Last year we successfully met a child molester's claim of actual innocence. He is serving a negotiated sentence of twenty years for repeatedly sexually assaulting his daughter. She had also been victimized by the defendant's stepfather and her mom's boyfriend.

Pregnant and destitute, she sought refuge with her grandmother, the defendant's mother. The eventual price? An affidavit in support of his claim, of course. By the time the hearing rolled around, the victim was out of grandma's house and out from under her thumb. In one of our many conversations she told me that what she most wanted was an admission and an apology from her Dad. I told her in my experience the chances of that were nil. Last week she called to say he had written her from prison with a full confession and apology. Boy, I love to be wrong.......