Truth And Justice

Truth and Justice are inseparable.  You cannot have justice if there is no truth for the purpose of our justice system is to determine the truth. With the discovery of DNA testing, many men convicted of rape or sexual crimes were exonerated.  Take the case of Thomas Haynesworth.  According to news report:

Back in 1984, when Thomas Haynesworth was 18, he set out to buy some groceries for his mother. A woman, who had been attacked days before, sought a police officer and told him Haynesworth was the one who did it.

Eventually five women identified him as the attacker and Haynesworth spent the next 27 years in prison. 

The Root reports on what happened next:

In 2005, in the wake of the exonerations of five other wrongly convicted men, then-Virginia governor Mark R. Warner (D) ordered a sweeping review of thousands of criminal cases from 1973 through 1988. Haynesworth's was among them. Using technology that wasn't available in the 1980s, authorities tested DNA collected from a January 1984 rape for which Haynesworth was convicted. The results cleared him and implicated a convicted rapist named Leon Davis.

It started out with one woman.  Then five other women later identified him as their rapist.  All of them had the wrong person. Although the evidence was there, DNA testing did not exist at that time.  So, how did these women identify the wrong person?  Because they did not get a very close look at their rapist.  It is natural for different people to see the same thing; yet, describe it differently.  Some will say he wore a black shirt.  Others will say it was navy blue.  Police officers often advice the public to focus on a distinguishing mark on the perpetrators such as a tatoo, birthmark, mole, or scar that could easily identify the person.  The fact that Haynesworth was Black may also play a part in his conviction. Here is another story of a man convicted and sentence to jail for a quarter of a century for a rape crime.  DNA testing set him free 25 years later.  According to news report (the bold is mine): 

"We were 100 percent certain that we did in fact have the right person," said Bernard Carter, Lake County prosecutor.

"Until recently, there was no technology that could really do what I call dissect DNA mixture," said Fran Watson, attorney.

"Once they explained to us what DNA was, we told them to bring the test on because we know where we were," Pinkins said.

That technology cleared Pinkins as a criminal.

"When you look at the evidence that stands now, it would be an injustice for us to even attempt to try Mr. Pinkins. We would not convict him," Carter said.

Pinkins waited almost a quarter century to hear that.

"This is a new beginning," he said.

The Lake County prosecutor says even now the victim is still convinced Pinkins is the man who raped her. Carter says he is committed to finding the five men responsible for that 1989 crime, and he says Lake County will be using that DNA technology in many cases going forward.

Before the existence of DNA testing, some men were wrongly convicted of rape or sexual assault and sentenced to life in prison largely on the strength of the victim's testimony.  Technology had made it possible to determine truth.  And the justice system is going forward with this technology.  With DNA testing, justice and truth prevails.  

Today, the law lifting the Statutes of limitations would only bring the justice system back to the days when there was no DNA testing, and one needed only to rely on the words of the alleged victims.  As we can see from the past, substantial evidence is needed to determine the truth.  These men who were falsely accused and sentenced to jail is proof that innocent people can be sent to jail.  However, these men were set free when DNA testing became available because there was at least some substantial evidence in which DNA can be tested, and the truth was established.  Justice and truth prevailed.   

However, in the case with the allegations in Guam's sex abuse, forty years is a long time.  After forty years, the witnesses are dead.  In some cases, the accused is also dead and unable to defend himself.  There are also no substantial evidence in which DNA can be tested.  In fact, there are absolutely no substantial evidence because even one alleged victim claimed to have burned the nude photos that Father Antonio Cruz took.  According to news report:

Tomas De Plata said Cruz kept a box of nude pictures of numerous altar boys, including of himself. 

“There were also nude pictures of Cruz, Brouillard and other priests, committing sexual acts on minor boys. Not knowing any better, Tomas burned the box of pictures out of fear that someone would see them and never returned to the Chalan Pago Parish for as long as Cruz remained the priest,” the lawsuit says.

They say that during those times, parents would not believe their kids if their kids told them they were abused by a priest.  Some say the parents would punish them if they opened their mouths.  Yet, someone did say something about Father Brouilliard, and that boy was not punished at all. His parents believed him and reported the priest to the police. In fact, Father Brouilliard was arrested.  So, what was different about this young altar boy and his parents who came forward?  Why did he and his parents not follow the so-called Guam "culture" that so many alleged victims professed to exist at that time? Father Brouilliard was arrested, but Archbishop Flores moved him to the U.S.  According to news report:

 And, a self-described, 30 year veteran of the Guam police force, who called into my radio show, stated that he had arrested a Catholic priest who molested a young alter boy on Guam. He stated that after his arrest, the priest admitted to molesting multiple victims on Guam.

According to the retired police officer, this entire incident was covered up by former Archbishop Flores. The alleged offending priest was, according to the retired officer, promptly shipped off-island shortly after his arrest, and never faced justice on Guam.  

Truth and justice should be inseparable.  However, there would be no justice if Public Law 33-187 continues to exist.  Therefore, Public Law 33-187, which lifted the Statutes of Limitations should be declared unconstitutional and inorganic.  It deprives the accused of due process.  Justice delayed is Justice denied.