Matthew, now 33, was 9 years old at the time. He told a judge he made the allegation after months of insistent questioning by now-retired Clark County sheriff’s detective Sharon Krause just so she would leave him alone.
Tetz, 30, said she doesn’t remember what she told Krause back in 1985, but she remembers Krause buying her ice cream. She said that when she finally read the police reports she was "absolutely sure" the abuse never happened.
"I would have remembered something that graphic, that violent," Tetz said.
Spencer’s sentence was commuted by then-Gov. Gary Locke in 2004 after questions arose about his conviction. Among other problems, prosecutors withheld medical exams that showed no evidence of abuse, even though Krause claimed the abuse was repeated and violent.
Krause declined an interview request from The Columbian in 2005 and could not be reached Friday, the newspaper reported...
Both children said that while growing up in California they were told by their mother, who divorced Spencer before he was charged, that they were blocking out the memory of the abuse.
They said they realized as adults the abuse never happened, and they came forward because it was the right thing to do.
Repressed memories are nonsense.
Children can remember fires they are injured in that resulted in deaths of other family members, they can remember violent car accidents, etc.
Repressed memories are drummed up accusations when they're looking for money, retribution, control, drama and attention.
2 comments:
Repressed memories are likely fiction however codes of silence, dirty secrets, emotional extortion, odd sick dynamics that hinder emotional and spiritual well being are real. The Boston Dioceses still suffers from the later. To withhold fraternal correction from a soul whose salvation is in jeopardy makes the devil giggle.
I'm of the middle ground on the repressed memory BS. I don't 100% dismiss the possibility that some memories can be lost and then remembered. I don't remember a whole lot of my childhood, yet if I get together with siblings and one of them bring something up all of a sudden a flood of related memories come streaming back. Problem is each of us will remember a particular event somewhat differently. Regardless of how silly or mundane the past event we all remember it from our perspective. Beyond that, I firmly believe that old memories can be easily corrupted by the things we've read or the movies/TV we've watched. Especially, movies watched repeatedly (I swear I was there when Zuzu said her teacher told her class that every time a bell rings an angel get his wings). When it comes to these sexual abuse repressed memories there is the added problem of possibility that the memory was suggested by a parent, counselor, law enforcement official, etc. Bottom line, I could not convict anyone based on repressed memory. Part of the old "better a thousand guilty go free than to hang a single innocent man."
Post a Comment