Have a juvenile who described a detailed rape by her mom and lesbian lover. The Sheriff's investigator spent many hours and both women who work at TDCJ were suspended from work for some time as the result of the allegations. I always meet with sexual assault victims prior to Grand Jury and this 14 year old recants claiming she made it all up. If I had tried this case both of these women would have been put behind bars for life. The details were very explicit and the rapes were violent. Juvenile's sworn statement went on for 2 pages all of which she now says is a lie. I had the Suspects polygraphed and one passed and the other was questionable because she had a cold. I charged the juvenile with aggravated perjury.Please tell me there is no affirmative defense. What if I had indicted without talking to her and then she recanted?I donnt have Lexus at home and I amy just get lucky and have Bradley or one of you other experienced prosecutors who've been burned before to help.

I assume you are charging the girl with delinquent conduct and not a criminal charge per se. I have no extensive experience prosecuting perjury, but I see some problems. First, the recantation is not under oath, thus 37.06 does not help you. Even with the (inadmissible)polygraph exam, how do you prove the initial statement was false? I have often thought that the credible testimony of one person that what another said was false should be enough, but I don't really think it is. There are a lot of old cases on that issue. And, yes, I suppose the argument will be made that the false statement was retracted "before completion of the testimony at the official proceeding". And you might see the claim made that 37.08 more specifically describes the conduct at issue. Did she do more than retract and instead admit to making a false statement?

Match the family up with a counseling service provider and pray that it really did not happen. If it is going on, it will be open season with this perjury deal. I had a sex offender pass a polygraph last year. The detective pressed the victim and told her her dad passed. She tearfully recanted: "Maybe I dreamed it?". Then her dad's semen turned up in the underwear she was wearing that night. It happens both ways.

[This message was edited by BLeonard on 02-11-05 at .]

[This message was edited by BLeonard on 02-11-05 at .]

Oh my heavens, what are you thinking. We have 2 lady prison guards, alternative lifestyle, and an outcry of what you described as graphic sexual abuse by both - and you did not present the whole testimony to the Grand Jury, both the mom, lover and of course daughter to flush it out. I'd use the Grand Jury in this one. Have everyone testify, especially about whether the victim has any other suitable family arrangements if the mom were to go to prison. While I am aware that false allegations are made by children, you might want to go to Grand Jury with the whole case and let them decide witness credibility for you. You wouldn't want any bad press on that one when she turns 18, and tells any nut who will listen that you protected her abuser, and should have known better.

I think you are missing the point here. Our job as prosecutors is to do justice. Do you really think justice is being done by prosecuting your victim? You validate the conduct of her abuser --Scare or coerce your victim into recanting and the DA will charge the victim! There is no way that little girl will ever come forward again. How many other little girls in your community will be too scared to come forward if the DA is essentially prosecuting them for being to scared to tell the truth? Who has the power in that family? The controlling 2 mother (TDCJ guards) guardians or the juvenille who faces the possibility of becoming an orphan?

Need to think big picture here.

I probably should preface my comments by mentioning that I prosecute lots of child molesters.... Our job is to do justice. But it seems to me that the real question is, for who? Just as it is our responsibility to do justice for children (and adults) who have been victimized, I believe we also have an obligation to those few who are truly innocent and falsely accused.

As I read your original posting Warner, I had a sense that, through your investigation, you had concluded that the recantation was genuine and these really, really were false allegations.
IF IF IF that is the case, I wouldn't pursue perjury charges against the girl, for all the same reasons as previously mentioned, but I might strongly consider False Report to PO charges. We all know that, unfortunately, false allegations of sexual abuse do occur, and we know the effect they have upon the legitimate cases. Additionally, we know the effect such an allegation has upon the falsely accused person(s), and I think we have some responsibility to him or her too.
I don't think charging the false accuser would deter legitimate victims from outcrying. But it just might make the occasional vengeful, troubled teen we all know is out there, think twice before making a false allegation.

On the other hand, if you have any doubts about the recantation and, therefore, the innocence of your suspects, then, in the words of Emily Litella, never mind....

I was under the same impression as Lisa, that you are convinced that the original statement was simply a lie. Like her, I also think that we don't want to discourage real complainants from coming forward, but we do certainly want to discourage false complainants from reporting lies which lead to the kinds of consequences that accused child molesters may have to suffer. That said, I rarely file perjury unless my evidence is clear cut that the first statement was an outright lie--the alleged perpetrator passing a polygraph would not be enough, and I would want to be convinced that the recantation was sincere and not brought on by the complainant's fear that she now has to recant out of fear that the system is siding with a perpetrator who is going to retaliate if she doesn't take back her story.

I'm thankful I can throw out this useless advice without having to make your decision myself...

Yes, As sick as the details were I do believe that I am dealing with a manipulative teenager who hates her mother's lifstyle. I was so indignate because I have successfully tried many agg sexual asaults and our local juries are very unforgiving and thus I could have sent 2 innocent women to prison for a long long time.I have dismissed the agg perjury and will do as suggested and take the case to the grand jury to see what they think. If they believe the victim created the entire story then I will file the false stmt to a PO.Have either of you ever sent someone to prison and had a victim later recant?

No, thank goodness. And I hope, hope, hope to keep it that way!

Just my $.02:

I've worked as a volunteer sexual assault crisis counselor for over 12 years. I have seen many many genuine rapes, and many, many false outcries. I trust your instincts. One benefit of charging her with something is that a condition of probation/deferred adjudication/pretrial diversion (which I'm sure would be the ideal resolution for a 14 yr old kid) is forcing her to get some therapy. If she doesn't get some help, she could do it again, and don't you know it would be even more persuasive when she said she'd made an outcry before and then got coerced to recant by her mom?

And I know this is politically incorrect but I'll say it anyway... isn't mom's first duty to her daughter? and if her lifestyle is messing her daughter up that much, maybe she ought to hold off on the relationship with her partner until her daughter is a little older? (I'd say the same thing whether mom was hetero, bi, gay, whatever- whether it was a relationship, or drugs, or work schedule, or whatever...) At least that's what I would like to think priorities would be.

g

Let the welfare of your kids interfere with your happiness, self-fulfillment, and personal whim? That's pretty radical...sounds like you want to drag society back into the dark ages!

It is really nice to hear everyone's opinions and ideas when I have a case that bothers me. Thankyou TDCCAA for creating such a great website for us to use.If I do subpoena this juvenile to the Grand Jury do you use the same subpoena for the parent to bring the child like you use in trial? I like the idea of CYA and perhaps she will understand how serious such an outcry is to the alleged perp. Georgette, How many years have you been prosecuting and do you only handle sexual assaulted children?