Sunday, March 14, 2010

California prosecutors withhold evidence

The San Jose paper reports:
Attorneys have uncovered a second, critical trove of evidence that has been withheld for years by medical investigators in hundreds of Santa Clara County sex-assault cases, prompting a wholesale review of procedures at the county's public hospital.

The emergence Tuesday of previously unknown forms documenting interactions between medical personnel and suspected victims comes after prosecutors discovered more than 3,000 videotaped medical exams of children last year that were also improperly withheld from the accused.

So far, the videotapes have led to the release of a man sentenced to 38 years to life in prison, and put dozens of other convictions at risk.
The local DAs have responded by boycotting the judge who released the falsely-convicted guy.

I conclude from this that public officials have no concept of a fair trial, and can get away with a lot of abuses as long as they are claiming to protect children.

Right now I am undergoing a psychological evaluation. I would think that fairness would require that the evaluations be videorecorded. It is particularly necessary to record any child interviews. It is just too easy to manipulate kids, and for even a well-meaning psychologist to misinterpret what kids say. And yet none of the psychologists record interviews, as far as I know.

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