The Kickham Comment - Boston Criminal Attorney Blog

Convicted rapist William Polk of Dover, Massachusetts, has good reason to be optimistic today, now that the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has granted him a retrial on the statutory rape charges he was convicted of two years ago. Mr. Polk was convicted in February, 2010, on two charges of Massachusetts statutory rape, for allegedly raping a then 15-year-old girl. What was highly unusual in the case was not the questionable testimony involved, but that almost the entire town of Dover actively spoke out in support of Mr. Polk while he was awaiting trial, during his trial, and after his conviction. Indicative of the level of community support he received, after Mr. Polk was indicted and charged, he was not fired from his job as a sports coach – working with high school-age students – in Dover.

After a jury deliberated five days, the jurors returned a guilty verdict. Superior Court judge Janet Sanders sentenced Polk to four to five years in state prison, but his attorney appealed his conviction. The court granted his application for direct appellate review, and this week ruled that defense testimony was improperly excluded by Judge Sanders, ordering a retrial.

Court documents reveal that there was an exclusion of evidence at the trial two years ago, indicating prejudicial error in the process. That evidence pertained to the expert testimony of a licensed psychologist, Dr. Daniel Brown, and the victim’s biological mother. Dr. Brown’s testimony, for example, would have revealed that he believed that the alleged victim had a psychological condition known as “dissociative amnesia,” and thus, could have fabricated or distorted her allegations against Polk. But Judge Sanders ruled, in favor of the prosecution, that Dr. Brown wasn’t allowed to give his testimony in the Norfolk Superior Court trial. At the time of the trial, Judge Sanders ruled that Dr. Brown’s opinion was speculative.

Call this one the April Fool’s Joke that no one thought funny.

It was all about Massachusetts rape, Massachusetts prostitution, and Massachusetts date rape, involving fairytale characters.

It seems that the editor of the Boston University Daily Free Press newspaper – who interestingly enough, is a woman – thought it would be hilarious to feature a special April Fool’s edition that made light of Massachusetts rape on campus. The editor, one Chelsea Diana, had a top story about seven dwarves who sexually assaulted a student, and included a picture of Snow White drinking a cocktail spiked with a Massachusetts date-rape drug.

It’s often said that “time heals all wounds.” That may be true in many areas of life, but often not when it comes to sexual assault and rape. Nothing proved that more than the sex abuse scandal within the Roman Catholic church, which was finally forced to face justice (civil justice, at least,) for sexual abuse that it hid decades into the past.

Another example of how time doesn’t necessarily heal all wounds of this type became apparent yesterday, when Governor Deval Patrick‘s office announced the suspension of the head of the Massachusetts National Guard, over allegations that he raped a woman 28 years ago, in 1984. Joseph C. Carter, Adjutant General of the Massachusetts National Guard was placed on administrative leave with pay pending the investigation of allegations that he raped a female subordinate while he and the woman were on a training mission to Florida with a military police unit. Ironically, the woman’s allegations were investigated several months following the alleged sexual assault. The investigating officer at the time reportedly advised the victim, a Ms. Susan Pelletier, to report the matter to civilian police, but she declined out of fear of retaliation by Carter, she says. Instead of reporting the allegations to civilian police, she has stated that she requested a transfer to a different unit, and, when her request was rejected, she said she stopped reporting for duty. Consequently, she says, she was dishonorably discharged from the National Guard, at age 23. This is where the plot thickens.

Pelletier says that she changed her mind about the Guard several months later, and asked to be reinstated, citing the alleged attack as the reason she went AWOL. This prompted Guard officials to launch an investigation, and a Guard lawyer by the name of Lt. Colonel Mark Murray was assigned to investigate. After investigation, Murray reportedly advised Pelletier to report the allegations to civilian police. She declined due to the fear of retaliation she said she felt from Carter. The matter seemed to die a natural death (or death by inattention.)