Thresholds of Reporting and Prosecuting

[XLFD]

Thresholds of Reporting

I have found in the few years of existence of the Mason County Press (MCP) that when they cover a story, they usually cover it in a more involved way than the local newspaper, The City of Ludington Daily News (COLDNews).  This typically is due to MCP's usual contributor, Rob Alway, being a better reporter than most anybody the COLDNews has. 

A weakness in Mr. Alway's reporting, however, seems to occur on matters of crime, where he reports in a very real bias in favor of the justice system/police, and against those accused of crimes, even if they eventually get absolved of those crimes.  An earlier case in point, was the accusations against Todd Lane Johnson, a Scottville Girl's Soccer Coach who was alleged to have carried on a long ad intimate relationship with an underage girl.  The MCP reported about it in the early phases, relying on releases from the Mason County Sheriff's Office (MCSO) which were stridently written as to certify Johnson's guilt.   To be sure, the COLDNews also ran with these prejudicial reports. 

On February 1, 2013, MCP's report reads as if it was written by the MCSO, and a follow up article on February 13  indicates the case was dismissed because the accuser failed to show at court.  If you only read the MCP you would have got the impression that Johnson had a romantic relationship for many years with this girl, but had the charges thrown out on a technicality.  What was left out was later brought out by the COLDNews Brian Mulherrin who uncovered the testimony in court of the girl who said she lied, nothing happened between her and Johnson. 

To my knowledge and belief, the MCP has never clarified that the scarlet letters of CSC should not be attached to the innocent Mr. Johnson, just like the sheriff has never retracted his inflammatory words printed on the front page of the COLDNews:   "It (CSC 3rd degree) was ongoing for several years and started when the player was 13.  It did not take place at the school or involve any school activities.  It took place in a home in Amber Township" 

So there should be little surprise that Rob Alway's reporting of the first jury trial of Judge Susan Sniegowski, a two day affair dealing with a CSC charge of an older man with a 15 year old girl wasn't much different.   Ricardo Reyes was mentioned in the MCP for his arraignment on October 20, 2014 for the charges he was brought up for this week in court.  The only other mention is a blurb about the result of the two day trial on March 24th. 

Reading the article has one under the belief that once again, the perp got away with fondling a young girl, for how long who knows.  And that the jury for some reason decided not to believe the girl, since there was no physical evidence.  A lot of questions remain. 

To get the answers, we once again have to turn to the COLDNews court reporter Brian Mulherrin who covered the first and second day of the trial in the written edition of the newspaper.  Unfortunately, this is not reprinted on the E-edition but here is the full article after the second day which explains how the trial proceeded, and justified why a not guilty verdict was reached. 

There wasn't some technicality that got Ric Reyes off, there just wasn't any more proof against him than the words of a 15 year old girl, which seemed to vary and whose motives were in question.  In the end, the jury empaneled with a majority of women could not find any case against Reyes and found him innocent of the charges.

Thresholds of Prosecution

Having read the article, perceptive folks may be aghast about what was reported in this situation from the viewpoint of the prosecution.  After Defense Attorney Ryan Glanville pokes holes through the testimony of both mother and daughter, Prosecution Spaniola tells the jury none of the inconsistencies should matter, as long as the three elements of the charge are satisfied.  The truth is irrelevant, as long as the girl is 15 and she attests he said "c'mon" after the alleged vaguely remembered touch.  "I argue you should believe her testimony beyond a reasonable doubt.  This case is about her word". 

Even when her words are self-contradictory?  After Glanville lays out the various factors that seem to weave a chain of doubt throughout, Spaniola comes back in a rebuttal after noting he does not have a scintilla of physical evidence:  "This case is what it is.  This case is a 15 year old girl who testified under oath that a 50 year old man grabbed her breast, her word alone as this (jury) instruction states , can be enough to convict him."  The jury wasn't believing it, nor based on the merits noted in the article, should they have.

What was there to prosecute in this case?  A claim by a fifteen year old of a fondled breast this one night.  No witnesses or physical proof.  Denials by the alleged perp.  Accusations coming the day after.  Sound motives for the girl and her mother to lie about the event. 

Yet Prosecutor Spaniola went after a fourth degree CSC charge , and a possible two year prison term for Reyes based on the word of a teenager who says she was intimately touched on her chest in an incident in October 2014.  And yet...

That same prosecutor, Mason County Prosecutor Paul Spaniola, was presented with a similar case in December 2014 without much difference.  Let me re-admit what I already presented to the Ludington City Council in January 2015 in my public comment about that incident: 

"In December, I was on a Ludington sidewalk in front of a vacant lot when I was attacked by two black lab dogs.  After fending them off, I was blindsided in an assault and battery by the owner of the two dogs.  I contacted the LPD, made a statement, and the next day they interviewed the assailer.  For the record,no enforcement action was made, even though the dogs were not on a leash off their property and I had marks from the man's assault still on my chest at the time I reported the encounter to the LPD officer."

In this instance, occurring just two months after Mr. Reyes was arrested and jailed for alleged caressing of a breast based only on the word of a 15 year old, Prosecutor Spaniola did not issue a warrant for this, rationalizing that the assailant disputed my claims and there was no physical proof of the crime occurring. 

Sound familiar?  And yet, he goes forth with an alleged non-violent crime on the belief that a 15 year old girl, who he claims in the courtroom is not emotionally mature like a normal girl that age, is truthful, whereas, I suffered damages from the assailant's covert shove, sporting a red mark on my chest from the assault that was clearly visible twenty minutes later to my daughter, and even an hour later after I came home from the LPD, where Officer Jacob Miller didn't even bother to look at the damage.

And I will gladly take any lie detector test and swear until my dying day that the events I described to the LPD officer were true about getting assaulted and battered by someone I had never met before whose only grudge against me was that I kicked his dog in self-defense.  Prosecutor Spaniola does not have to worry about me changing my testimony of the encounter, he only has to punch the gaping holes in the testimony of the assailant, who fabricated a story to save his own bacon and his dogs the next day.

But apparently, there is a shifting threshold our prosecutor has for doing his job.  Which he does poorly.  I have asked for three prosecutions against criminal acts by public officials guilty of worse crimes than what he normally prosecutes, but have only been successful in getting him to libel me in his documents.  My sincere belief is that the prosecutor is stimulated by pursuing sex and drug crime prosecution because of his own repressions within himself.  His lack of character prohibits him from controversially pursuing his fellow officials.

Thresholds of Common Decency

The incapacity of the Mason County Prosecutor and Press to treat everyone fairly should be the concern of everyone in the community.  But it isn't, just an enlightened few; the rest will read the local media and believe the best about them.  But even just before I published this today, I seen the following article on Facebook in my timeline:

Leading one to believe that the mugshot to the left is that of the Scottville man being charged of multiple CSC counts.  How shameful to be featured so prominently in your hometown source for news.  But in the whole article that it is linked to we find that the man pictured is not a sex maniac from Scottville, but someone who broke into a coin-operated device being charged for a felony (see below).  In fact, nobody in the article is alleged to have committed CSC, not even once. 

Mistakes happen, but people that see the Facebook article, who see the Tyler Hotaling's  picture and associate him with serial CSC charges, may just not want to associate, hire, or do business with Mr. Hotaling in the future because of it.  Mr. Hotaling may have committed a criminal act, but why is a respected media source making it look as if he's a much worse monster than he is?

For that matter, why has Prosecutor Spaniola done the same practice with a long list of people that seem to be guiltless, and then prosecute them?  Easy to see are the cases like Ric Reyes and Todd Lane Johnson, who escape the Mason County justice system with just a maligned and scarred reputation; less obvious are the people who are railroaded into copping pleas to avoid the worst case scenario of prison sentences, when they are probably innocent of any crime, such as Joe McAdam and Frederick Lewis, whose cases have both been looked at on the Ludington Torch.

[Willy]

Well done. This is very revealing about Spaniola. He was willing to send a man to prison knowing he may not have been guilty. I am so glad he was not elected as a judge. It's hard to imagine someone twisting and perverting the law as he does only to be elected to the bench and carry out justice in his own unscrupulous manner. At least Mulherin tried to report what really happened. I'm sure Alway made a printing error regarding Hotalling but what an error t was. It's almost like  calling Obama, Osama.

[AQUAMAN]

I'll give Spaniola one thing, he's got everything in common with many local officials, and of course the local media. He never quits, even when he's wrong, and everyone else can see it. It's that condescending attitude of "always right", that must, and always has to prevail, irregardless the consequences to any reputations and publicity. It's almost as if these like Spaniola see themselves walking on clouds, or better yet, water. Physics and even the good book say it can't and shouldn't be done, yet, when all is said and done, these types want it to be anyhow, and will keep pounding that drum until they retire, or better yet, get voted out! When it comes to law, and making the law a pretzel of injustice, no one, but no one outdoes the Ludington crews for making that impossible act a show to remember. Sad and incredible acts of greed and power.

[XLFD]

It all seems to be all about statistics for Spaniola, once he starts a prosecution, he will doggedly pursue it even if the witnesses change their story and the evidence proves exculpatory or meaningless. 

Mulherrin does a good job as a court reporter, a lot better than Kevin Brasiczewski whenever he gets that opportunity.  Rob Alway seems to biased against accused individuals to be reliable in the position of reporting everything that happens whenever that elusive not-guilty verdict is reached.

In Alway's defense for the occasional Facebook blunders I've noticed, his correspondent Allison Scarborough usually puts these up, and if you've ever posted an article with more than one picture on Facebook (like the court report with all those mug shots), it won't necessarily give you the picture you want without reposting.  This could lead to not only painting someone who broke into a vending machine as a repeat CSC offender, but also a potential libel action against the MCP if they are not more careful.  I know I'd be upset if I was Hotalling.

[wildfire]

And Mr. Spaniola gets away again . he must be terrible to live with himself ,or his brain has no feelings for anybody ,but himself .