Written by WHO’S TO BLAME?
Following a well-publicized, scandalous two-year legal ordeal, the people of the city of Marion are engaged in the usual finger pointing that follows in the wake of such incidents.
Despite losing his job and suffering a severe loss of reputation in the community, former Democratic City Councilman Ayers Ratliff was found not guilty on charges of rape, abduction, and several counts of gross sexual imposition following a jury trial that concluded on February 4th.
It was a real-life nightmare.
But who’s to blame?
Many people, including Mr. Ratliff, are putting the blame on Marion County Prosecutor Ray Grogan. To them, Grogan had a political axe to grind with Ratliff and would stop at nothing to see that Ratliff was destroyed.
These folks point to the circus that ensued immediately after Ratliff was arrested. The Columbus news stations were tipped off, and Mr. Grogan delivered an overly confident and condemning video press release right away.
They call into question the investigation itself, how Ratliff was treated by law enforcement while detained, how the grand juries were conducted, how the accuser subsequently recanted, and how the charges were originally dismissed without prejudice only to be refiled after Mr. Ratliff filed a civil suit against them.
And then there was the trial itself.
Lasting two weeks, no DNA evidence linking Mr. Ratliff to the alleged victim was presented by the prosecution and there were significant questions raised about the testimony of the state’s key witness, the Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner who conducted the Sexual Assault Forensic Exam. Shockingly, after Mr. Ratliff took the stand in his defense, Mr. Grogan and the prosecution declined to cross examine him–something that is almost unheard of when it comes to criminal trials of this magnitude.
Taken as a whole, it’s difficult argue with these folks who see this as a politically inspired vendetta and the personification of prosecutorial misconduct against a political foe.
That being said, we never hear these same folks direct blame at the person responsible for all this madness in the first place: Ratliff’s 13-year-old daughter.
I’m sure that there are people reading this who just gasped and clutched pearls.
I get it. She’s a troubled teenage girl and we try not to blame children for their mistakes.
It’s tragic.
Nevertheless, it is 100% factual to point out that had she not lied and made up a horrible story about how her father raped her, Ayers Ratliff would never have been charged in the first place.
The moment she recanted, she no longer was a victim. She became the guilty party.
In this era of “Me Too,” a female accuser’s word must be taken as gospel–regardless of what the evidence may or may not indicate.
All of the accused in such cases are improperly presumed guilty until proven innocent in a court of law and in a court of public opinion, contrary to the legal custom that used to exist in this country whereby the accused is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
This girl said that her father raped her. As such, police, healthcare providers, and prosecutors had a duty to take her at her word.
But she recanted later and admitted that nothing happened!
That’s true, but how should that be handled in this era of Me Too? She is, after all, a female and a minor who is still living under the power and influence of her parents.
Should Mr. Grogan have dropped the investigation and all charges as soon as she admitted that she lied?
Had he done that, what would the public have said?
“Looks like the good ole boys are protecting their own!”
“I bet if he wasn’t a councilman, they wouldn’t have dropped the charges!”
“They must have threatened that poor girl into changing her story!”
Suffice it to say, there would have been a lot of criticism directed at law enforcement and the prosecution had the charges been dropped at that time.
So, perhaps, the only course of action for prosecutors in this Me Too era was to see the case all the way to its dysfunctional and unjust end. Present what they had–even if it meant refiling charges– and let the jury decide, that way nobody could accuse them of doing wrong to this poor girl.
This was a horrible injustice. But don’t forget who’s to blame.