Kids recant abuse claims after dad jailed 20 years

VANCOUVER, Wash. — Former Vancouver police officer Clyde Ray Spencer spent nearly 20 years in prison after he was convicted of sexually molesting his son and daughter. Now, the children say it never happened.

Matthew Spencer and Kathryn Tetz, who live in Sacramento, Calif., each took the stand Friday in Clark County Superior Court to clear their father's name, The Columbian newspaper reported.

Matthew, now 33, was 9 years old at the time. He told a judge he made the allegation after months of insistent questioning by now-retired Clark County sheriff's detective Sharon Krause just so she would leave him alone.

Tetz, 30, said she doesn't remember what she told Krause back in 1985, but she remembers Krause buying her ice cream. She said that when she finally read the police reports she was "absolutely sure" the abuse never happened.

"I would have remembered something that graphic, that violent," Tetz said.

Spencer's sentence was commuted by then-Gov. Gary Locke in 2004 after questions arose about his conviction. Among other problems, prosecutors withheld medical exams that showed no evidence of abuse, even though Krause claimed the abuse was repeated and violent.

Despite the commutation, Spencer remains a convicted sex offender. He is hoping to have the convictions overturned.

Krause declined an interview request from The Columbian in 2005 and could not be reached Friday, the newspaper reported.

Story continues below

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Both children said that while growing up in California they were told by their mother, who divorced Spencer before he was charged, that they were blocking out the memory of the abuse.

They said they realized as adults the abuse never happened, and they came forward because it was the right thing to do.

Prosecutors aren't yet conceding that Spencer was wrongly convicted. Senior deputy prosecutor Kim Farr grilled the children about why they are so certain they weren't abused, and chief criminal deputy prosecutor Dennis Hunter said that if the convictions are tossed, his office might appeal to the state Supreme Court.

Matthew Spencer said his father had ruined the relationship with his mother and he had faults, "but none of them were molesting children."

Friday's hearing paved the way for the state Court of Appeals to allow Spencer to withdraw the no-contest pleas he entered in 1985 and have his convictions vacated. Both children had previously filed statements with the appeals court, but the judges required the hearing to ensure their new testimony held up under cross-examination.

Spencer, 61, hugged his son and daughter afterward while a dozen supporters cheered.

"For so many years, nothing went right," he said. "When things keep going right, I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop."

The hardest thing about his ordeal was missing his children, he said.

"They were my life, and they were taken away from me," he said. "I could serve in prison. ..."

His voice trailed off, and his son came up for one more hug.

Comments

[MadHeart]

There were a number of adults in the Bakersfield area also accused of molesitng children in the late 80s, as well. Their story was on MSNBC last week, and it was a result of overambitious police, prosecutors and judge who fabricated testimony, setting kids up by planting information in their little heads that never happened. Not one had any experience in questioning children of abuse. They went from "child abuse" to "satanic ritual" investigations, and not one person in authority has ever made an apology nor admitted wrong-doing in the investigations and trials of these parents. Children were adults, also, when they recanted and the Northern CA Innocence Project was finally involved in one case, after the father had served 20 years and tried through various means to prove his conviction was rigged--but he never was able to see his son again, his ex-wife made sure she has poisoned his mind. The State was forced to pay restitution in every case to those wrongly convicted, not even enough to make up for the years those parents lost with their children.

I believe the whole "recovered memory" tactic used by counselors during that period of witch hunting has been pretty much debunked as well. Child abuse still happens, sadly, but zealotry should not be the determining factor in prosecution, solid evidence should be, not the evidence of vengeful parents or coached children.

[ShakeYourComplacency]

Oh come on, now let's drag out every "Nightline" episode you've ever seen as proof that prosecution of sex crimes is fabricated.

Child abuse "still happens?" You act like it's some relic from the past that pops up now and then, but not much of an issue. Child abuse is rampant, and growing, and the foundation for most other crimes. What don't you get?

Yes, everyone agrees there should be ample evidence for all prosecuted crimes. No one wants innocent people in jail. But for everyone to use this story as an excuse to drag out every nutball hangup or hateful rant is inexcusable.

[coco51]

shake, while you are right that child abuse is on the rise, you should be careful with your rhetoric. Child abuse comes in many form not just sexual and most criminals were not abused as children whether sexual, physical or mental.

One should also be willing to look at the way these stories have been played out in the media and how the police have addressed them. We do know that there have been instances where parents in a very contentious divorce have wrongly accused each other of abuses; then there are the cases of teachers being accussed and overzealous police and social workers have convinced children that they experienced the abuse..see below

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_care_sex_abuse_hysteria

[biglover]

Child abuse does happen. Everyone knows that - but there have also been a lot of cases where kids have accused their parents, teachers, etc. and we are too quick to judge. God forbid the little darlings are not telling the truth or were coerced just to make a case.

Come'on here= there has to be a better way. This is a tragedy and all others who have served time for molestation who are innocent. This man's life is ruined because there are people like you who will always believe he was guilty.

[overcat]

"Oh come on, now let's drag out every "Nightline" episode you've ever seen as proof that prosecution of sex crimes is fabricated­."

That's not what's being said. Referring to instances of fabrication and overzealousness does not amount to your broad brush characterization that "...prosec­ution of sex crimes is fabricated­." It's only you making that sweeping statement. Decontextualizing a specific point about a specific instance and twisting it into a broad statement doesn't change the specific point about the specific instance, it just demonstrates that you seem to feel threatened that the information is available.

[deepfreezevideo]

I know someone who was subjected to this "recovered memory" business.
It's a sham, the whole thing is a sham, bad science, bad medicine, bad psychology all the way from tip to toe.
The family was a solid, cohesive unit with loving parents whose lives were destroyed by this same implantation of "satanic rituals" stuff that seems to be the cornerstone of a great many so-called "investigations" that took place in the 1980's.
As in this case, the father was innocent, no abuse ever took place, the father's convictions were overturned and he successfully sued the state, was awarded damages and got what was left of his life back.
His daughter, who also recanted her testimony, told of a very similar situation in which detectives, psychiatrists and prosecutors cooked up an entire story with no evidence but managed to coerce her (at the age of 17) into going along with it because they had convinced her that she had blocked out all these memories.
Trouble is, the memories never existed, except in the mind of the psychiatrist.

[CigarGod]

Exactly right!
Have a cigar.

[Dannydel]

The movie about the McMartin travesty illustrated just how an overzalous (female) prosecutor can influence a child and pervert justice. Their maternal instincts appear to overpower their sense of fairness. Henry Thomas was nominated for an Emmy for his portrayal of a man falsely accused of child abuse. The film showed just how this female prosecutor badgered and threatened the children until they said exactly what she needed them to.
Sharon Krause should be held to account for her role in this case.

[biglover]

I lived through that McMartin nightmare. That was the worst ever. Those poor people. The parents were like rabid dogs. They should have thrown all of their asses in jail for the lies they told and the way they fed their children lies.

That trial cost the taxpayers milllions (at the time millions were like billions now).

[bagfed]

Krause should spend 20 years in prison.

[Scalawag]

Yes. Maybe they should stick the ex-wife in there as well.

[coco51]

McMartin in 1993 is what gave me pause when the first Michael Jackson accusation was made and the 2005 Jehovah Witness case (which didn't get a lot of press) also made me suspicious­..Michael was a Jehovah's Witness, Chandler was/is Jewish; the whole "Jesus juice" thing rang bells in my head as being more like bigotry than anything else. I have never heard anyone in the christian faith call wine "jesus juice" I had prior to that heard muslims and jews do. I know some who read this might be shocked but...yes, I did not believe those stories. Just as other accusations have been disproved.

[overcomer]

There was considerable hysteria in the Christian fundamentalist media at the time about secret organized satanic child abuse that when combined the theory of recovered memory led to a lot of bad law enforcemen­t...People were actually arrested for taking family snaps of their children naked in the bath...Alt­hough the DA and woman sherif Krause have a lot to answer for, these types seldom recant.

[WilliePilgrim]

Cases like this should serve as a warning to those who think that extra legislative action on subjective crime, like "hate crimes" are a good idea. They are fraught with complications that affect peoples' lives..inn­ocent people. Furthermore prisons represent a crude and ineffective means to address these problems when they have been objectively identified. People who would sexually abuse their children require mental evaluation and treatment, not prison and punishment which as we see actually ruins the lives of the victims and the perpetrators. Whenever punishment is the first response, one can be pretty sure that a solution is the last thing on our minds. In the mean time every case where a psychologist's testamony has been used as objective fact should be re-examined and re-evaluated for exactly this kind of false and damaging evidence.

[EdwardTx]

Other than allowing you the chance to take a swipe at hate crimes, what does this case have to do with hate crimes? There was no allegation of that mentioned in the article. Presumably his children are of his same race. It amazes me that no matter what the subject some people have to inevitably resort to making any discussion about race.

And what is a subjective crime? You actually think sexual assault of a child or indecency with child is "subjective?"Give me a break.

[ShakeYourComplacency]

I'm scratching my head at all of these nonsence posts too.....

?

[Sean Tisdall]

He is indicating the proclivity of the justice system to be more readily willing to convict based on the gravity of the crime, as opposed to more likely to scrutinize and look for exonerating evidence.

[jcwtts1]

Ok, several things that make you sound crazy, not that you are, but you make you sound crazy. Hate crime legislation isn't a primary factor. In other words, hate crime isn't the crime it is the special circumstance. Like, for example, I am robbing a store and a clerk gets killed. That is a special crime, not just 2nd degree murder, even if I didn't mean to kill anyone, my felony was a precipitating act in someones death and that makes it special. In many states it makes it death penalty. Hate is one of those factors like felony murder, like hiring a killer, that basically make the crime above a normal murder. If I kill you because I want to kill you is different than me killing you because you are black, or gay, or a woman.

Next, child molesters don't need treatment. Treatment never works. It doesn't. People don't change what gives them sexual gratification. Rather than getting out, pedophiles need life sentences. To never, ever, see the light of day again. We don't catch a lot of pedophiles, but those we catch should rot in prison for the rest of their lives.

[primordialsoup]

Your "let 'em rot in prison" mentality is a big problem in this country. Rehab does work. It isn't done, though. Prison is nothing but vengeance. I've known several people who have worked in the penal system, and they all say the same thing. Prisons don't do anything to encourage convicts to assimilate into "normal" society.

[CigarGod]

Insightful.
Do you think we will ever place more emphasis on cause...ov­er symptom?

Have a cigar.

[primordialsoup]

This sort of thing is way too common. To many D.A.'s and cops are all about convictions, and not justice.

[MikeRdg]

On that one I will agree with you --- ours are paid off and do favors.

[MikeRdg]

Here the staff sleeps with the judges for promotions, many are related, married to each other, dating, live next door to each other, cover for each other, give their families light sentences.­..........­........

[rampart231]

prosecutetorial missconduct is an under reported abuse by elected politicians. As long as prosecutors are elected they will sacrifice the truth for thier own careers.

[JenniferEccles]

That is the truth!! It always amazes me when a wrongly convicted person is let out of prison and they interview the prosecutor who says something like "well, I still believe he/she is guilty"...­..oh my god, their precious careers!!!!!!!

[uranus65]

I feel the same way. Shouldn't these people be after the truth? I think there is a fault in the career advancement process for prosecutors and some law enforcement. They never want to admit that they could have been wrong. Maybe there needs to be more recrimination for railroaded convictions, or maybe less. The only time I remember seeing this work out properly was in the case of the Duke lacrosse players. However, they had the money and lawyers to set things straight.

[pros54]

Any system where one party is held guilty until proven otherwise is bound to get these results and accomapnying consequencies particularly where one continues to bear grudge of wrongful treatment. It is very often seen in child custody cases where the fathers are treated so badly that many chose to just forget the children so their own lives can have some quiet in it. The same perpertrators turn around and lament the abscence of fathers in their children's lives while they were the same ones through harsh financial unreasonable financial orders, giving custody solely tone parent (usualy the one being paid all the money) essentially create extremely diffiuclt barriers between the children and usually the father. Anything the mother says in those hearings are taking as gospel truth and anything the father says is a lie unless the mother was caught on camera in the act. The family court system needs to be totally overhauled and courts accepting the testimony of children paritcularly when the process of their questioning and the conditions surrounding their questioning is not 100% on video is just people deceiving themselves as children can easily be made to say what an adult wants them to say so as to please the adult.

[KaLaPa111]

You couldn't be more right. The family court system is absolutely biased against fathers.

Case in point: a good friend of mine had a child with a rather ... difficult woman. When the child was about 3 years old, he discovered that the woman may have been cheating on him around the time that the baby was conceived. A court-ordered paternity test proved that the child was not his. The mother knew this all along but chose to lie about it instead. You know what the court said? Even though he was not the child's biological father, he would still have to pay to support it b/c his name was on the child's birth certificate and there was no other father in the picture.

She lied, but he has to pay.

Now he's married with a kid (who is actually his) but he's still paying to support a child who's not his flesh and blood. I really can't see the fairness in that.

[JenniferEccles]

I have read other stories just like that one.

I think the problem started back during the Reagan years when Reagan made up a story about "welfare queens driving cadillacs" in a speech. Next thing you know, non custodial parents...­.fathers..­...were required to pay 28% of their gross pay in child support. That works out to about 50% of your net pay. This is when there is no income from the custodial parent [mother]. And to top it all off, there is no accountability on the mother's part. Is the CS going to the child and into an account for the child's future? or is it going to pay the mother's rent? There's no way to know!

[ShakeYourComplacency]

His name is on the birth certificate. He willingly lived with this woman, and willingly parented the baby. Why punish the child? The dna doesn't match so the child get's abandoned by the only father he knows? How fair is that?

It works the other way around too...just so you know. If she wanted to get rid of him by claiming he wasn't the biological father, he would be able to drag her into court and win parental rights - maybe even win custody, because he was the parent.

So enough of this nonsense. I didn't realize the disgruntled divorcee network was all over Huffpo this morning.

[truthartbeauty]

and I dont mean through the legal system

[truthartbeauty]

If it were me, I would be looking for that ex wife and that prosecutor for some justice for sure.

[LCDTV]

"prosecutors withheld medical exams that showed no evidence of abuse, even though Krause claimed the abuse was repeated and violent."

this is a crime. all evidence gathered should be shown in court. i consistently read stories about how our judicial system is breaking laws and they do not get punished for it. the prosecution side has way to much power were they can with hold evidence and manipulate forensic evidence from the jury and the defense. our whole judicial system is broken from suffocating laws we have on our book. to the police that unlawfully break into our houses and taser and kill with impunity. to our court systems were the prosecution manipulate and hide evidence and and the judges who assist in covering up evidence for the prosecution. and our jail system is horrible. when are politicians start talking about this?

[SeymourButz]

Send the kids to prison and have them pay 1,000 dollars a month to Dad.

[cobraxus]

the kids were victims here.victi­ms of the criminal justice system and its need to win at all costs.

[overcat]

If the kids were victims of anyone, it's a mother who gamed the bias of a system that favors mothers in divorce cases and gives power to people like Krause who use their position of public trust to lash out at men.

[kesiac]

I would opt to send the mother and detective to prison.

[ShakeYourComplacency]

Geoffi - "all this was largely driven by extremist radical feminists and their anti-male jihad"

What would YOU know about the american feminism movement in the 60's and 70's? You live in Australia.

Some of these posts are pretty disgusting - blaming and hating women because of this one case. Innocent people go to jail, in every type of case not just molestation. And guilty people go free. That's our system. But to blame a positive movement like feminism for this is crappola. In fact, it's too bad that feminism is gone, because today's young women are uninspired, confused and have no self respect.

First of all, molestation for both boys and girls, is real. It happens. And it destroys lives. Years ago, there WAS no DNA technology, so it was difficult. And kids were improperly questioned. But to give kids the benefit of the doubt was the right thing to do, along with supporting evidence.

Molestation destroys generations and touches all of us. Even if there's none of it in your family, your son or daughter one day will likely date or marry someone who's been molested, and their marriage will be wracked with that emotional baggage.

So let's keep this in perspective as to what problems existed then, and still exist now. It's bigger than one guy.

Besides, in this particular case, the kids didn't "recant." They said they don't remember. They read their statements and don't remember what happened at 9, looking back on it.

[Sean Tisdall]

You know, they ship some of the more incendiary post-modernist inspired hate speech produced by womyns' studies professors including "Transsexual Empire" beyond your borders, right?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janice_G._Raymond

From Wikipedia: Raymond characterized female-to-male transsexuals as traitors to their sex and to the cause of feminism, and male-to-female transsexuals as rapists engaged in an unwanted penetration of women's space. She suggested that transsexuals be "morally mandated out of existence.­"

Oh yes, so very liberal and egalitarian.

I would consider these points most germaine to the discussion as the point that I am trying to make is that the particular brand of sexual and gender conflict theory being perpetuated here shows itself to be pervasive and self-parodying at its logical extremes, yet still widely accepted by members of said movement.

[overcat]

"In fact, it's too bad that feminism is gone, because today's young women are uninspired, confused and have no self respect."

Really? Seriously? You don't get out much, do you? The women I associate with are largely intelligent, accomplished, focused and self respecting individuals. These people aren't some rarified class, they're every day people from all sorts of backgrounds. What they're not are doctrinaire, dogmatic narcissists who judge people by their gender instead of the content of their character. You and your cohorts seem to have that covered.

"First of all, molestation for both boys and girls, is real. It happens."

That isn't being argued here. Exposing instances of false accusation instigated by a mother against the man she's divorcing and prosecutorial misconduct on the part of a female prosecutor colluding with that mother does not amount to blanket denial of molestation. You can't refute the basic argument, so you mischaracterize the argument, and refute that. Pathetic.

"They said they realized as adults the abuse never happened, and they came forward because it was the right thing to do."

"Matthew Spencer said his father had ruined the relationship with his mother and he had faults, "but none of them were molesting children." "

Sounds kind of like recanting to me, not saying they don't remember. Did you even read the article?

[skippy20008]

As harsh as it sounds, anyone claiming to be a victim of sexual assault -- absent any evidence of an assault -- shoudl be requried to take a lie detector test.

I'm tired of hearing, why would the victim lie? Well, why did the Duke Lacrosse "victim" lie?

[euthman]

Polygraphs have never been scientifically validated, which is why they should not be used for anything except party entertainment.

[Sean Tisdall]

This is why I'm not a big believer in 'victims' rights' advocates. An accused must have the right to face their accuser, no matter how difficult confronting their professed fear and trauma is claimed to be. Please repeat your version of events once more for the record and answer some skeptical questions because we will be ruining lives here and we best be assured of doing it properly. That said, lie detector tests are widely inadmissible in the first place, but there should, of course, be a very high burden of proof beyond the sheer gravity of the charges.

[instagladiator]

Very well said Sean, and I agree in all respects.

FYI:
http://cases.justia.com/us-court-of-appeals/F3/129/127/621914/
http://cases.justia.com/us-court-of-appeals/F3/70/1280/601045/

[ShakeYourComplacency]

Yes, let's pound away at real social problems with perceived problems - the victimhood of rich, privileged college white boys. That's the real problem. There's too many black crack whores bringing down these fine young men. The halls of power are virtually empty of white ivey league males!

The vast majority of those "claims" are real. Family members abuse kids. Priests abuse kids. School counselors abuse kids. And if you HAVE kids, your kids might one day be making these "claims" if you're not responsible about who you leave them with.

And as far as adult abuse, that's real too. Women get raped all the time, and most of the time it's not reported at all.

If we want to make inroads in poverty and crime prevention, then we'd better start thinking about making progress on real social problems like incest, rape, molestation, domestic battery, sexual abuse and physical abuse of kids, etc. Go look up the record of any violent criminal and see what the home life was like. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out.

[rfshunt]

I'm glad I live in a country where a person is presumed innocent until proven guilty - and I hope that country stays that way.

[Sean Tisdall]

Remember kids: It's not a travesty of justice, it's Extra-legal Empowerment!

[overcat]

Better idea - let's not gloss over specific problems in specific instances by saying "oh, forget the details, let's focus on the bigger picture" whenever those specific problems in specific instances feel threatening to your big sweeping TRUTH. It's so unfortunate that so many people's TRUTH just can't accommodate inconvenient facts.

Really now, you're obviously pretty threatened by facts or realities that don't affirm your big grand TRUTH. What's pathetic is that there are so many, like you, who seem more inclined to want a falsely accused person rot in prison rather than have your doctrinaire reality challenged.

[sammyscout]

THe Court system is extremely flawed. If you can't afford any decent legal counsel, you are guaranteed the maximum sentence and as we found out earlier this year, some Judges get a kickback from the companies running these private prisons.

**********­**********­* VOTE RON PAUL **********­**********­**********­***LOOK HIM UP ON YOUTUBE

[cloudmaker]

The saddest thing is that this is not rare. There are a lot of obsessed prosecutors out
there.