Police were investigating the alleged rape of Sara Ylen by two men in her home in Lexington, Michigan when her attending physician noticed something odd: her bruises were wiping off clean. She is now being prosecuted for falsely claiming rape and tampering with evidence. The most chilling aspect of the story is that prosecutors convicted a man previously of raping Ylen. It is the role of the prosecutors that needs to be investigated in this bizarre story.
Ylen said that she was taking a nap when she was bound and raped. She went to police eight days after the alleged attack and was seen by Dr. William Starbird. He testified that he cleaned what appeared to be lacerations and bruises on her face with gauze. They wiped off. He then spotted a discarded makeup compact in the examining room.
In 2003, James Grissom was convicted of raping Ylen. He was released after 10 years for a new trial after it was discovered that Ylen had made false allegations of rape in California. Prosecutors never shared that with Grissom’s trial attorney. The prosecutors also prosecuted Grissom despite the fact that there was no evidence, no surveillance video, and no other witnesses supporting Ylen’s claim that in 2002 she was raped in broad daylight in a store parking lot of a Meijer store. Grissom worked there and had a prior sex-related crime. However, Ylen did not go to police for an entire year after the alleged attack. Police arrested Grissom based on the fact that Ylen said that the attacker had a skull tattoo. That was it. He was convicted and even given an enhanced sentence because she claimed that he gave her a sexually transmitted disease.
The rape case propelled Ylen into the spotlight where she was heralded for her bravery insisting that people consider her a “victor” rather than a victim. She was the subject of a newspaper’s award-winning 2003 series about surviving a rape. When she then announced that she had cancer, the public again turned out in droves. She was given gifts and auctions were held to raise money for her. An insurance company paid nearly $100,000 for hospice care. No one seemed to question her claim that she developed cancer from a disease transmitted during the assault.
No one looked closely at these claims. Indeed, her husband divorced her in 2011, after separating in 2007, on the basis that the marriage ‘broke down due to the wife’s complex lies and deceit involving fictitious rapes, kidnappings, pregnancies and illnesses – all attempts to control others by complaining of physical symptoms.”
Then this long history of false statements came crashing down. She was charged with fraud, false pretenses and using a computer to commit a crime.
My concerns however primarily concern the rape conviction and the prosecutor’s failure to look more closely at these claims. The victim was not just late in coming forward, but the virtual absence of supporting evidence should have given a prosecutor pause. You then add the failure to disclose the prior dishonesty. There is no indication of any investigation of the handling of the case by the prosecutors.
The question is whether Grissom will sue in tort for the ten years lost in this case. This recent information could be viewed as tolling the statute of limitations.
Prosecuting false rape claims remains rare. Perhaps the most infamous refusal to charge such a case involved Crystal Gale Mangum, 33, the stripper who falsely accused members of the Duke lacrosse team. She became a national celebrity as activists warned that anything but long criminal sentences would be proof of racism by the prosecutors. Durham D.A. Mike Nifong joined this lynch mob atmosphere despite the absence of forensic evidence to support the claim of rape. When he was removed and the lie was exposed however North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper refused to prosecute Mangum, who ruined the lives of these students and triggered racial tensions in the region. Cooper simply let her walk in a disgraceful but politically expedient decision.
At least Ylen will be prosecuted. However, there needs to be an investigation of the handling of the original rape case by the prosecutors and the police. The prosecution of Ylen will address her own culpability but there are others who facilitated these abuses and lies.
Source: Yahoo
We have had this discussion previously but in the not so distant future MRI’s will be a reliable lie detector.
So called lie detectors do not measure lies. They measure stress and tension, terms borrowed from physics. Both the polygraph and voice stress analyzer are pretty good at measuring stress. However, that is all they measure. The “lie detector” part depends on whether the subject is stressed when they lie. Most psychopaths do not feel any stress when they lie. False negative.
The general population may become stressed for many reasons or no reason. That may create a false positive.
Bottom line: There is no such thing as a “lie detector.”
Gene is correct that lie detectors are not trustworthy.
Because they are not 100% accurate and can be fooled with biofeedback training.
We do have lie detectors. Why do we not use those machines for crime victims where there are not witnesses?
“The court doesn’t exist to give them justice, eh? But to give them a chance at justice.” –Frank Galvin (Paul Newman) from David Mamet’s screenplay, “The Verdict.”
But many chances are wasted.
Fake wounds.
The face wounds prompted the closer look. This was not an observation made in connection with the allegation which resulted in a conviction.
For every…what, 100? 500? 1000? actual rapes, there’s one fraud. It’s hard enough at the best of times for victims (mostly women) to get the cops to listen and act, but incidents like this can only make it harder to get justice.
False rape claims do damage in at least two ways (and probably more):
(1) People who were victimized will find it harder to be listened to and not be accused of faking or being after money (see: Dominique Strauss-Kahn).
(2) Cases like this provide ammo to idiots and wannabe-rapists (the self-described “men’s rights advocates”) who pretend isolated cases represent the majority.
And you can bet the farm there will be at least one attempt somewhere to link this case and the rape perpetrated by Steubenville football players.
Darren,
I agree that the fake wounds should have been a large red flag!
We need an Editor on the blog beyond WordPress. The sentence in the article states that she has been prosecuted for rape.
First paragraph:
“She is now being prosecuted for rape and tampering with evidence. ”
Is She being prosecuted for rape?
Wouldn’t Grissom’s daily confinement be considered a continuing crime for the purposes of the statute of limitations?
To me the prosecutor / police should have tossed out the case as soon as they read the medical report of when the doctor discovered her fake wounds.
I’m not sure the Professor has the story correct. At least from reading the linked yahoo article, it’s not clear that the Grissom prosecutors knew of her prior false rape allegation. The story says Grissom was granted a new trial after authorities learned of the prior false rape allegation. It doesn’t say anything about prosecutors knowing about this prior false allegation at the time Grissom was prosecuted, a pretty big detail if that were the case.
And in other parts of Michigan ….
Supreme Court orders Wayne judge off bench for lying under oath
LANSING — The Michigan Supreme Court today ordered Wayne Family Circuit Judge Deborah Ross Adams removed from office for lying under oath and other transgressions.
In a 5-2 decision, the court said a 180-day suspension recommended by the Judicial Tenure Commission is too lax and Adams, who serves as a family court judge, should be removed from the bench.
“Testifying falsely under oath is antithetical to the role of a judge who is sworn to uphold the law and seek the truth,” said Justice Stephen Markman, who was joined in the majority opinion by Chief Justice Robert Young, Jr. and Justices Mary Beth Kelly, Brian Zahra and David Viviano.
“When a judge testifies falsely under oath, he or she has failed to demonstrate in his or her personal affairs standards of conduct indispensable to a judge of this state and becomes unfit to sit in judgment of others.”
Adams, reached at her Detroit office, said she hadn’t heard about the opinion. “I don’t have any comment,” she said.
….
http://www.freep.com/article/20130619/NEWS02/306190119/Ross-Adams-removal-bench
Welcome to Corporate America court system
Now wait a minute…. Prosecutors not sharing information….. That should be a crime all by itself….. They should do the time as well as lose immunity….. On these facts….. But on another note….
What? A lack of evidence? You don’t say.
http://jonathanturley.org/2013/06/17/the-price-of-silence-supreme-court-rules-that-pre-miranda-silence-can-be-used-against-defendant-to-prove-guilt/
Maybe these prosecutors were just ahead of the curve when it comes to guilt being a matter of merely prosecutorial say so instead of actual evidence.
Not revealing exculpatory evidence should be a felony. In the prosecutor’s office where I worked you were fired..on the spot. That said, the defense should have hired a PI who, if he was good, would have discovered the prior false claim. That shouldn’t have to happen, but a little of this falls on the defense attorney..a little!
Prosecutors have lots of teflon.
Prosecutors need to experience consequences for their abuse/dereliction.