A subject that has always been a bone of contention for me is how our judicial system deals with rape and child abuse. Almost without exception a victim of an alleged rape finds themselves on trial, defending their clothes, an attitude, the sound of their voice and even the perfume that they choose to wear. The worst part of any rape trial has to be the history of the sexual exploiters of the victim, whether they were promiscuous and the number of partners they had.
In the case of child molestation, some of the accused are guilty until proven innocent, the exact opposite of how our judicial system is supposed to work. Over zealous child protective agents, police department officials active in child protection seem to work in concert to overwhelm an alleged suspect, leaving him, or her little choice but to seek legal advice, sooner then later.
Do not get me wrong, I detest any kind of inapproeate activity or contact with a child, it repulses me and I think prosecution should be sought as vigorously as possible, but under the letter of the law, no differently then for any other crime that can result in jail time. I also feel that there should be no publicity regarding these types of crimes, as I do with most crimes. Law enforcement ends up using the press and other news media almost as an arm of their investigation, often times to taint the public feeling and their reaction.
What follows is one man's struggle not only to win a trial for his freedom, but the journey to reclaim his life and reputation. The trip through the court system was different then that of a drug dealer or that even of an accused murderer. The guilty until proven innocent mentality effected almost every facet of the case and sadly even continues today.
PROTECTING A CHILD, PROTECTING AN ADULT, (Washington Post)
Sean Lanigan was living a dream life, his dream life. A soccer fanatic and at ease around kids, Lanigan fit in easily as a teacher and coach at a middle school in Centerville, Virginia, some 40 miles from Washington D.C.
Lanigan had played soccer, volunteered as a coach and decided that he felt his life was basically going nowhere in the mortgage business, so he returned to George Mason University, where he had obtained a business degree, to gain a teaching certificate in physical education. It was a tough decision, based on a love for a sport, but Lanigan also had found a new love, watching kids develop, grow and mature into productive young people.
After obtaining his second degree in 1998, Lanigan first worked at Stone Middle School in Centerville before he was placed at Centre Ridge Middle School at the beginning of the fall of 1998. As one co-teacher explained, "Sean's heart was really with the kids, he'd pick them up, twirl them around," he liked playing with them, "but school work always came first."
Sean Lanigan did like to play with kids, it made him feel good and it made the kids feel good. Some people don't understand that feeling, but I do. Many people do not understand the feel that a person can get from seeing a child succeed at something that you taught him, or to bring out an ability that nobody knew was there. What Sean Lanigan got out of his association with kids was fulfillment, was, in a way, was a sustenance for Lanigan . He would never jeopardise what was so important to him, so much a part of his life, by some overt act that could take it all away. I know, I speak from experience.
Lanigan had a history with his accuser, being the head of the school's safety patrols, he had admonished the 12 year old girl for abrasive behavior to other kids while she was on patrol. In addition another teacher also told the girl that she could lose her position as a news reader on Centre Ridge's morning television news show.
The girl, using a page right out of a script for Law & Order's S.V.U. called Mr. Lanigan a "jerk" and said, "I'm going to make him pay." Friends and teachers, according to trial testimony, overheard the remarks by the girl.
The girl in fact did lose her patrol position, in January 2010, and shortly thereafter begin telling a story about Sean Lanigan "picking her up" during PE PALS, a program where kids help pick up gym equipment and then are allowed to play there. The girl and a friend reported that Lanigan carried the girl over his shoulder into a main equipment room, briefly touching her breast and buttocks.
Once inside the room, Lanigan laid the 12 year old girl on a stack of blue tumbling mats, began messaging her shoulders, then laid on top of her and told her he would treat her "like a Queen" while the other girl stood in the doorway. The accuser tried to get up, but that the teacher pushed her back down and asked "where are you going." The girl said that she had patrol duty, and Lanigan let her go.
The accuser told her parents that she had been molested by her PE teacher and the parents contacted James Baldwin, Centre Ridge principal and he promptly called police. The case was given to Nicole Christian who would become the lead detective.
Next Fairfax County child protective services social worker, Krista Davidson interviewed the girl. Davidson and another police detective had interviewed the accusers parents before talking with the girl. Watching from a second room was lead detective Christian, but never met with either the parents or the 12 year old girl.
Christian, Davidson and Steve Kerr, school investigator, spoke to the accusers friend who corroborated the girls story. The three also talked to two boys who were in the guy at the time of the alleged incident who said they saw nothing. The three talked with the accusers friends who related what the girl had told them.
On January 20th. 2010, Lanigan was pulled out of his class by the school's principle and taken to the principle's office where detectives Christian and Rick Mullen began some "small talk" talk for the next 25 minutes or so. Nicole Christian finally ask Sean Lanigan "if he knew why he was in the principles office," to which he answered, "no."
Lanigan was then asked whether he had picked up the girl some 8 days earlier in the gym and did he "fondle her." "Did you carry the girl to the equipment room," There were a lot of scenarios around, Lanigan said, they wouldn't take my word for anything, it was like they were "trying to trick me into a confession or something."
He however "stuck to his guns" and was released from the interview, however badly shaken. He next met with school investigator Kerr who demanded his keys and school badge and learned that he had been suspended from the school with pay.
In short order Lanigan's pay, like the teacher/coach would be suspended as well. For all intense and purposes, Sean Lanigan's dream life was over, he just didn't know it yet and he probably doesn't know it to this day. As he related to the Washington Post, "when I drove off school property, I stopped and just sat in my car, stunned that this could have happen to me."
Of course the usual scenario in the case followed, a felony warrant was obtained and charges of abduction and aggravated sexual battery were brought against Sean Lanigan. He turned himself in and spent the next 4 days in jail.
After a preliminary hearing where the accuser and her friend both recanted the claim that Lanigan laid on top of her, the judge still sent the case to a gran d jury for indictment. Lanigan and his attorney met with the county prosecutor and asked for him to dismiss the case, which was met with refusal.
As the trial date approached, the Lanigan family began to suffer financially, and Sean Lanigan suffered because he was not allowed contact with his school, the students or his soccer team. He was offered a deal, plead guilty to misdemeanor assault, no sex offense, no jail time, Lanigan refused and, realizing that he wanted the entire truth to come out, to get his life back.
The trial lasted several days, testimony was given by the accuser, her friend, the same questions were asked and the same answers given, but now the recanted evidence was revealed to the jury. The same questions were posed to Sean Lanigan, and he answered the same way as he had throughout this ordeal.
It took the jury less then a half hour to bring back a verdict of not guilty in the case, an extremely short period of time when a child molestation case is being considered. Celebration was in order for the Lanigan family and their friends who had remained at his side throughout the ordeal.
However the celebration was short lived, Lanigan did not return to Centre Ridge Elementary school, and his legal fees have yet to be paid by the school district. He has been shipped around to different schools, put on part time duty and then "de-staffed," meaning that he must re-apply in the district for work.
Cases like Sean Lanigan happen every year around the country, it's the atmosphere, it's the attitude, it's law enforcement, over zealous prosecutors looking for a springboard to a higher office and fear. In 1981, Congress enacted legislation to deal with actual cases of child abuse by requiring states, as a condition for the funding of state programs, to enact mandatory reporting laws.
Defining sexual abuse to include virtually any inappropriate activity as defined by individuals schooled in inappropriate activity, whatever that means. The non definition, or loosely defined activity leaves a large area for a child protection agent to work in. In 1981 there were 1.2 million reported cases and by 1987, more then 2 million cases annually.
Another reason that people like Lanigan, especially living in the Washington D.C. area might find beating a molestation case tougher is the fact that the National Center for the Prosecution of Child Abuse is located in Alexandria, Virginia, a subsidiary of the National District Attorneys Association who prints handbooks on the subject.
I am all for putting these scum bags away for the rest of their lives, those individuals who even try touching children. There should be no limit and if found guilty, no mercy. But for Gods sake, the court better be right and there should never be a rush to judegment.
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