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Unfortunately the source link on that wiki is dead, but a different source: ”Many witnesses and defendants later said they were pressured into making false con
by toofy 8y ago
Unfortunately the source link on that wiki is dead, but a different source:
”Many witnesses and defendants later said they were pressured into making false confessions and accusations by caseworkers from the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) and by Wenatchee Police Department Lieutenant Bob Perez.
All who confessed later recanted. Some defendants said that when threatened with life imprisonment, they pled guilty to lesser charges. Some said they were told that if they confessed they wouldn't go to jail but would be treated in the community. Many were told they would never see their children again unless they signed a confession. Those questioned also said they were told that their children wouldn't be placed in foster care or put up for adoption if they signed confessions.” [0]
Considering the entire contextual insanity of this case, the obvious and absolute hysteria which surrounded the entire case, the biased and careless ways the cases were handled, the decision making processes which happen when someone must choose between life in prison or lesser charges, the literal thousands of charges which were dropped/overturned, and perhaps most disturbing of all—the way that dissenters were suddenly brought up on charges, I have no problem sticking by my original statement:
This was mass hysteria.
[0] http://www.historylink.org/File/7065 http://www.historylink.org/File/7065
- ikeboy 8y agoYour claim was the charges didn't stick, which doesn't seem accurate
- toofy 8y agoWell, if we insist on being pedantic rather than charitable, from your link: > Those who were convicted were freed by higher courts and had their convictions overturned or pleaded guilty on lesser charges It would seem they plead guilty to lesser charges. If it would make you feel better, I can amend my original post to say “...none of the original charges stuck...” Would this make you feel better?
- ikeboy 8y agoGiven that, as you quoted, a shockingly high number of charges was applied to a small number of people, it's quite likely whatever charges they pled to were part of what they were originally charged with. I don't think your characterization captures what happened given people ended up serving reasonably long sentences. When I hear "no charges stuck" I think nobody got convicted - even a conviction later overturned isn't quite consistent with that. If you want to make the point that the charges were baseless, sure - but that's not the only thing you're saying and implying. I think the original post is misleading. Charitability is something to be applied to arguments where reasonable interpretations may be stronger. It's not something to be used to defend misleading factual claims, which are properly pushed back against.