“San Antonio Four Exonerated
“IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TEXAS
According to Applicants’ expert, Dr. Alexandria Doyle, the sexual-assault
allegations in this case do not pass “the smell test.” This emotional response
certainly captures the sense of outrage that so many harbor about these cases.
Whether it is in articles or a documentary, these cases involving “The San
Antonio Four” have been well dissected in popular media.
In the summer of 1994, two young girls alleged that four young lesbian
women, including the girls’ aunt, had spontaneously and violently gang-raped
them on two occasions within a single week. The who-what-when-and-where
changed from the outcries, to the statements made to the police, to the
statements made to the examining doctor, to the testimony at two trials. But
those inconsistencies were easy to set aside given the physical findings
associated with child sexual abuse found by Dr. Nancy Kellogg, who asserted
that the older child showed physical, objective signs of sexual abuse: In light
of Dr. Kellogg’s testimony, the girls’ stories had the ring of truth.
“Dr. Kellogg has retracted her testimony about the physical indicators of
past trauma. She now agrees with the defense that there are no definitive
signs of sexual abuse, and she has acknowledged that her testimony at trial
was wrong.”
All parties and courts, including this one, agree that all four
Applicants are entitled to have their convictions and sentences vacated because
of the introduction of what is now known to be scientifically invalid or inaccurate
evidence.
Finally, the Applicants have presented new expert testimony that they are
not sex offenders. None of the four Applicants fit the profile for sex offenders,
and psychological evaluations have confirmed this.