Some officials are now doubting the guilt of the five youths in the Central Park Jogger case. Journalist Jim Dywer has details of the current re-investigation into the crime in today's New York Times.

Dwyer says interviews with two of the five youths, Mr. Richardson and Mr. Santana, had a "powerful impact on the people investigating the attack." The investigators are working for the District Attorney's office.

The Distict Attorney's office "declined to comment on the inquiry yesterday, but it is clear that the prosecution spent a great deal of energy on reviewing the case. All the evidence still available has been re-examined using advanced DNA testing, and none of it links the five men to the crime. At the trial, the prosecution had argued that hairs found on Mr. Richardson's clothes came from the jogger. Recent DNA tests show that claim to be wrong. "

Jim Dwyer is also the co-author, along with Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld, of the book Actual Innocence.

Life is getting more difficult for Madelyne Toogood daily.

Police in Indiana have charged the mom in the videotape beating her young child with giving false addresses

"Authorities say Toogood gave them addresses for commercial mailbox businesses in Mishawaka, Elkhart and Fort Worth, Texas."

"Toogood has said she and her husband belong to the nomadic group Irish Travelers, but have been living in Mishawaka for about six months. Bond on the new charge was set at $2,000. A conviction is punishable by a maximum six months in jail or a $1,000 fine. "

We watched the ABC News Prime Time special report tonight on the Central Park Jogger. We are very troubled by retired lead officer' Bert Arroyo's statements which we think are clearly belied by the record. There is no evidence to support the theory that more than one person raped the jogger. Yet Arroyo clings to this theory and says that the five boys raped the jogger and left her for dead before Matias comes along and finds her, and then rapes her again.

Arroyo says the boys were not questioned without their families. He points to the parents signatures on their statements. But the boys were taken to the scene of the crime by police before making their videotaped statements. Arroyo sees nothing wrong with this. We're supposed to believe that while the police and the boys were alone in the car (no family or lawyers) driving to and from the scene of the crime, and while at the scene, there was silence? We think it probable (as did the false confession experts on the show) that while at the scene of the crime the police fed details of the crime to the youths who were then brought back to the stationhouse to have their statements videotaped in the presence of their families.

The family members say they had been at the stationhouse for hours trying to speak with them and kept waiting. While they were kept waiting, unbeknownst to them, the police were already questioning the boys and engaging in coercive, manipulative and lying tactics (which courts allow) to get them to confess. And contrary to Arroyo's statements on the show, the boys were led to believe if they confessed they would get to go home.

If anyone on the show lacked credibility to us, it was Arroyo, not the five youths, not their families and not Matias.

The only evidence to support a rape charge against these five boys was their statements. Only only one person's semen was recovered and DNA has proven it was that of Matias who has now confessed. Forensic Expert Michael Baden stated on the show there were either no vaginal tears or one slight one, and the injuries and physical evidence were far more consistent with there being one rapist as opposed to many. The five youths had no blood on their clothing. No other phyiscal evidence linked them to the crime. The one hair found on the sweatshirt of one of the boy's was identified at his trial as belonging to the victim. Yet later DNA testing has shown this to be false. All gave different statements about who did what to whom-- none of their stories matched.

But that's our opinion. For an opinion of one who studied the trial evidence closely, and came to the conclusion that Prosecutor Linda Fairstein (barely mentioned, if at all, in the ABC News special) and the police tricked and manipulated false confessions from the youths, and improperly kept friends and family members from contact with one of them, we are reprinting the 1993 dissenting opinion of Judge J. Titone in the appeal of one of the youths, Yusef Salaam. The majority of the appeals court upheld Yusef's conviction and did not find his confession false. But the majority doesn't go into the facts much, saying its unnecessary because everyone knows them so well, and Judge Titone does. We think reading it brings out much more than the ABC show about what really happened at the police station.

Many other blogs have had discussions on the recent developments in the Central Park Jogger case. Here are a few we've noticed:

Burst of Light
Body and Soul
Sideshow
Uppity Negro
Mark Klieman

And taking the position of skeptic (as to the innocence of the five convicted youths who say their confessions were false and coerced) is Tom over at JustOneMinute.

In 1997 there was a movie about the Irish Travellers called "The Travellers."

"Modern-day Celtic gypsies/con artists run scams, fall in love and get in big-time trouble. Lots of charm, although the seams are showing. With Bill Paxton, Mark Wahlberg, James Gammon, Julianna Margulies, Luke Askew. Written by Jim McGlynn. Directed by Jack Green." (From Yahoo's movie page.)

You can read a review of the movie here.

The Central Park Jogger case is receiving lots of attention today as ABC prepares to air an interview with the man who recently confessed to the crime and said he acted alone on Prime Time Live tonight.

Here is a thorough article on the case by ABC News which includes detailed portions of the interviews from tonight's show.

To add to Ibidem's discussion (found via Instapundit) on writings about the Irish Travellers, there is some serious research out there, but first, some recent events:

According to the London Times, Irish Times and Express Newspapers (August 1 - 4, 2002) there has been an ongoing battle between the publicans (pub owners) in Ireland and the Irish Travellers. In July, the publicans threatened to ban the Travellers from pubs across the country, in violation of Irish equality laws. The Travellers protested strongly. The threat was ultimately lifted. But from the news coverage in these newspapers, it appears there is strong prejudice against the Travellers in Ireland. Thomas McCann, Equality Officer of the Irish Travellers' Movement, charged in the August 2 Expess News that publicans had traditionally discriminated against travellers as part of "a history of racism in Irish society".

A leader of the largest pub owners union called the Travellers "terrorists" in the same August 2 edition of Express and said he would go to jail rather than honor the equality law which in his view amounted to "state-supported terrorism."

In the July 7 Sunday Tribune it is reported that:

"In 2001, there were 1,747 enquiries under the Equal Status Act 2000, 435 of which were in relation to the rights of travellers to take cases, representing the greatest majority of enquiries. Some 350 of these related to access to a pub or nightclub.

1. In McDonagh v The Castle Inn the publican admitted to operating a quota system whereby no more than five travellers were served at the one time. This quota did not exist for settled people.

2. In Bernard, Richard and Thomas Joyce v Liz Delaney's Pub, the publican admitted that a "judgement call" is usually made at the door to admit someone or not. If they are not happy about a person's "form" or "attitude", they say they use the "regulars only" excuse to refuse entry. At the hearing, the claimants produced a person who wasn't a member of the traveller community who claimed he had never before been in the pub, yet had no difficulty gaining access to the pub shortly after the claimants had been refused for the third time. The Equality Officer found on the basis of this that the publican did not enforce a "regulars only" policy but used this as an excuse for refusing access to those whom they didn't want on the premises. "

So how many travellers are there in Ireland and what do they do? Martin Collins, Assistant Director of the Pavee Point Travellers' Centre said in the August 1, 2002 Irish Times:

"There are 30,000 Irish Travellers living in Ireland. Travellers live in a range of accommodation including housing, group housing, halting sites and on the side of the road. They work in a variety of jobs, although most have to hide their Traveller identity to get a job or, indeed, keep it. "

"Some Travellers are self-employed, some work in the building trade, some work in the service industry, some study at 3rd level institutions while others are married and looking after their families. "

"Travellers are different from settled people because Travellers have a different ancestry, a different history, different traditions and customs, a different language and a different way of looking at the world."

As to accounts of the Travellers in America, we found one very sad item in the Fort Worth Star Telegram, December 31, 2000:

"Jan. 2 - Five young cousins are killed in an accident on Interstate 30. Authorities later determine that the victims, all 14 and younger, are children of the Irish Travellers, a nomadic ethnic group that speaks its own dialect and specializes in home improvement and business repair work. "

[all sources are available on lexis-nexis.]

As a followup to the post above about Irish Travellers in the news, if you are looking for serious research on the Irish Travellers, we found these:

The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, June 1, 2002, contains a book review of Irish Travellers: Racism and the Politics of Culture by Jane Helleiner, 274 pp., bibliogr. London, Toronto: Univ. Toronto Press, 2000.

"Helleiner approaches the subject of Irish Travellers from the angle of political economy, paying due respect to the changing historical context through the twentieth century. She confronts and challenges the tired, pervasive assertions, repeated by roving journalists such as Fonseca, that a people with a semi-nomadic past, if not present, and with non-literate traditions, have neither history nor a sense of it...."

"....In some instances, the Travellers have been valued as ancient carriers of Celtic traditions. The dominant society saw them as survivals of the authentic Irish. But the value of Travellers as indigenous is ambiguous; and sometimes viewed as mere dropouts, Travellers faced plans for enforced assimilation, regardless of their own wishes. The Travellers have adopted different strategies to retain some self-determination. Helleiner has scrupulously examined a range of historical archives and local records and traced the shifting interactions between Travellers and the dominant society, detailing how Travellers select local non-Traveller values in specific contexts."

"Travellers, Gypsies, or Roma are not and cannot exist as hermetically sealed minorities. They engage on a daily basis with different members of the non-Gypsy populations. As an anthropologist, Helleiner has engaged in longterm fieldwork. This included co-residence and/or participant observation with Travellers. She attended public meetings and other arenas for interaction between Traveller and non-Traveller, She spent months with numbers of individuals and family clusters, thus gaining some trust. She spoke and understood the Travellers' language(s) and shifting vocabularies. "

"Helleiner provides examples of how some non-Traveller cursory texts provided Irish governmental justification for assimilation policies, still powerful today. Travellers have hitherto been labelled as part of a dysfunctional and dying subculture of poverty, but, against this, Helleiner's scrupulous examination of archival sources, combined with her own ethnography, demonstrates considerable continuities in Traveller practices. There are wonderful accounts of work patterns, many of which are overlooked or undervalued by the dominant society. The Travellers' ever-ingenious role in recycling brings yet new surprises."

"This outstanding anthropological monograph instructs us in similarities and differences among Travellers and groups known as Gypsies or Roma beyond regional and national borders. It supersedes all previous work on Irish Travellers and should be a standard text in the field."

Another serious work on the Irish Travellers is Ethnicity and history: the Irish traveller in Irish writing, by Mary Burke of Queen's University Belfast.

[all sources are available on lexis-nexis.]

From today's Washington Post: INS Officers Charged in Immigrant's Death --another case of police brutality.

"In an early morning raid in March 2001, federal agents burst into a house northwest of Houston, arrested 20 illegal immigrants and beat one of them, Serafin Olvera-Carrera, to the point of paralysis. Olvera was never able to speak again, and he died of his injuries 11 months later."

"Today, three of the agents, all from the Immigration and Naturalization Service, were charged with violating the civil rights of Olvera, a father of five who had been in the country a decade legally before allowing his immigration status to lapse just before the raid."

"The indictment, filed in U.S. District Court in Houston, charges one of the INS officers, Carlos Reyna, with giving Olvera a beating that apparently caused a traumatic injury to his spinal cord. Another officer, Richard Gonzales, was charged with dousing him with pepper spray. Both of those agents as well as a third, Louis Gomez, were charged with denying him medical care. All the agents were based in the San Antonio INS office. If convicted, the agents face a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000."

The New York Times criticizes the gag order aspect of the Louima/Schwarz plea deal in its editorial today, An End to the Louima Case.

"An unfortunate aspect of last weekend's deal is the gag order attached to it. The prosecutors, Mr. Schwarz, his wife and his lawyers are barred from talking publicly about what happened. That may be satisfactory for the defendant and the prosecutor, but it is not in the public's interest."

We disagree. Silence most definitely is in the public interest. It was clear that Schwarz was never going to admit he was the second cop in the bathroom with Volpe as Volpe attacked Louima. It was equally clear the Government would not abandon its theory Schwarz was that second cop. Louima has said all along he can't positively identify the second cop. Wiese, who Schwarz claims was the second cop in the bathroom with Volpe, isn't talking because he still has (and likely always will have) a fifth amendment privilege on the issue.

As to Justin Volpe, serving 30 years for committing the brutal attack, who in their right mind would believe what he has to say? Especially after the tapes of Volpe talking to his father in jail surfaced at Schwarz' last trial--tapes of Volpe saying he was only testifying for Schwarz because he thought there was something in it for him, like less time.

We think silence is preferable to and far more in the public interest than the alternative--having to listen to ex-cop Schwarz proclaim his innocence and unjust persecution and prosecution until the end of time. Since we're never going to know the real truth, it's fitting that we take away both sides' soapbox.

The Miami Herald reports today that the crack cocaine case pending against Noelle Bush will be a test case in Florida on the issue of drug therapist/patient privilege:

"Eight months after Gov. Jeb Bush begged for the public to respect his daughter's privacy as she grappled with a longtime addiction, Noelle has emerged as the central player in a legal drama more befitting the pages of a law review than The National Enquirer."

"In an Orlando courtroom, a judge will decide this week whether employees of the drug treatment center will have to testify against Bush and help prosecutors put her in prison on felony charges of possessing crack cocaine."

"The case, lawyers on both sides say, marks the first time a judge has been asked whether federal rules guaranteeing confidentiality for drug rehab patients apply when a patient is caught breaking the law during treatment."

"Underlying the case is another simmering question that may never be answered but could haunt the governor as he runs for reelection: Is Noelle Bush enjoying favored treatment? Or, as her lawyer maintains, is she being targeted because she is American ``royalty''?"

An email this morning directed us to the libertarian Culpepper Blog where the writer criticizes Fox News for overplaying the story of Irish Traveler Madeline Gorman TooGood and the videotaped beating of her child.

We disagree and think it is a legitimate story although sure, it's been blown out of proportion. We hope it raises consciousness about child abuse and encourages people to intervene if they witness abuse. Victims of child abuse often become abusers themselves and treatment can be effective in breaking the cycle of violence.

On the other hand, we are also impressed by Ms. TooGood's immediate and total remorse, her acknowledgement that the tape makes her look like a monster, and her stated willingness to go to jail, attend parenting classes and "do whatever it takes" to get her daughter back.

Putting the child in foster home and splitting up the family does not seem to us to be the answer as it will surely traumatize the little girl and her two brothers for a long time to come. Especially when Ms. Toogood's husband and other relatives are willing to care for them pending the outcome of an investigation.

Before calling for Ms. Toogood's head, we should wait until social service officials have concluded their investigation and can offer an opinion as to whether this was a one time occurrence or a pattern of conduct and whether Ms. TooGood constitutes an ongoing threat to her children. Maybe this is a sixty second lapse by an otherwise exemplary mom--the facts aren't out yet.

The arraignment is tomorrow morning. The charge against her carries a maximum of three years in jail. She has the same right to discuss a plea bargain with the prosecutor as every other defendant and should not be criticized if she pleads not guilty tomorrow. Although, we won't be surprised if she pleads guilty tomorrow, throwing herself at the mercy of the Court for sentencing.

A sentence should not be imposed on Ms. TooGood until after the Court has had an opportunity to review a pre-sentence report prepared by professionals who have studied Ms. TooGood and interviewed family members and others who know them and have interacted with them.

So while we disagree with the Culpepper in that we find this is a legitimate story to cover (as opposed to being filler on a slow news weekend,) we also caution that none of us know enough to be calling out the firing squad at this juncture.

Update: Ms. Toogood pleaded not guilty at her hearing today. But tonight her lawyer said she would not contest the beating charge and would throw herself on the mercy of the court for sentencing.

We have cut off the comments feature to this post because there are too many for our bandwidth, sorry.