In the post immediately below titled "Sexual Assault Against Minor" I quoted a police department press release regarding the dropping of charges against a person and the arrest of the accuser for filing a false police report. Today's Midland Reporter Telegram has a more comprehensive the story.
The way the facts appear now, the police took the report from the accuser and then approached [name removed at request of subject] for a statement. [Name removed at request of subject] said he would like to speak with an attorney. The police responded by arresting him and charging him apparently without any investigation beyond taking the accuser's statement.
None of us can read their minds, but it appears as if the police made the assumption of guilt merely because the defendant wanted to do what anyone in that situation would be wise to do, and that was to talk with an attorney.
The defendant then did his own investigation. He read the accusers statement, found inconsistencies, and told his attorney. The attorney then told the police. The police questioned the accuser about the inconsistencies and were unable to reconcile them, and the accuser confessed. At this point the charges were dropped, 38 days after the arrest.
Here's the money graf:
Aaron [MPD Deputy Chief of investigations] said [name removed at request of subject] pointed out some contradictions in the girl's story through his attorney."We had our doubts and we re-interviewed the girl," he said. The girl admitted to making false allegations and was arrested, Aaron said.
Well, it's a good thing that the defendant was able to prove his innocence (although some of us have the quaint notion that he shouldn't have had to do that). And, it's a good thing that the police and prosecutor were big enough to acknowledge their mistake. Some real damage to an innocent person could have been done had they not been able to do that.
Updated 11/22/13: The name of the subject has been removed at his request.
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