Something to keep in mind during the Michael Jackson Trial
The case I was trying to remember on my last blog entry in relation to the Michael Jackson trial presently going on in California was the McMartin Preschool Abuse Trial.
This case is a prime example of a child molestation case running amuck (in California no less).
A mother in Manhattan Beach, California accused a guy named Ray Buckey (son of the owner of the Pre School) of molesting her son. The police promptly got search warrants and searched Buckey’s house. He was soon arrested.
The police chief then sent a letter to over two hundred parents of children who attended the Pre School, told them about the situation and asked them to look for signs of sexual abuse in their own children. He further requested that they ask their kids if they witnessed any abuse.
Judy Johnsons’ (the mother of the child supposedly abused) charges against the school grew. She claimed the mother of Buckey was involved in satanic practices. She accused the mother and son of taking her son to a church where he was forced to watch a baby having its head cut off and participate in other strange activities.
According to Johnson strange activities went on at the school also. She said there was a tunnel under the school (a tunnel was never found) where children were sexually abused (among other accusations).
The children also started to make charges against teachers and other staff at the Pre School spurred on by a Kee MacFarlane a consultant for Children’s Institute International. MacFarlane and others basically encouraged the children to make up stories of sexual abuse (employing several unproven techniques on these young children).
The accusations the children made are too many to mention here. I advise anyone who is interested to look up the case. I will mention one of the funniest charges made against the McMartin seven and believe me there were many.
Some kids reported being photographed as they performed somersaults in the nude. They said they were forced to participate in a game called the “Naked Movie Star Game”. During this game they would sing a song that went, “What you see is what you are, you’re a naked movie star!” (Now that’s funny).
Anyway, the prosecutors demonstrated such zealotry and lack of reason with this case that it is shocking. They were spurred on by the parents who were being whipped into a frenzy by these charges of abuse against their children. They demanded justice and punishment for the heinous acts that supposedly went on at the McMartin Pre School.
Indictments charging various counts of child endangerment and molestation were eventual made by a grand jury against Ray Buckey, Ray’s mother, sister, three teachers and the founder of the school Virginia McMartin.
A preliminary hearing led many prosecutors and the judge to realize the case was becoming more and more unbelievable. In face of this fact the District Attorney’s office decided to drop all charges against five of the seven. Ray and Peggy (his mother) Buckey were to be tried.
All charges against the mother were dropped during the trial.
The trail ended in a hung jury on many of the charges against Buckey (being found not guilty on the rest) but the rabid parents and hundreds of others protested and demanded that Buckey be tried again on the charges the jury couldn’t decide.
So Buckey was retried on eight of the counts against him. The jury once again deadlocked.
After blowing millions of dollars and having Ray Buckey sit in a prison for over five years (this is the US legal system holding an innocent person in prison for five years) the District Attorney’s Office decided not to retry him. The ‘witch hunt’ in California was over. The case destroyed lives (plaintiffs and defendants) and livelihoods. It was a tragedy.
Let’s hope justice is done in the Jackson case. Let us hope the juries reasoning is guided by the evidence. Let’s hope there isn’t another miscarriage of justice in California…….or has one already been committed?