One of the most well known New York television reporters, Charles Leaf, was arrested this week for the sexual assault of a four year old girl. Although Leaf does have two kids of his own, this girl was the child of a friend. Leaf has won two Emmy awards for his reporting and is also a former Marine. I hope that little girl is ok and I hope his own kids and no other kids suffered the same nightmare.
I think I'm going to throw up.
ReplyDeleteAnd if that 4-year-old were my child, this piece of shit would be on a slab in the morgue.
omg, that innocent little 4 yr old. =O
ReplyDeletei have no words.
Shoot, I hope this isn't true. I have a hard time even watching Law & Order: SVU because it's so upsetting.
ReplyDeleteI do not know about this story, but he was arrested, not convicted yet.
ReplyDeleteScum if he did do it, but we don't know that yet.
Apparently this has to be repeated every time: An arrest is NOT a conviction. Also, there is a long sad history of both true and false accusations of molestation. (McMartin pre-school trial, anyone? The Amirault case in Massacusetts? False memory syndrome?)
ReplyDeleteRocketQueen, If you can't watch L&) SVU, don't even venture over to Criminal Minds. They cover some truely awful stuff.
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ReplyDeleteEnty, as an attorney, I know for sure now that you are NOT an attorney. As previously stated, an arrest does not equal guilt. In case you didnt know, in the United States we have something called "due process."
ReplyDelete@Patty - yeah, they have some cringe-worthy stuff, too. I saw an older episode of SVU recently about older males "adopting" kids from south america and turning them into sex slaves and I spent the entire time bawling. Awful. I don't know how people do that job in real life.
ReplyDeleteFor the record, I agree with the commenters who are pleading for presumed innocence, but I don't see anywhere where Enty has pronounced this guy guilty.
I'm experiencing a situation at work right now where one of my colleagues has been arrested and held for a week in connection with importation of cocaine. We, his friends and co-workers, are presuming him innocent, but the media published a story about his family yesterday, and a cop came into the office yesterday wanting to know information about this "scum of the earth". The cops aren't always right. Presumption of innocence is v. important.
FOUR YEARS OLD?
ReplyDeleteicky
rtsew - there is supposed to be enough evidence to amount to probable cause before arresting and/or charging someone with a crime.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, it's a lot easier to get to probable cause than one would think. I frequently deal with cases where the only evidence is the word of a four or five year old. In fact, I just spent months working to get charges dropped against a teenage boy who was only charged after a so-called professional interviewer spoke to the little girl who denied that anything had ever happened to her. An hour later and the girl was saying what the interviewer told her to say.
It's upsetting. But then again, most of my clients are actually guilty even if the only evidence was the word of a child.
How in the hell...? No mercy. Sorry, you harm a child or animal, you've forfeited your space on this planet.
ReplyDeleteJesus Christ, I watch this guy EVERY DAY. For everyone's sake, I hope this is not true - but he can burn in hell if it is.
ReplyDelete@cancan -- is he on Fox5 in NYC?
ReplyDeleteHe was arrested, not interrogated, people. Let's be honest, too. A 4 year old? What the hell?
ReplyDeleteAre people on here questioning the child? As a survivor of sex abuse that I endured when I was 5 years old, I can tell you now, it's not something you ever forget. I'm still coming to grips with it and I'm well into my 40s. So I have no sympathy for anyone that takes the innocence of a child in the worst way possible. I've read comments at the main source Enty posted here and it seems like this isn't the first time he's done this, it's the first time he was caught. Disgusting piece of sh*t.
ReplyDeleteRQ, I went to school with a man who was the ADA for the NYC Special Victims. He didn't do the job for long.
ReplyDeleteFor the other ones stumping about "an arrest is not a conviction" ... a comment on a blog is not a conviction either. We're all allowed to state our reactions to things. Most grown ups understand the reaction is in context with the idea of the allegations being true. If the allegations aren't true, the guilt is on the party that is accusing him.
Azure, I'm a survivor, too, but children have uncertain memories and have to be dealt with gently and carefully. They remember things differently than adults do.
ReplyDeleteThat said, modern DAs are more aware of that. Where there is smoke, there is quite often fire.
I'm a Social Services Attorney who deals with cases involving abused/neglected children. I hope this allegation is not true for the sake of the alleged victim. Sexual abuse at that young of an age is so very destructive to the child and how they develop emotionally. Sad if true. Unfortunately this kind of stuff happens with alarming frequency (i.e., young children being abused sexually).
ReplyDeleteOMG that is just disgusting and upsetting D:
ReplyDeleteHonestly, this is why I support the death penalty. And I'll be first in line to shoot the damn bastard.
ReplyDeleteAmen, chopchop.
ReplyDeleteVery well put.
You are correct, Amartel.
ReplyDeleteSo my amended comment should be "Amen...IF the arrested guy is guilty."
@Amartel -
ReplyDeleteOJ wasn't convicted either (at first). McMartin happened but it was a botched trial with lawyers who didn't know how to talk to the kids because this was pretty much the first of its kind. Really.
What do you mean by "I hope his own kids [...] suffered the same nightmare " ?
ReplyDeletePlease reword, or consider losing a reader.