When Little Girls Tell Big Lies

baby_blu

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/02/23/national/main601627.shtml

Eric Nordmark spent more than eight months in an Orange County jail as an accused child molester. With his trial under way last month, Nordmark made plans to kill himself if convicted by smuggling a razor blade into his cell.

"My mind was made up," Nordmark later told the Los Angeles Times.

But two days into the trial, one of the girls admitted that their story was a lie concocted as an excuse for getting home late from school.

Nordmark, a 36-year-old homeless man who drifted from job to job, was set free after 251 days in jail.

The three 11-year-old girls told police this story: They were walking through a park on their way home from school when they were attacked by a man who threw one of them to the ground and began to tear off her blouse.

The attacker then tried to strangle a second little girl who came to the help of her fallen friend. The girl who had been thrown to the ground kicked the man in the groin and all three girls managed to run to safety.

Nordmark, who matched a general description of the fictional assailant, was picked up and identified as the attacker by two of the three girls.

The story told by the girl who emerged as Nordmark's principal accuser was so vivid and detailed that Nordmark himself came to believe she had been attacked.

But two days into his trial, the girl admitted the story was made up. The girls, it turned out, feared their parents would punish them for getting home late from school.

Nordmark has moved to Seattle, where he is now trying to put his life together. In a series of telephone interviews with the Times, he said he was still bitter about his treatment at the hands of the Garden Grove, Calif., police.

"They say they're there to serve and protect the public. But that doesn't apply to me," he told the newspaper. "To me, they pin, nail and degrade."

Nordmark's accusers have also been given a taste of rough justice. The three little girls were arrested and led from their elementary school in handcuffs for making up the story.

Nordmark's lawyer, David Swanson, believes the police made serious error by interviewing the girls in a group rather than individually, a circumstance that made it easy for them to tell the same story.

The Times said Nordmark had managed to find an apartment, and has landed a job sorting clothing donated to Goodwill.

"It's not going to be a career move," he told the newspaper, "but it's one step on the ladder."
................................................................................................................................


Lil cows id kill them:mad:

orestes

Man their parents must be real hard asses if they did all that just to avoid getting punished for being late home from school!

They're still little bitches though

GirlInterrupted

That story is terrible. If those kids have any inkling of how serious the allegations they made are, they should be evaluated psychologically.

Jigsaw

baby_blu wrote: »

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/02/23/national/main601627.shtml

Eric Nordmark spent more than eight months in an Orange County jail as an accused child molester. With his trial under way last month, Nordmark made plans to kill himself if convicted by smuggling a razor blade into his cell.

"My mind was made up," Nordmark later told the Los Angeles Times.

But two days into the trial, one of the girls admitted that their story was a lie concocted as an excuse for getting home late from school.

Nordmark, a 36-year-old homeless man who drifted from job to job, was set free after 251 days in jail.

The three 11-year-old girls told police this story: They were walking through a park on their way home from school when they were attacked by a man who threw one of them to the ground and began to tear off her blouse.

The attacker then tried to strangle a second little girl who came to the help of her fallen friend. The girl who had been thrown to the ground kicked the man in the groin and all three girls managed to run to safety.

Nordmark, who matched a general description of the fictional assailant, was picked up and identified as the attacker by two of the three girls.

The story told by the girl who emerged as Nordmark's principal accuser was so vivid and detailed that Nordmark himself came to believe she had been attacked.

But two days into his trial, the girl admitted the story was made up. The girls, it turned out, feared their parents would punish them for getting home late from school.

Nordmark has moved to Seattle, where he is now trying to put his life together. In a series of telephone interviews with the Times, he said he was still bitter about his treatment at the hands of the Garden Grove, Calif., police.

"They say they're there to serve and protect the public. But that doesn't apply to me," he told the newspaper. "To me, they pin, nail and degrade."

Nordmark's accusers have also been given a taste of rough justice. The three little girls were arrested and led from their elementary school in handcuffs for making up the story.

Nordmark's lawyer, David Swanson, believes the police made serious error by interviewing the girls in a group rather than individually, a circumstance that made it easy for them to tell the same story.

The Times said Nordmark had managed to find an apartment, and has landed a job sorting clothing donated to Goodwill.

"It's not going to be a career move," he told the newspaper, "but it's one step on the ladder."
................................................................................................................................


Lil cows id kill them:mad:

I would cancel their subscription to Bunty and sell their Westlife tickets.

Seriously though, you'd be ragin!! Young girls making up stories like that with no indication of the reaction of the "no smoke without fire" brigade.

FunkZ

Jaysus Christ, imagine being thrown in jail for something like just because someone decided to make up a bull**** lie.

AckwelFoley

Little fcukers.

Kimbot

snyper wrote: »

Little fcukers.

Agreed.

What on earth does that poor bloke get as compensation now??
I know he was homeless so having a bed and food was good but come on, he was locked up for nearly a year because of their lies so I think the families should pay him something as a form of compensation.

GirlInterrupted

jonny24ie wrote: »

Agreed.

What on earth does that poor bloke get as compensation now??
I know he was homeless so having a bed and food was good but come on, he was locked up for nearly a year because of their lies so I think the families should pay him something as a form of compensation.

I would assume the police owe him something too, after all if the allegations were true, surely there would be some physical or forensic evidence that would confirm it, and conversely the lack of such surely should have prompted doubts about the veracity of the kids story?

Parents should pay something, and make the kids spend the rest of there lives paying for it too.

elmolesto

Little btiches

Rb

jonny24ie wrote: »

Agreed.

What on earth does that poor bloke get as compensation now??
I know he was homeless so having a bed and food was good but come on, he was locked up for nearly a year because of their lies so I think the families should pay him something as a form of compensation.

I was going to say he should be given the same amount he'd earn from 251 days work in a bulk package, but given the nature and conditions of prison, I think he should get maybe 3-4 times that.

It'd be good to see the families punished and for him to get a load of compensation, what an ordeal for the guy.

Rb

GirlInterrupted wrote: »

I would assume the police owe him something too, after all if the allegations were true, surely there would be some physical or forensic evidence that would confirm it, and conversely the lack of such surely should have prompted doubts about the veracity of the kids story?

Parents should pay something, and make the kids spend the rest of there lives paying for it too.

I think 251 days worth of community service would be a good start, it'd leave them spending every summer for the next few years picking up rubbish at the side of roads, in parks etc. given that they're not capable of earning an income to pay him with.

manic56

Rb wrote: »

I was going to say he should be given the same amount he'd earn from 251 days work in a bulk package, but given the nature and conditions of prison, I think he should get maybe 3-4 times that.

It'd be good to see the families punished and for him to get a load of compensation, what an ordeal for the guy.

I think the compo should be both kids pocket money for the next 20 years.

AckwelFoley

i was going to say

"little cnuts"

But i wanted to avoid the double entendre

ROCKMAN

GirlInterrupted wrote: »

I would assume the police owe him something too, after all if the allegations were true, surely there would be some physical or forensic evidence that would confirm it, and conversely the lack of such surely should have prompted doubts about the veracity of the kids story?

Parents should pay something, and make the kids spend the rest of there lives paying for it too.

Its America ,So I'll bet you anything that the papers are on their way to the parents and cops for a big fat law suit.

Oryx

Worst part of this story is, it makes you wonder how many other people this has happened to, where their accuser stuck to their story and left them to rot in jail.

And Id say those girls had no idea the lie would get so big. At least they came clean eventually.

Holsten

Wow.. that is insane.

Scary really that a little child can have that kind of power.

They should be fully punished for what they did.

DarkJager

Holsten wrote: »

Wow.. that is insane.

Scary really that a little child can have that kind of power.

They should be fully punished for what they did.

Yep, with a good kicking in front of their parents. That'll learn the little whores!!

Kold

Man that sucks really hard. Is it normal to spend almost a year in prison before a trial?

Sherifu

Now that's an original excuse.

spurious

Oryx wrote: »

Worst part of this story is, it makes you wonder how many other people this has happened to, where their accuser stuck to their story and left them to rot in jail.

I know an Irish teacher this happened to - it didn't go as far as court and eventually another child in the class came forward and said the accuser was making it all up and getting them all to back her, but not before the teacher had been suspended.

The teacher was eventually completely cleared and chose to move from where they were teaching because the situation was intolerable but of course then the gossips were in full swing about 'no smoke...'.

kelle

Words fail me here. they've ruined it for children who have genuinely been abused and want to report it.

challengemaster

reminds me of the salem witch trials..

What little ****ers.

Reku

baby_blu wrote: »

Nordmark's accusers have also been given a taste of rough justice. The three little girls were arrested and led from their elementary school in handcuffs for making up the story.

Thank feck, hope they get charged with purgery/libel/slander or something, make sure that:
(a) a message is sent to anyone else who's lies land an innocent in trouble as a result.
(b) they might learn their lesson themselves
(c) folks remember them for a long time and make a point of not taking anything they say as gospel

I've always felt that anyone who intentionally makes a false accusation against someone for doing something should suffer the sentence that the other person might have suffered had the lie not been uncovered.
We should be able to believe claims of rape/theft/abuse/assault/etc... but liars like this just make it harder to.

Lockstep

I'm guessing if the story had been published in AH before he was exonerated, there'd be loads of people saying he deserved the death penalty.

chuci

At least they came clean in the end, but its seriously fcuked up that kids that young are able to make that stuff up.

briantwin

Jesus christ, could you imagine getting accused of something so horrible. Its one thing to be accused in the wrong, a completely different thing to be accused of a crime that wasn't even committed.

I agree, 251 days community service for them. Also some form of compensation should be provided by all three families to that poor guy.
This no doubt happens far more often than people think, just wonder how many people have had the misfortune of having a tight lipped coward accusing them who would watch a completely innocent party go to prison rather than admit the lie.

kowloon

kickoutthejams wrote: »

I'm guessing if the story had been published in AH before he was exonerated, there'd be loads of people saying he deserved the death penalty.

+1 Yup.

I remember someone from a rape crisis centre or similar saying that the women crying wolf (it was about sexual harrasment as opposed to rape) were resulting in genuine incidents going unreported as the victims were afraid of not being believed.

Lockstep

kowloon wrote: »

I remember someone from a rape crisis centre or similar saying that the women crying wolf (it was about sexual harrasment as opposed to rape) were resulting in genuine incidents going unreported as the victims were afraid of not being believed.

It really is sickening.

The idea of a legitimate rape victim being afraid to tell the police what happened to them because of scumbags like this............

robinph

Nordmark's accusers have also been given a taste of rough justice. The three little girls were arrested and led from their elementary school in handcuffs for making up the story.

I really fail to see how they are classing that as "rough justice" for these kids.

Not really a whole lot they can do to them though due to their ages I suspect, but they must be able to come up with something along the lines of the community service idea such that they are still doing it for a good few years.

c - 13

This sort of thing really makes me angry. Some poor guy spent 200 odd days of his life in a cell becasue they didnt want to get in trouble ?

**** that, I dont care what age they are - bring back public flayings with whips soaked in salt water. :mad:

KnifeWRENCH

Those girls seriously need to be psychologically evaluated.

It's ridiculous that the police didn't interview them separately: they were obviously gonna have the same story when interviewed as a group. here's a big chance there would have been some contradiction in their individual accounts and that poor guy wouldn't have spent eight months in jail.

I imagine they'd have treated him differently if he wasn't homeless. They could have automatically assumed he was guilty without giving him a fair chance to defend himself.

pickarooney

Idiotic justice system, putting people in jail for night on a year without trial on the hearsay of some feckless pre-teens. Kids make up stories but cops are supposed to be able to to pick up on that crap and make sure there's some grounds for gaoling a civilian. Too poor for a lasyer is, as usual, the bottom line.

Dudess

It's fuked up that 11-year-olds would even know fully what sexual assault is...

Piste

I would prefer my 11 year old to know what sexual assault is instead of climbing into cars with strangers or letting a bad man touch their special area.

Dudess

I know. We were all warned about that when we were kids. But we weren't given a level of detail to the point of us being able to make up a story about being sexually assaulted.

kowloon

I think it was something along the lines of: Don't take sweets from strangers, Don't get into their car.

No details on sexual assault for sure!

brazilicious

yeah but eleven year olds today aint what they (we) used to be....

ShoulderChip

chuci wrote: »

At least they came clean in the end, but its seriously fcuked up that kids that young are able to make that stuff up.

huh? you think its ****ed up that 11 year olds are able to concoct stories?
would you prefer if they had no creative minds, what?

kowloon

ShoulderChip wrote: »

huh? you think its ****ed up that 11 year olds are able to concoct stories?
would you prefer if they had no creative minds, what?

I'd prefer if those kids didn't :pac:

ShoulderChip

kowloon wrote: »

I'd prefer if those kids didn't :pac:

you would prefer if they didn't be able to?

those words don't make sense, what are you trying to say?

amacachi

Easy way for him to get back at them is rape them, not like the cops will believe their story this time is it?

kowloon

ShoulderChip wrote: »

those words don't make sense

Yes they do.

ShoulderChip

kowloon wrote: »

Yes they do.

no they don't the below sentence does not make grammatic sense.

you would prefer if they didn't be able to?

kowloon

you would prefer if they didn't be able to?

I never typed anything of the sort

ShoulderChip

Right when you replied

I'd prefer if those kids didn't

after I said:

you think its ****ed up that 11 year olds are able to concoct stories?
would you prefer if they had no creative minds, what?

What did you mean, can you respond with a full sentence please?

kmart6

F*cking bitches!!!

kowloon

Just fooking about with you
I know it wasn't a full sentence, I meant to type:

"I'd prefer if those kids didn't use their imaginations :pac:"

I tail off like that in real life too. It's an acquired taste.

ShoulderChip

kowloon wrote: »

Just fooking about with you
I know it wasn't a full sentence, I meant to type:

"I'd prefer if those kids didn't use their imaginations :pac:"

I tail off like that in real life too. It's an acquired taste.

ah i thought you were saying you wished they didnt have the ability to use their imagination.

we are friends now.

kowloon

ShoulderChip wrote: »

ah i thought you were saying you wished they didnt have the ability to use their imagination.

we are friends now.

Never! We must Kung Fu fight!

ShoulderChip

If that' s a reference to City Of God, why oh why did benny have to die?

else;

bring it on.

Black Swan

I read someplace that the Salem Witch Trials held in early America were also started by immature little girls that pointed the witches out in their community. Now, law enforcement and the courts were more advanced then than in Bushyland today! If in doubt about a woman's witchiness, they had an experimental method to employ. Often they would tie-up the accused witches and throw them in the nearby river. If they drowned, they were proven innocent, because if they were real witches they could save themselves, right? Of course all tested in this way drowned. Hummmmmm, I wonder if America is moving towards methods using water again? Waterboarding and fear of drowning?