Judge Calls Rape Prosecution, Jailing Of Oakland County Dad 'troubling'

[Michael Komorn]

Judge calls rape prosecution, jailing of Oakland County dad 'troubling'

This is justice in Oakland County??

By L. L. BRASIER and JOHN WISELY
Free Press Staff Writer

 

The family of an autistic girl that recently settled a wrongful prosecution lawsuit with West Bloomfield Police for $1.8 million should learn soon if they can continue their claim against other defendants.

 

 

 

Lawyers for the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office, the Walled Lake Consolidated School District and the Michigan Department of Human Services argued for 90 minutes this afternoon for governmental immunity from a suit filed by Julian and Thal Wendrow.

U.S. District Judge John Corbett O’Meara said he would rule within a few weeks, calling the case “a very troubling fact situation.”

“There are enough fact issues that this isn’t going to go away,” Corbett O’Meara said. “Obviously this is a very serious matter.”

The Wendrows sued in 2008 after they were arrested. Former Oakland County Prosecutor David Gorcyca charged Julian Wendrow with first-degree criminal sexual assault, accusing him of repeatedly raping his severely autistic 14-year-old daughter. Gorcyca charged Thal Wendrow with failing to protect the child. The child does not speak and functions on the level of a 2-year-old, according to court records.

Gorcyca, and his chief assistant, Deborah Carley, based the prosecution on “statements” the girl reportedly typed in November 2007, while a Walled Lake Schools teacher’s aide guided her hands on a keyboard. The method, known as Facilitated Communication, has been widely dismissed by experts who insist it is the aide who is actually communicating.

A physical exam of the girl showed no signs of abuse but Julian Wendrow spent 80 days in jail. His wife was released on tether. The girl and her 13-year-old brother were placed in foster care.

• Video: Watch boy's interrogation by police.

Oakland County’s lawyer, Rick Patterson, argued for immunity but the judge said that argument “starts to lose the texture when you come to that decision to put both mother and father in jail where there didn’t seem to be any check on the information they had… This facilitated communication,” Corbett O’Meara said. “Isn’t there some check that should have been there?”

Walled Lake Schools attorney Kevin Sutton argued that the school was obligated to report the allegations.

But the Wendrows’ attorney, Deborah Gordon, said, “The school district worked hand in glove with the prosecutor,” despite knowing facilitated communication “was a sham.”

 

 

 

Read more: Judge calls rape prosecution, jailing of Oakland County dad 'troubling' | freep.com | Detroit Free Press http://www.freep.com/article/20110113/NEWS03/110113062/Judge-calls-rape-prosecution-jailing-of-Oakland-County-dad--troubling-#ixzz1B01TA09P

 

 

Michael A. Komorn

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[GregS]

Ya know, I read recently, maybe here, that police candidates who score high on aptitude tests are not considered for hire. The reason? It is supposed that they will find the work unstimulating to the point they would be bored.

[Bisharoo]

You just have to be able to follow orders, even ones that are evil and criminal and morally bankrupt. That is all comrades...

[ozzrokk]

No it is so that noone smarter than them comes in and says

 

"Do you people even know what you are doing?"

 

They do not want to end a good thing. You Know....

 

Sorry Michael didnt mean to jack your sheet....

 

Thanx for the story.

[AmishRnot4ganja]

And the judge only calls it "troubling"? This is scary as hell! We need to restore citizen control of "our" police and government. They are beyond "out of control".

[mizerman]

Why were they questioning a 13 year old without a legal guardian present?

 

The Three Stooges do some seriously underhanded and illegal crap.

 

Glad to see the family got a settelment from West Bloomfield and they are going after Oakland County next.

 

I'm not "clicking my heels and saluting" the Nazi's and Gestapos who run things in Oakland County.

 

 

Mizerman

 

p.s. I urge all of you to find the videos that the Detroit Free Press posted and watch all of them in their entirety

[+mayorherb]

Why were they questioning a 13 year old without a legal guardian present?

 

The Three Stooges do some seriously underhanded and illegal crap.

 

Glad to see the family got a settelment from West Bloomfield and they are going after Oakland County next.

 

I'm not "clicking my heels and saluting" the Nazi's and Gestapos who run things in Oakland County.

 

 

Mizerman

 

p.s. I urge all of you to find the videos that the Detroit Free Press posted and watch all of them in their entirety

I had got in trouble once. They interagated my 5 year old for hours, Then used what ever she said as evidence against me in court..With out a search warrant here or any wheres..But hey court appointed Lawyers , Right?