Side Effects

We know that cops plant evidence to cover their mistakes. We know that the DA’s office conceals evidence. We know that judges and prosecutors like to fuck. Most people know that the system is corrupt…But there’s some kind of logical disconnect that happens when the public hears that someone’s been accused of attacking a child.

In February, Jose Torres was charged with breaking into a home and raping a 14 year old girl. The victim identified him because he had been at her door two days before the rape, selling cable. People said that he was a monster; that he shouldn’t be allowed to roam the streets. He was in jail for two months, he lost his apartment and two jobs; he was unable to find anyone to hire him because of the charges against him.

Finally, in August, Harris County dropped the case because of ‘insufficient evidence’. So what now? Well, his life’s pretty much ruined. A simple background check will reveal that he was charged with aggravated sex assault of a child. Why would any employer take the legal risk of hiring him? Who’s going to rent him another apartment? He’s branded for life.

The public hears about these accusations and immediately decides guilt. People will line up to denounce men accused of these crimes; maybe it’s a way of putting distance between ourselves and the very idea of child molestation. We accept the fact that the justice system will lie and cheat in any other case, but we cling to our faith that, at least in the cases where children are victimized, their motives and actions are pure. In order to question the legitimacy of these cases we would have to admit to ourselves that the police and the prosecutors are willing to use children to further their careers; since we just can’t stand that thought, we insult and revile the ones who should be allowed the presumption of innocence.

I would say that Jose Torres is one lucky bastard, although he may not agree with me. He was charged using the same type of evidence that was used against Carlos Coy; that is, victim testimony. In fact, the accuser in this case is quite a bit more credible than the one in Coy vs. Texas, because she’s 14, not 9.  Torres could easily have ended up with 45 years or even longer since he was accused of rape and of threatening the girl’s life with a knife and a screwdriver, while Coy was never accused of violence.

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=7957577

http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Rape-charge-dropped-but-man-says-whole-life-2081414.php