A couple of weeks ago, a well dressed young woman walked into a courtroom in Utah. She seemingly walked with an air of confidence, with her mother in tow, as they strolled into their assigned courtroom. There was little evidence, based on her personal appearance, of the nightmare that she was about to share. This young woman’s name was Elizabeth Smart.
And the story that Elizabeth would share was not the story of a confident young woman, but of a scared little girl who had been kidnapped from her home as she slept on June 5, 2002. On that night, Brian David Mitchell removed Elizabeth from her home, at knifepoint, and her life would never be the same. Over the next months Elizabeth would be raped, sexually assaulted, and abused in ways that any adult, much less a child should ever have to endure.
Now, some seven years later, Elizabeth sits in a courtroom full of strangers, telling her story (again) as the court tries to decide if this worthless piece of mankind is mentally fit to stand trial for the crimes that he committed. Never mind the fact that she not only had to be subjected to the crimes when they occurred, she has to continue for this to be the centerpiece of her life seven years later. While she has proved to have tremendous resiliency, by going on with her life and attending college, she knows full well that on any given day she could be forced to return to the night that all of this began. All based on a system that tries so hard to ensure a fair and just proceeding to the accused, that we are still trying to provide that atmosphere to Mitchell seven years later. As for Smart, certainly everyone is aware of the damage that she has endured, but none of those concerns can be allowed to circumvent Mitchell’s rights to fairness.
This case is a prime example of how quickly a victim can become a mere pawn of a system that supposedly is in place to protect us. Not only have we allowed this creature to avoid his eventual fate, but we forced the victim to be kept from hers. So much can change in the dynamics and demeanor of a prolonged case, that they can become weakened by no fault of the victim. There have been cases of sexual molestation to children, whereby the trial occurs at a much later date, and the natural maturity of the child is used against them. It is much more compelling, albeit painful evidence to have a child testify to those acts that have occurred. Testimony in their own innocent and childlike wording that leaves no doubt about the crimes that have been committed. When that same victim, who is now an adult, testifies about the case, the evidence does not change, but the impression on the jury sometimes does. Defense attorneys are well aware of this phenomenon and have continually tried to play this to their favor.
In some cases, video interviews of when the victim was a child are allowed to be played to the jury but in other cases they are not allowed. If that memorialization of the child’s description of what occurred is not allowed, we should demand that these trials occur in a time manner that is not only fair for the defendant, but fair for the victim as well. As quickly as laws are written to protect children, you can believe that there is a counter law being written that will attempt to circumvent those provisions that can cause damage to the case of a defendant.
In the mean time, we must do all that we can, as parents, citizens, and potential jurors to look past whatever figure that the court may place in front of us as we attempt to hand out justice. The figure that we might see may be a well dressed young woman, or young man, who is well spoken and confident of themselves. What we must see beyond that is a frightened child, who by no fault of their own has been submitted to horrific acts at a time where innocence should be their only demeanor. We must be careful not to let the voices that we hear deceive us. Not the voices from the defense, not the voices from the sometimes illogical interpretation of law, and not the voices that we hear from the victims in purposely delayed trials.
These are truly situations where we must allow our senses to prevail as we realize fully, that we may be hearing the verbal enunciations of someone who is now an adult, but we are witnessing the imposed silence of someone who is no longer able to speak in a voice of innocence and child hood as it has been abruptly stolen away in the middle of the night. We must insist that all of these voices be quieted by the one voice that cannot be muffled out. This is the voice of victims, the voice of ramifications, and the voice of true justice.
If you are interested in having Stan speak at your next group event, please send your request to shallbadgenotes@aol.com.
A couple of weeks ago, a well dressed young woman walked into a courtroom in Utah. She seemingly walked with an air of confidence, with her mother in tow, as they strolled into their assigned courtroom. There was little evidence, based on her personal appearance, of the nightmare that she was about to share. This young woman’s name was Elizabeth Smart.
And the story that Elizabeth would share was not the story of a confident young woman, but of a scared little girl who had been kidnapped from her home as she slept on June 5, 2002. On that night, Brian David Mitchell removed Elizabeth from her home, at knifepoint, and her life would never be the same. Over the next months Elizabeth would be raped, sexually assaulted, and abused in ways that any adult, much less a child should ever have to endure.
Now, some seven years later, Elizabeth sits in a courtroom full of strangers, telling her story (again) as the court tries to decide if this worthless piece of mankind is mentally fit to stand trial for the crimes that he committed. Never mind the fact that she not only had to be subjected to the crimes when they occurred, she has to continue for this to be the centerpiece of her life seven years later. While she has proved to have tremendous resiliency, by going on with her life and attending college, she knows full well that on any given day she could be forced to return to the night that all of this began. All based on a system that tries so hard to ensure a fair and just proceeding to the accused, that we are still trying to provide that atmosphere to Mitchell seven years later. As for Smart, certainly everyone is aware of the damage that she has endured, but none of those concerns can be allowed to circumvent Mitchell’s rights to fairness.
This case is a prime example of how quickly a victim can become a mere pawn of a system that supposedly is in place to protect us. Not only have we allowed this creature to avoid his eventual fate, but we forced the victim to be kept from hers. So much can change in the dynamics and demeanor of a prolonged case, that they can become weakened by no fault of the victim. There have been cases of sexual molestation to children, whereby the trial occurs at a much later date, and the natural maturity of the child is used against them. It is much more compelling, albeit painful evidence to have a child testify to those acts that have occurred. Testimony in their own innocent and childlike wording that leaves no doubt about the crimes that have been committed. When that same victim, who is now an adult, testifies about the case, the evidence does not change, but the impression on the jury sometimes does. Defense attorneys are well aware of this phenomenon and have continually tried to play this to their favor.
In some cases, video interviews of when the victim was a child are allowed to be played to the jury but in other cases they are not allowed. If that memorialization of the child’s description of what occurred is not allowed, we should demand that these trials occur in a time manner that is not only fair for the defendant, but fair for the victim as well. As quickly as laws are written to protect children, you can believe that there is a counter law being written that will attempt to circumvent those provisions that can cause damage to the case of a defendant.
In the mean time, we must do all that we can, as parents, citizens, and potential jurors to look past whatever figure that the court may place in front of us as we attempt to hand out justice. The figure that we might see may be a well dressed young woman, or young man, who is well spoken and confident of themselves. What we must see beyond that is a frightened child, who by no fault of their own has been submitted to horrific acts at a time where innocence should be their only demeanor. We must be careful not to let the voices that we hear deceive us. Not the voices from the defense, not the voices from the sometimes illogical interpretation of law, and not the voices that we hear from the victims in purposely delayed trials.
These are truly situations where we must allow our senses to prevail as we realize fully, that we may be hearing the verbal enunciations of someone who is now an adult, but we are witnessing the imposed silence of someone who is no longer able to speak in a voice of innocence and child hood as it has been abruptly stolen away in the middle of the night. We must insist that all of these voices be quieted by the one voice that cannot be muffled out. This is the voice of victims, the voice of ramifications, and the voice of true justice.
If you are interested in having Stan speak at your next group event, please send your request to shallbadgenotes@aol.com.
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Posted: Tuesday, October 13th 2009 at 10:11am
