Boston Criminal Lawyer Blog
Fritz Olmande, 50, hereinafter the “Defendant” ended his week as a convicted Massachusetts sex offender.
The Defendant was found guilty of the repeated Jamaica Plain, MA, rape of a girl over the period of 3 years when she was between 5 and 7 years old.
According to the Commonwealth, the Defendant had access to the girl because he often spent the night at the victim’s home because he was romantically involved with a family member of the victim.
According to the Commonwealth, the Defendant would abuse the girl when she was left in his care. According to the child, the Defendant told her to keep the abuse secret. Apparently, she did so until she saw the Defendant again in 2008. It was then that she told her mother of the abuse.
The Defendant was sentenced to 10 – 12 years.
Attorney Sam’s Take On False Accusations Of MA Child Rape
Accusations of raping or sexually abusing a child are among the most difficult cases to handle for a MA criminal defense attorney. While there are many courses and symposiums about defending such matters, I find that the best teacher is experience.
After having had over 25 years in handling such matters, on both sides, I have learned that many issues come up in virtually all such cases.
The first, and almost hardest to satisfy, question that a defense attorney must tackle is “why would the child lie about such a thing?”
Actually, there are many answers to this question. However, people are often loathe to accept them. For example, particularly in this day and age, there could actually be the motivation of revenge. I don’t think that there are many people who would dispute that kids can become angry about many different things…no matter the age.
“Aw, come one, Sam. Crying ‘rape’ is a pretty big lie to make up just because some kid did not get their own way about something!”
To you and me…you are correct. However, I am assuming that neither of us is a young child. We understand the severity of such an allegation even before we make it. Children, however, often do not.
“Well, surely the police and the prosecutors would be able to tell if the child is not telling the truth about such a thing, right? I mean, they have no interest in prosecuting an innocent person, do they?”
No, in most cases, they certainly do not have an interest on prosecuting the innocent. However, as I have mentioned from time to time, prosecutors are merely human. As human beings, they have the same foibles and prejudices as the rest of us. Further, and I can tell you this from first-hand experience, they are indoctrinated to see things in certain ways. Finally, there are often office dynamics at work which make deciding against the prosecution nearly impossible.
As a result, most complainants and their accusations are beyond second-guessing. If anyone, particularly a child, indicates that they have been sexually assaulted, then they have been sexually assaulted. Period. As questioning continues, and the child begins to waiver in the allegations, it is chalked up to fear, embarrassment or loyalties to the accused.
Very seldom is it believed to be simply because the child was lying. Further, once the accusation has been made, should a prosecutor decide that the child is not to be believed and ignores the allegation, then the familiar fear will be presented to said prosecutor. Namely, “What if we ignore the accusation and it turns out to be true or the perpetrator goes out and does it again?”
The bottom line is that, if at all possible, the allegation will be believed and charged. At some point in time, the child may begin to understand how serious these accusations have been…but, by then, it is too late to recant. They are trapped.
One wonders, in such a situation, what emotional issues this will present in the future for said child. However, that consideration is not considered by most prosecutors. Instead, the issue is what damage the perpetrator is alleged to have done to the child.
Of course, this is not to say that the allegation are never true, nor that there could be other reasons for them not to be true besides lying. However, those will have to wait for tomorrow.
In the meantime, if you believe that similar allegations either are coming, or have come your way, and you would like to discuss the matter with me, please do not hesitate to contact me for a free initial consultation by calling 617-492-3000.
If you would like to read the story upon which this blog is based, please to go http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/04/09/hyde_park_man_convicted_of_raping_child/
