Despite negative DNA test, judge jails man for sex with sister

[Louisiana1976]

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A federal judge sent Royce Mitchell back to prison for 30 months Wednesday, a day after hearing taped testimony that Mitchell twice had sex with his adopted teenage sister, who was fatally shot in September.

U.S. District Judge Bob Conrad said he found Tiffany Wright's taped interview “credible” and “reliable.” He found that Mitchell had committed statutory rape and taken indecent liberties with Tiffany – thus violating conditions of his release from prison in 2007.

Mitchell shook his head as Conrad announced his rulings.

Conrad heard the taped testimony Tuesday. Tiffany, who was pregnant when she was killed waiting for her school bus Sept. 14, told a detective about sexual encounters with Mitchell, 36. She also said she believed Mitchell was the father of her unborn child.

Tiffany said she wasn't forced or threatened.

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http://www.mcclatchydc.com/100/story/79571.html?storylink=omni_popular

[Christa]

1. How is it possible?

:(

[Chulanowa]

2. Two reasons

First, and most importantly, prison is a lucrative business. Someone's making a nice bit of money off of this guys' 30 months in there.

Two, a man accused of a sex crime is always presumed to be guilty and has to prove his innocence, rather than the other way around.

[regnaD kciN]

3. While you're right about that...

...there are other facts in this case.

First of all, the DNA test means nothing. She could have had sex with both her adopted brother and another man, and gotten pregnant by the second of the two.

Second, as noted in the article, probation revocation hearings have a lower standard of proof than criminal trials. The latter requires "beyond a reasonable doubt," the former merely "the preponderance of the evidence." In other words, if 51% of the evidence suggests guilt, and the other 49% innocence, a verdict of "guilty" is required. It's quite understandable that a judge might consider taped testimony from the deceased victim to be worth at least 51%. (It's a similar standard in civil versus criminal trials -- which is why O.J. Simpson could be acquitted of the murders he was charged with, and still found liable for their deaths in a civil suit.)

Remember, this guy was not up on a criminal charge. He was up on probation violations for a crime he'd already been convicted of (beyond a reasonable doubt), and the sentence is merely the remainder for the jail time for that crime, not a new one. I assure you, if the charge was murdering his adopted sister after getting her pregnant, the sentence would be a lot longer than 30 months -- he would likely be looking at the death penalty or at least life without parole.

[TorchTheWitch]

4. just because he didn't father the baby doesn't mean he didn't

have sex with her. Pretty simple really.