It took two legislative sessions, but a compromise was reached earlier this year. Now, specific measures exist in the Child Witness Protection Act to make a child more comfortable on the witness stand.
Unfortunately, that progress was threatened last week when a prosecutor in Taney County Associate Circuit Court tried to use the new law in a way never intended, and a judge did not stop him.
Tuesday's decision to improperly close a courtroom off to the public -- although briefly -- did nothing to help the cause of children who find themselves in the tough, at-times agonizing role of child witness, or victim.
In fact, if this kind of overreaching continues, it could result in the protection act being overturned.
Fortunately, the maneuver was short-lived and did not create a major problem. However, it should serve as a cautionary tale to anyone trying to become too aggressive in their zeal to protect kids.
This blog features observations from Randy Turner, a former teacher, newspaper reporter and editor. Send news items or comments to rturner229@hotmail.com
Monday, November 30, 2009
News-Leader editorial: Law protecting child witnesses is good; Judge's decision to close Pete Newman case was not what law intended
In an editorial in today's edition, the Springfield News-Leader defends the new law protecting child witnesses, but notes that what Judge Tony Williams did recently when he decided to close the preliminary hearing for former Kanakuk director Pete Newman (a decision which turned out to be unnecessary when Newman waived the hearing) was not what the law intended:
Okay, so it's a "good" thing to drag boys in who are already traumatized and humiliate them further so that voyers can get their cheap entertainment, at the expense of little innocent children who've already been through hell. Yeah, that's real smart.
ReplyDeleteOr maybe you rationalize by saying it keeps the court honest. Well, there are protocols in place to keep the court honest even w/o bloodthirsty media there to "keep them accountable" (in actuality, getting the scoop first).
You people are sick. You'd feel differently if it was your child.
Randy, do you have access to all 3 mugshots of Pete Newman? Could you post them, if so?
ReplyDeleteThis law was passed by the Social Services Division so that they could put their thumbs on the trial process and coach their charges in order to put the mothers and fathers of children they take away. After all, if the evidence is overwhelming, then there is no need to have the child testify at all. It is for those cases in which there is no real conclusive or even actual forensic evidence that this law was created so that the social workers can then coach the kiddies to testify against their parents.
ReplyDeleteIn overt authoritarian countries like Russia and China, these laws are not necessary, any more than trials. It is in this state, where they got to pretend to holding fair and impartial trials that these social workers and prosecutors got the general assembly to pass such laws in order to get control of dissenters children and railroad their parents.
Of course the pretense comes off when some crooked prosecutor and judge over-reach and commit a reversible error. Although perhaps this is not an error at all and they want this alleged molester to come back on appeal and have the case thrown out.
The prosecutors and judges and media in Springfield are all annoyed at the ham-fisted tactics of the prosecution and judge in Taney County, as well they should be. After all, if nobody even thinks he is going to get a fair trial, you will have a lot of accused offenders going out in a blaze of glory -- like happened recently in Washington State.
9:32, you don't understand THIS situation completely. You don't know all the facts. There is NOTHING going on here, but an attempt to protect these children's dignity. Sad, you're so short-sighted.
ReplyDeletePete Newman would be a FOOL to go to trial here, anyway, because he is so guilty of so much and he knows it and he knows that the other side knows it too.
9:32, you may be right concerning some past situations, but NOT this one. You don't know all the facts.
Facts do not matter. This is a personal tirade for them.
ReplyDeleteObviously.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous 5:31 am in essence claims to know all the facts -- and I suppose we should believe him or her or it based upon . . . . what it thinks the real facts are.
ReplyDeleteThe entire alleged purpose of having trials in the first place is to find out what 'The Truth' is. I have every doubt that the powers that be are going to allow that to happen and the trial will end up being a mass of hearsay, prejudice, perjury, and a free-for-all which the author of this blog and all of us commenters will use as grist for their particular mills.
The fact of the matter is that the courts are used to steal children from their families and buy and sell and give them to the state, who in turn farms them out in human puppy mills for those wanting a foster care check. The law in question was created so as to accomplish this under color of law.
Now a situation has occurred in which the children of the rich and powerful might have actually been molested by one of the keepers of their gated community kiddie-care. And the rich and powerful simply want the alleged molester to simply go quietly into the hell-hole of the modern prison system without a fight, scared of what might be revealed at trial.
You see, the crooked and stupid politicians want to blame economic decline and widescale corruption upon Muslim 'terrorists' overseas and child molesters at home. So we escalate pointless wars overseas and put everyone in prison here.
Don't get me wrong. I think that 10-20% of the population is so far gone that they molest their own children. So what to do? Have half the population put the other half of the population in prison?
Well, for now, let's stick to the point of my initial writing: This RSMo 491.075 was cobbled together in order for social workers and prosecutors to get to tamper with the child witnesses that they have legally kidnapped absent forensic evidence of abuse. Instead, this crooked law was used as an excuse by a crooked prosecutor and crooked judge to then close the proceedings to the public altogether.
The end result of this maneuver was to place the entire proceedings under a cloud, as the matter shows that there is no such thing as a fair and open and honest trial possible. And I think that the Defendant will end up exploiting this upon appeal.
The "Defendant" has exploited all he's ever going to.
ReplyDeleteHow many hearings do you have to have? How long will they keep resceduling hearings. What does it mean to "waive your hearing" only to reschedule another one? What are they HEARING?? Then what?
ReplyDeleteEveryone is so nervous for all the little children who may cross paths with this pedophile while he's out on bail. If he can't help himself, then society is at risk with him running loose. I would be scared to death if I knew he was anywhere near me or my kids. He is so sick, and addicted, and driven to this repetitive behavior. Why is he not being held? Seems so irresponsible to society. He needs eyes on him every second of the day. I shutter to think of his daughter and what she's been through.
A fair trial or prison for the rest of his life ought to be the least of his worries!
ReplyDeleteanon 12:32 - You are completely NUTS! But I guess it's people like you that make this world interesting. Unfortunately we are surrounded by nuts like you it seems.
ReplyDelete12:32, you're so far off the deep end that NO ONE gives a second thought to your ridiculous ramblings of nonsense. You obviously had a child taken from you, or know someone who did...well, that doesn't happen like you suggested. If a child is removed from a family, believe me, there ARE REASONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteFoster care in the US, is a JOKE however. You may be right on that point.
Sounds like we have no shortage of baby-stealing social workers and government trough-feeders to tell us all that this is the best possible of all worlds. This sort of nonsense even though there is a rising tide of illegitimacy, broken families, and people in prison. Why, those who have their noses deep in the trough certainly don't want it to stop working even though the end of the social order as it is currently enforced looms pretty near.
ReplyDeleteIn any case, those who love the system will support it and even when it is gone, unmourned by the survivors, like Lot's wife, they will still be yearning for the delights of Sodom as they knew it.
The purposes of RSMo 491.075 was told many times in the Springfield paper by lawyers, social workers, and prosecutors. The purpose of the law was to get around the paper 'protections' of the CONstitution and Bill of Goods and enable social workers to be allowed to coach and coerce the children they took when they want to send their parents to prison for life and there is no independent forensic evidence other than a child witness. What these bottom-feeders are worried about is that crooked prosecutors and judges will then misapply this statute and go over the deep edge of showing how corrupt these courts are in order to gain a prosecution that they should win merely because they are stupid and lazy. They sound like cockroaches scared that other cockroaches will lead an exterminator to their legislative roach motel, and end up doing away with the corrupt law they worked so hard to enact.
The legislature no longer makes the laws. The courts do, by declaring whatever laws they please as unconstitutional.
Now those who would call me 'crazy' do so because I am simply taking the part of the normal victims of social worker abuse in describing how this law was created in order to destroy normal poor and working-class families as the normal victims. I really do like it when this evil law is further perverted to destroy the illusion of justice when it is then abused to go after alleged perverts of the children of the rich and powerful, who usually are the victimizers but who are theysselfs about to fall in the pit they dug for others.
The Springfield newspaper discussed how those who made this law as a trap for the families of the poor and working-class are annoyed that it is about to be declared as unconstitutional as [mis]applied when it comes to perverts not getting a fair trial when accused of molesting the spawn of you social predators and parasites. The Springfield paper is sad that this law is going to bite the dust. And I am happy that this law is about to be revealed for what it is, even if for the wrong reasons.
Keep going "crazy"......You're keeping us all entertained! This is better than going to the movies!
ReplyDeleteHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA, this is hilarious.
ReplyDeleteNO ONE could possibly take you seriously. You're a nut-job. Still, a funny nut-job, so keep the craziness coming. You should have your own cheesy Branson show, complete with your own theatre and billboards, and everything. You could do stand-up, and people would love you.
It should work here. All the rest of the "entertainers" are completely ridiculous, so we say go for it! You might become rich and powerful and therefore be able to send your kids to the gated kiddie-care.
Or, if that doesn't work out for you, go to law school and fight all these "corrupt" prosecutors and judges who are ought to take away everyone's children and destroy the family unit! hahahaha!
*out
ReplyDeleteHey Giggles 2:46
ReplyDeleteWhat can one say except that if you are a typical subject that the local family court and its social worker minions do unto you and your family as they have done to others and that if you are a typical government worker that an enraged public does unto you and your family what usually happens when an entire corrupt System falls apart.
Actually Giggles 2:46, you seem to be like one of them Roman late-imperial proletarian rabble cheering on the suffering endured by others in the arena and then when the barbarians sacked Rome whining about how awful life turned out to be. Rome went from a population of over a million to around 12,000 a few centuries later. A death rate resulting in only one barbarian-era degenerate rabble surviving where over 1,000 late-imperial scum existed before. No great loss.
But never mind me, Giggles 2:46. Weighty thoughts just ain't your bag. So I suggest that you curl up to a big bottle of nitrous oxide and crack open at random a page in the back third of Gibbons' "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" and not wait to catch my Branson act.
I'm giggling too
ReplyDeleteHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! This comic-relief is needed!
ReplyDeleteanon 12:32 "children of the rich and powerful"??? Who are they? You think kid that went to Kanakuk are children of the rich and powerful?? HA! You are so far off. What a loser.
ReplyDeleteAnyone know what sort of time he's facing? Life?
ReplyDeleteAnybody know what happens on Dec. 17th? How is it different from the hearings in the lower court?
ReplyDeleteI am not an attorney but it appears looking at https://www.courts.mo.gov/casenet/cases/searchDockets.do that some of the charges against Pete Newman have been dropped. If I am reading it correctly there are now two counts against him. Is this correct and if so what happened.
ReplyDeleteThe charges have most certainly NOT been dropped. It is in the process of moving to the Circuit Court level. Be patient for the trail to catch up.
ReplyDeleteCan somebody explain what happens on Dec. 17th? Will there just be more and more hearings again? Or will they get somewhere this time? When does a trial get scheduled? Will he be re-arrested for more charges and have to post bail a 4th time? Who's paying his bills? Anybody out there have any info. on any of the above?????
ReplyDeleteWhat if he decides to do the morally/spiritually appropriate thing and confesses to these charges? What then??
ReplyDeleteIf he pleads "Not Guilty" at this arraignment on the 17th, then what?
ReplyDeleteAs I understand it, you can plead "not guilty" to a string of charges when in fact you are guilty (and will admit guilt) to SOME of the charges. That is my understanding in this case. That Pete has, and will, own up to several, but not all, of the charges. I don't think anyone should misconstrue a "not guilty" plea as Pete denying that he IS guilty. He's owned up to that.
ReplyDeleteWHAT, if anything, has he owned up to?
ReplyDelete