Tonya Craft, a former kindergarten teacher, charged with 22 counts of various sexual offenses involving 3 minor girls, was acquitted today. You may or may not have heard of her. I wrote a post recently about the trial and some of the outrageous antics engaged in by the prosecutors.
She was represented by Demosthenes Lorandos, who apparently has made a habit of successfully defending child sex cases across the country, and who hilariously said at the post-verdict press conference: “I do not lose”.
The media has been all over this trial, bringing it much needed attention. At first, the attention focused on the misbehavior of the prosecutors [see this for some very questionable comments during closing] and later the complete lack of qualification and training of the so-called “child sex experts”.
Twitter was set ablaze today as the jury was deliberating and the tweets of joy were abundant when the verdict was announced. Parties have been planned, interviews being given on the news and Ms. Craft will now fight to regain custody of her children.
All’s well that ends well. But this is not a happy post, nor is it a merely celebratory one. While Ms. Craft has the opportunity to return to her life, there are lessons for all of us. A fellow defense lawyer asked on Twitter: “Who is #tonyacraft and why [is she] any different from all of our other human tragedies?”
She is not. There are hundreds of Tonya Crafts out there in the criminal justice system, every single day, pleading to charges to avoid lengthy sentences or attempting to fight the false allegations and losing.
Any criminal defense lawyer (like yours truly) saw a stream of familiarity in the continuing coverage by news reporters of the direct and cross-examinations of the witnesses. The dissection of the forensic interviews by the defense experts was a veritable checklist of the problems associated with such after-the-fact divining: repeated questions, leading questions, suggestive questions. Pressuring children to answer a certain way; the worst form of confirmation bias. The prosecutors attempting to cast the defendant in general terms as a bad person, a person of loose moral character, thus equating foibles in their character with child molestation.
This. Happens. Every. Day.
Child sex assault allegations are the scariest of them all. The power to believe a child is overwhelming and the fear of disbelieving a child is even greater.
Will the media be there tomorrow when yet another Tonya Craft is hung out to dry by our criminal justice system and our courts that are so quick to label anyone merely accused of such a crime as a heinous monster? Will the public rise up in support every time there is a trial with questionable evidence and even shadier tactics employed by prosecutors and experts?
Or did Tonya Craft get attention because she’s white and she’s a woman?
There’s a well documented disparity between male and female sex offenders and the treatment they receive in our courts. Women are more likely to receive probation and less jail time than men. Women are more likely to have websites created which count down the “hottest” sex offenders.
Men are vilified and universally regarded as creepy and generally guilty.
Imagine if it weren’t Tonya Craft on trial, but Tony Craft. Would there be the same hubbub? Would anyone even bat an eyelid? Would the media’s treatment of the trial have been the same or diametrically opposed?
I don’t mean to demean the victory here, but this is a great opportunity for those who aren’t “in the know” in the system to realize several things:
1. People are falsely accused of crimes
2. Child Sex cases are the most difficult to defend against
3. Prosecutors routinely rely on questionable “experts” to get convictions
4. Just because a man is accused of molesting a child, doesn’t mean he’s guilty.
The next time you get asked to serve on a jury, think long and hard about these things and about Tonya Craft and about the witchhunts that go on every single day in all our courtrooms across the country.
Congratulations Tonya Craft. You board a plane and given an interview to NBC, it is your right. There will be some noise made about grieving the judge and the prosecutors, but if history is any guide, nothing will come of it. The town in Northwestern GA will return to normal and soon this will be talked about as a fairy-tale. But tomorrow, another Tony(a) Craft will be arrested and charged and will go on trial. Will he/she get justice? Will you be there to cover it? Will you know the difference? Will you turn a skeptical eye? Or will you join the mad rush of hysteria that has swept the nation in condemning the despicable child molester?
Your eyes have been opened. Whether to keep them open is up to you.
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The best you’ve done in the three weeks I’ve been reading you.
I hope some eyes are opened, but child sex cases are the nastiest of the nasty, if you ask ‘normal’ people, the accused don’t deserve a chance. Many defense attorneys won’t represent them either, for no reason other than – um, I don’t know. Because its really bad?
Thanks for keeping helping us keep our eyes on the ball. I will bookmark this for later use.
I’m not sure if I was complimented or insulted. Oh well, I’ll take the comment either way.
It was a compliment. It was supposed to say “thanks for helping us keep our eye on the ball” instead of the gibberish I wrote.
Good article. Little towns with only 3 or 4 attorneys see the worst type of justice. More deals are made on the golf course than in the courtroom or in front of the jury. Those that try to bring out what is wrong are labeled as troublemakers.
“1. People are falsely accused of crimes.”
I tell this to my clients and other people who ask me why I do what I do, except I do not add the word “falsely.”
And I add it could be me or you!
It could be – too many times people have gone to bed without the FBI in their house, and woken up with them there. Kiss your wife bye, go to work and end up charged with assault. Alone with a kid and accused of a sex crime. But for the grace of god go I.
You may want to re-write your last paragraph. The use of the word “you” for both Ms. Craft and we, your readers, makes it sound as if you are asking whether Ms. Craft will continue to be vigilant against future cases of hysteria. I know that isn’t what you mean.
Imagine if you were a somewhat sleazy (serial adulterer) congressman and a young, attractive female intern went missing? You think there’d a be a thorough investigation , or would the police & media just jump to conclusions?
Mr. G. thanks for being all over this false arrest and attempt to wrongfully convict Mrs. Craft to the very end. I hope that she happens upon this blog one day and learns that a Public Defender took up her cause.
The sad truth of the matter is that it’s not the end for Mrs. Craft. As ‘victims of the criminal justice system’ we either: live with it for the rest of our lives, or we don’t. I hope that she goes on to study law and considers assisting others in their causes.
Another sad tag to this story, is that in the process of defending herself, it appears that her attorney has bleed her & her family dry. *Note: for the rest of the year, if PNG receives one penny or $1000. in donations I’ll send it straight to you Mr. G. in hopes that you get it to her. How else is she going to study law and help others? Blog on good man and we’ll follow. Thanks.
Pingback: Jury Finds Tonya Craft Not Guilty, Prosecutorial Misconduct By Len Gregor and Chris Arnt And Judicial Misconduct By Brian House Shows Perils Of Child Abuse Cases | Popehat
Thanks, Gideon, for bringing attention to this case.
I thought that the prosecutorial misconduct along with the judge’s lack of impartiality would mislead the jury. I began to think that Ms. Craft would have to rely on an appeal for remedy.
I underestimated the jury system; the jurors saw right through the B.S. that the prosecution was feeding them. Justice was carried out where it should be; at the trial stage.
Ms. Craft will still have a long road ahead of her: She has to reclaim her children, and heal a mother-daughter relationship where so-called experts “implanted” false memories of abuse into her daughter’s mind.
You point out that “Men are vilified and universally regarded as creepy and generally guilty.”
I wouldn’t hesitate to say that the outcome might have been different if the defendant had been a man. There might not even have been a trial: Men usually take a plea because the mere accusation is already deemed a conviction in the mind of the public, media, and unfortunately, many in the justice system. Had it been a Mr. Croft, he would be sittin’ behind bars.
I wasn’t following the case and would have, before reading this post, fallen under the category of people who’d condemn before all proof was sought… but your very eloquent argument did it’s job, it made me think.
You’re doing good here
Thanks,
D
Thanks for this as well as the links. As a guy who lives in the LMJD and who could never even conceptualize a pedofilic encounter but could apparently be easily found in the cross hairs of House, Arnt or Gregor, my breath has been taken away by this case. Their total disregard and blatant manipulation of facts and witnesses was, well, terrifying to this “creepy and generally guilty” father of five.
Questions (s): 1- Why in God’s name are these hoods not accountable for their corrupt behavior? 2- In an era when common people like me know what getting “Nifonged” means, how could they have possibly been so arrogantly stupid in front of what wound up being an international audiance?
In my best Dade County dialect I ask: DUE WHOTT?
So many people are wrongly accused! I really hate when people say “Children don’t lie or make up stories” That is a crock!!! I have met many kids where children of all ages (yes even 5) have told lies because mom or dad would not buy them the toy they wanted and now mom or dad is being accused of some horrible crime. 1 out of 5 kids that are seen in the office where I work are telling the truth. Yes 1 out of 5 tell the truth. No wonder more and more people I meet are afraid to have children. Your life can be destroyed in a blink of an eye. I know many parents that will not allow their children to have sleep overs or have sleep overs now because of cases like this one. It is so sad!
I am so thrilled Ms. Craft was proven NOT guilty. This poor woman’s life is destroyed forever! We need to stand up and help others like Mrs. Craft! How sad a place this world has come to!