Article “VERDICT: Jury convinced from start of deliberations that E-town man wasn’t guilty”, goes on to report
“Beyer suggested that the girl’s mother and her former boyfriend tried to frame [Dane] Winey.
“Text messages allegedly sent by the boyfriend to a woman acquaintance of the girl prove that, Beyer argued.
“ ‘Those text messages, according to Beyer, said:
“ ‘(Winey’s) out on a quarter-million bail because I had (the girl) say he molested her.”
“The boyfriend later wrote in a text, according to Beyer:
“ ‘Texts don’t mean (expletive) in court. I could just say my phone was stolen.”
“Those text messages were presented to the jury earlier in the trial, according to court officials.”
EDITOR: First of all, we are always nervous about the law’s willingness to accept the otherwise unsubstantiated accusation of an alleged victim as grounds for conviction in many circumstances.
Secondly, testimony of children is always suspect since they can be unduly influenced by parents or guardians and also have a difficulty distinguishing facts from fantasy.
Lastly, in this case, the D. A. knew about the texts. No wonder the jury unanimously was for acquittal from the outset.
Why was this case brought to trial? It seems to be an injustice fo Winey and waste of tax payer money.
