA Dragnet because of its blatant violation of the Fourth Amendment rights of the LAX players. While the DNA collection ultimately exonerated the players, the forced collection thereof was a direct result of an egregious breach of their basic civil rights. But perhaps civil rights don't matter as long as it all turns out well in the end, right, Ken Duke?