Special Prosecution - Gilmer, Texas
Jan 01, 1994OUTCOME: All charges dismissed.
I was appointed special prosecutor to intervene in a case in Gilmer, Texas in which seven defendants, including a police officer, were indicted for capital murder, aggravated kidnapping, and aggravated ... sexual assault rising out of the disappearance of a local Gilmer, Texas teenager. I took over the case, re-investigated, and re-presented the case to the same grand jury that returned the original indictments. The investigation revealed, without question, that the seven indicted had nothing to do with the disappearance of the teenager and were, in fact, innocent. It was a very controversial case as it involved alleged ritual satanic child sexual abuse. None of it was true. The case demonstrated powerfully to me, even as a prosecutor, how badly the system can go wrong and ruin lives when attorneys and investigators on both sides of the bar do not do their jobs properly. The case was the subject of a two-hour special on "Dateline NBC" called "A Touch of Evil" and was covered heavily by the Dallas Morning News and other national media.