Custodial dad acquitted of sexually abusing 10-year-old daughter, even though he's guilty of beating her (Multnomah County, Oregon)

Outrageous! Increasingly, we see that laws and the legal system are tilting in favor of sexual abusers, molester daddies, and assorted pedophiles of all stripes.

Dad AARON ANTHONY FLORES was acquitted of sexual abuse charges because Judge Leslie Roberts decided to privilege the word of a CONVICTED CHILD BEATER/RELIGIOUS NUTCASE over the word of a 10-year-old female child. Even though the father initially lied about the beating to the police, a beating that had photographic evidence gathered by official investigators. Oh yea, that's a lot of paternal credibility.

Not only that, notice that NO CHILD ABUSE EXPERTS WERE ALLOWED TO TESTIFY either. Nobody that could explain or elaborate upon the child's testimony. Nope, any experts in this case were silenced by the Oregon Supreme Court.

And all that Daddy got for the beating was three years probation. And he won't even have to put up with annoying (and largely useless) anger management classes either.

Notice that this was also a CUSTODIAL FATHER, since there is reference to the little girl now preferring to live with her mother in "a household free of strict rules" (read: a household where she was with a nurturing mother--as nature intended--and where she wasn't being beaten or molested). Which leads to the great unanswered question here: Who gave Daddy custody and why? Of course, there is no attempt to answer that here.

Have no doubts that requiring a child's testimony in these matters--as opposed to the testimony of police, social workers, doctors, or social workers--is a direct impact of fathers rights lobbying and general political influence. Refusing to believe the allegations of timid, frightened, and traumatized children--while blindly adopting the denials of fathers--is also a direct impact of the fathers rights movement. As is refusing to believe the allegations of protective mothers or other family members regarding the sexual abuse of children. In fact, protective family members are routinely smeared as mentally ill "alienators" these days, and swiftly stripped of custody or even visitation rights.

What's done is done. Here is the truly scary part. After molester daddy finishes his three years of probation, HE CAN REFILE FOR CUSTODY OF HIS DAUGHTER.

This is called "grow your own victims," folks. How daddies can now grow their own sexual victims, and almost nobody can intervene.

And explain to me again how poor daddies are oppressed by the legal system?

Hat tip to Denom Shi.

http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2011/01/portland_child_sex_abuse_trial.html

Portland child sex abuse trial comes down to the word of 10-year-old against her father's
Published: Friday, January 28, 2011, 6:30 PM Updated: Friday, January 28, 2011, 7:48 PM
By Aimee Green, The Oregonian

The 10-year-old wasn't allowed to cut her hair. She had to wear long sleeves and skirts down to her ankles, even while swimming. She had to attend her father's Pentecostal church three times a week.

But worse, the girl testified earlier this month in Multnomah County Circuit Court, her father beat her with a board after she allowed her aunt to trim her hair. Investigators photographed the bruises.

In a soft, timid voice, the girl also said her father had repeatedly put his hands down her underpants at night.

A doctor found no physical evidence of sexual abuse, which is often the case. The defense attorney contended the girl made up the story because she wanted to live with her mother in a household free of strict rules. No child-abuse experts were allowed to testify that they believed she had been the victim of sexual abuse.

It was the 10-year-old's word alone.

After a three-day trial, Judge Leslie Roberts acquitted the girl's father, Aaron Anthony Flores, of all 10 counts of unlawful sexual penetration and sexual abuse, saying she had reasonable doubt about the girl's testimony. But the judge did find the 29-year-old Northeast Portland man guilty of beating his daughter and sentenced him to three years of probation.

The case illustrates how the ground has shifted in child sexual abuse prosecutions. High court rulings in recent years have made it more difficult to get convictions and have put a greater burden on children making accusations.

A 2004 U.S. Supreme Court ruling made children's testimony a necessity. Before the ruling in Crawford v. Washington, prosecutors could sometimes convict child molesters based solely on testimony from police officers, social workers or doctors, who would relay statements that a child had made about being abused.

Many cases don't get prosecuted, according to prosecutors, because many children are overcome with embarrassment or are too afraid to sit in a room with the trusted adult who abused them. Others are too young to clearly tell what happened, especially in the intimidating setting of a courtroom.

Oregon Supreme Court rulings in 2009 and 2010 have prevented prosecutors from calling on the testimony of child-abuse experts, who could back up the testimony of a child despite the lack of physical evidence. The court ruled that hearing an expert's opinion -- absent physical evidence of abuse -- "does not tell the jury anything that it could not have determined on its own."

While prosecutors say the state and U.S. court rulings amount to more hurdles, defense attorneys say the rulings have helped level an uneven playing field for those accused of one of society's most egregious crimes.

"There's so much prejudice that goes along with that type of allegation," said Karla Nash, a Deschutes County attorney who defended Kermit Southard, whose appeal spurred one of the Oregon Supreme Court's landmark decisions. "A lot of the time it feels like (we're) trying to prove someone's innocence," Nash said, rather than prosecutors trying to prove an alleged molester's guilt.

The stakes are huge.

Oregon's version of Jessica's Law, requires defendants convicted of raping, sodomizing or sexually penetrating a child under 12 must serve at least 25 years -- although they could be sentenced to double or triple that under multiple charges. Defense attorneys say the threat of such sentences puts pressure on defendants to take a plea bargain regardless of whether they are guilty.

Earlier this month in Multnomah County Circuit Court, defense attorney Ronald Fishback pressed the girl to admit that she conjured up the stories of physical and sexual abuse because she hated her father.

Immediately after the 10-year-old showed her mother and step-grandmother the bruises, they called Portland police.

Her father was booked into jail on accusations of criminal mistreatment but was released later that day because of jail crowding. Fishback said when the girl learned this, she claimed she'd been sexually abused so her dad would go back to jail.

Fishback also argued that the girl's story was riddled with inconsistencies.

Prosecutor Nathan Vasquez said the girl was always consistent about the core details of what happened. She told police, child-abuse interviewers and the judge alike that she had been beaten with the board and that her father had sexually penetrated her. When the judge said the girl didn't use specific enough terminology to describe where she was touched, the prosecutor disagreed.

"You have a child who is trying to come forward, and in the best way she can, trying to tell you about the way she was sexually abused," Vasquez said.

Flores was the one who was inconsistent, Vasquez said. When police confronted him about the beating, he denied it. "It is Mr. Flores who can look a police officer in the face and lie to him over and over again about a very apparent beating of a child."

Vasquez contended the girl rightfully wanted to get out of "her father's house of fear" because she'd been battered and molested. He said the girl didn't immediately tell a trusted adult about being molested because it often takes children time to feel comfortable enough talking about something so horrible.

Under Fishback's questioning, however, she admitted that she was enjoying the perks of living with her mother, now that her father was in trouble with the law.

"I noticed that now you have some nail polish on your fingers?" Fishback asked.

"Um-hmm," she said.

"And you have pierced ears with earrings?" Fishback asked.

"Yes," the girl said. "I am very excited. I finally get to be a kid."

Experts had diagnosed the girl as a sex-abuse victim because she was able to tell a narrative, offered consistent details and she didn't appear to be coached by an adult urging her to make up a story. The girl's counselor also wasn't allowed to testify during trial that she diagnosed the girl with post traumatic stress disorder from physical and sexual abuse.

After a few hours of consideration, Roberts, the judge, said she's convinced Flores beat his daughter with the board, but she was not convinced to "a moral certainty" that the sexual abuse charges were true.

Roberts said she saw inconsistencies in the girl's story and was troubled by them. Roberts noted the girl told child-abuse interviewers she had been forced to clean the toilet after the beating, but she didn't mention that on the stand. The judge also said the girl testified that her head had been held under water but had not told interviewers.

After the judge announced her verdict, the girl cried.

Vasquez, the prosecutor, told the girl she was courageous for speaking out. And that because she spoke out, she was living in a safe place now.

Delivering such news "really, absolutely, is the hardest part of my job," Vasquez said.

At his sentencing last week, Flores said he was relieved the ordeal was over. He apologized for "spanking" his daughter, and said he loved her very much. He said the girl's mother had conspired against him to destroy his reputation.

"My daughter is not the only victim in this case," Flores said. "...I feel I was unjustly incarcerated for three months" before trial.

The prosecutor asked the judge to sentence Flores to anger-management classes and a mental-health evaluation, but the judge declined.

The judge, however, followed the prosecutor's recommendation to sentence Flores to parenting classes. Although Flores won't be allowed to see his daughter during his three years of probation, he could seek custody after that. Flores also hopes to have a baby with his new wife.


-- Aimee Green