Frugal Café Blog Zone

Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on January 17, 2010

Massachusetts AG Martha Coakley under cloud of suspicion on how she ineptly handled a child rapist case in 2005 when serving as DA. Rapist and police officer Keith Winfield was the son of union rep and fundraiser for her AG campaign

The 2005 rape of a defenseless, 23-month-old girl with a hot curling iron by Keith Winfield, a Somerville, Massachusetts police officer, goes beyond disturbing. This is pure evil.

And Martha Coakley, who was then District Attorney, handled the vicious rape of this toddler leniently, some would even say ineptly. It is believed by many that Winfield’s father, a union representative, had personal ties to Coakley’s office and was raising funds for Coakley’s Attorney General campaign, so Winfield was allegedly being protected.

Protection of a child rapist. Despicable.

And who was protecting the rights of this violated little girl, this baby? Most certainly it was NOT Martha Coakley.

FOX News: Martha Coakley’s Controversial Past in Notorious Child Rape Case

Horrific details on the sadistic rape of the toddler and the suspicious way that Coakley handled the sex case, from The Boston Globe:

In October 2005, a Somerville police officer living in Melrose raped his 23-month-old niece with a hot object, most likely a curling iron.

Keith Winfield, then 31, told police he was alone with the toddler that day and made additional statements that would ultimately be used to convict him.

But in the aftermath of the crime, a Middlesex County grand jury overseen by Martha Coakley, then the district attorney, investigated without taking action.

It was only after the toddler’s mother filed applications for criminal complaints that Coakley won grand jury indictments charging rape and assault and battery.

Even then, nearly 10 months after the crime, Coakley’s office recommended that Winfield be released on personal recognizance, with no cash bail. He remained free until December 2007, when Coakley’s successor as district attorney won a conviction and two life terms.

[...]

Although high cash bail is intended primarily as a means to ensure that the accused appear for court dates, judicial guidelines say it can be imposed in cases because of “the nature and circumstances of the offense’’ or the potential sentence a defendant faces. Each of the rape charges on which Winfield was indicted carried a potential life sentence.

John Swomley, a defense lawyer who has represented clients prosecuted by Coakley, said he found her decision to recommend that Winfield be released on personal recognizance unusual.

“Given the evidence it appears they had, I can’t imagine them not asking for cash bail,’’ he said.

Family members of the toddler remain troubled by Coakley’s recommendation that Winfield be allowed to remain free.

“Why was he able to be two years out of jail? Why is that?’’ said one family member. “We ask that question all the time.’’

The Globe is withholding the names of the family members because naming them would indirectly identify the victim and the Globe does not publish the names of sexual abuse victims.

But Robert L. Sheketoff – Winfield’s attorney in his appeal, which is still pending – said the decision by Coakley’s office to allow Winfield to remain free on personal recognizance was appropriate.

“Bail is not supposed to be used as a means to keep someone locked up,’’ he said.

Warning: The following details are graphic and disturbing.

The Winfield case began Oct. 13, 2005, after a day when Winfield and his wife were baby sitting their niece, along with their own two children.

That afternoon, when the toddler’s grandmother stopped by to pick her up, she found the toddler crying, and the child refused to walk. After taking the toddler home, the grandmother changed her diaper and noticed what she could only conclude was a severe diaper rash, according to a narrative of the case detailed in court documents.

When the toddler’s mother returned from work, the girl was still crying and in obvious pain. And when the mother changed her diaper, she, too, noted that the area was very red.

By 11 p.m., when the toddler’s mother once again changed her diaper, the redness had become alarming. “Her genital and anal area was bleeding, and her skin was peeling off,’’ according to prosecutors.

The next morning, after her condition had worsened, the toddler’s mother took her to a Somerville pediatrician who referred her to Children’s Hospital and notified the Department of Social Services (now the Department of Families and Children), along with Melrose police. The toddler ultimately spent a month at Shriners Hospital for Children in Boston recovering from burns.

Three weeks after the rape, on Nov. 7, Winfield gave his interview to Melrose detectives, saying he was alone with the toddler for about an hour on the day of the crime. He also said, “I would have never, ever, ever, ever wanted to take on another child,’’ a statement that was later used by prosecutors at trial to show that Winfield’s commitment to care for his niece was an intolerable burden and, therefore, a motivation to harm her.

The following January, after neither Melrose police nor Coakley’s office had taken any public action against Winfield, [Cambridge attorney Larry] Frisoli wrote to an assistant district attorney saying that he and the toddler’s mother planned to pursue charges on their own.

Contrasting how Coakley handled the case with Keith Winfield and that of another accused child rapist is this report from PowerLine… and why a growing number of people believe that it appears that Coakley protected child rapist Winfield:

A Tale of Two Cases

…[H]ow do we explain Coakley’s deplorable and inconsistent conduct as a prosecutor in two high profile child-abuse allegation cases? In the first, Gerald “Tookie” Amirault was convicted of child abuse based on wild allegations ( Dorothy Rabinowitz calls them perhaps the most astounding ever to be credited in an American courtroom) that had been discredited by the time Coakley became involved in the case. Yet Coakley did everything she could to keep Amirault behind bars. For example, before agreeing to revise his sister’s sentence to time served, Coakley asked the Amiraults’ attorney to pledge, in exchange, that he would stop representing Gerald and undertake no further legal action on his behalf. The attorney of course refused to engage in this unethical course of action.

In 2001, the Massachusetts Governor’s Board of Pardons and Paroles voted 5-0, with one abstention, to commute Amirault’s sentence. A majority added a statement noting the lack of evidence against the Amiraults and the “extraordinary if not bizarre allegations” on which they had been convicted. According to Rabinowitz, editorials in every major and minor paper in the state applauded the Board’s findings.

However, Coakley organized a campaign to persuade the Governor, Jane Swift, to reject the board’s ruling. Swift ultimately did so, causing Amirault to serve two more years.

Now consider Coakley’s conduct in a 2005 case in which a Somerville police officer was charged with raping his 23-month-old niece with a hot object, most likely a curling iron. A Middlesex County grand jury, which Coakley oversaw, investigated the matter without taking action. Only after the toddler’s mother filed applications for criminal complaints did Coakley secure indictments charging rape and assault and battery. Coakley’s office then recommended that Winfield be released on personal recognizance, with no cash bail. He remained free until December 2007, when Coakley’s successor as district attorney won a conviction and two life terms based in part on the officer’s own statements upon his arrest.

Why did the rapist receive such favorable treatment from Coakley? The lawyer (now deceased) who was hired by the family of the victim believed that Coakley acted as she did because the father of the defendant, a union representative, was raising money and obtaining endorsements for her campaign for Massachusetts Attorney General.

That would explain why Coakley, so unyielding in her persecution of a child-abuse defendant against whom the evidence was weak, acted so leniently in her treatment of a defendant against whom the evidence, including his own statements, apparently was strong.

This sums it up well, from WAAF, The Hill-Man’s Blog, Martha and Scott: Was it “rape-rape”?:

It is certainly shameful for Martha Coakley to try to paint Scott Brown as a person who does not care about rape victims, but it is horrendous to let a man go free and walk amongst the rest of us who raped his 2 year old niece with a curling iron. If you are going to vote Tuesday based on who cares more about rape victims, I think you have your answer.

Anyone wonder how Martha Coakley sleeps at night, knowing how she impeded the investigation and prosecution of a sadistic child rapist? She probably sleeps just fine, thank you very.

Additional on Brown-Coakley race:
Atlas Shrugs: Democrats Breaking the Law to Beat Brown: Three More Days Until We Rout the Fascists
Gateway Pundit: Rep. Weiner: If Brown Wins You Can Make a Good Argument Health Care Might Be Dead (Video) and Pathetic. Coakley Says She Was Joking About Curt Schilling Being a Yankee Fan and Breaking: Joe Lieberman May Endorse Scott Brown and Honest Dem Ed Schultz Says “I’d Cheat” to Keep Scott Brown Out of the Senate (Audio) and BREAKING: Scott Brown Files Complaint Against Dem Party- CLAIMS DEFAMATION …Update: Penalty is $1,000 or Up to 6 Mos. in Jail and Ouch. Coakley’s Husband’s Old Work Buddies Endorse Scott Brown- Slam Martha Coakley and Unicorn Rider to the Rescue… Obama Will Fly to Beantown to Save Coakley and Just Awful– Coakley Uses Image of World Trade Center in Attack Ad to Symbolize Greed and Martha Coakley on Afghanistan: Mission Accomplished and MARTHA COAKLEY SMEARS SCOTT BROWN Outside Her Big Health Care Lobbyist Fundraiser (Video) and Leading Mass Blue Blog: “Yes It Sucks But Vote For Coakley Anyway”
Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion: Coakley Supporters Fabricate Birther Accusation Against Brown and Brown Massacres Coakley Online
Frugal Café Blog Zone: Vile Coakley Mailer: Lies about Brown Denying Medical Treatment for Rape Victims, Criminal Charges Filed (video) and Expect a Miracle in Massachusetts: Government’s Pundits & Puppets Wrong Again… Massachusetts Miracle, & More Brown Videos and Distressed Starship USS Coakley: Even MA Union Members Are Voting for Scott Brown, Obama is MIA… Is Coakley Going Down in Flames? and Martha, Martha, Martha… You Need to Keep your Left-wing Thugs at Bay until AFTER the Election (video) and Scott Brown: “With All Due Respect… It’s the People’s Seat” (video) and MA Police Endorse Scott Brown, Dems Will Delay Election Certification, Boston Herald to MA Voters: One Vote Can Make a Difference, Vote for Brown (video)

Patterico’s Pontifications: The “Whole World” is Watching Massachusetts; UPDATE WITH VIDEO: White House Thinks Coakley Will Lose? and Bob Kerrey: Scott Brown Doesn’t Believe in Evolution (Updated) and Obama-Coakley Rally Doesn’t Fill the Hall and If Brown Wins, Can Democrats Stop a Filibuster By Delaying His Appointment?
Nice Deb: Martha Coakey’s Outrageous, Over the Top Campaign Ads Draw Fire, Ridicule, Guffaws
Jim Hoft, Big Government: Barack Obama Slams Scott Brown and His Truck… It’s a GM Truck
GayPatriot: Coakley Doesn’t Know “What the Hell is Going On” in Massachusetts, Says Curt Schilling and Coakley’s Negative Voicemail Campaign and The Political Cost of Democrats’ Nasty Massachusetts Campaign and Scott Brown Can Stand the Cold and Gay Left Smears GOP Senate Hopeful
Riehl World View: Democrats Underestimated America’s Anger
HillBuzz: Question of the Day: Why are you so angry at Martha Coakley? and PHOTOSHOP CHALLENGE: “I’m Martha Coakley, and I approve this message” and HARRY REID AND DEMOCRATS, MARK OUR WORDS: WE WILL SEAT SENATOR SCOTT BROWN ON THE STEPS OF THE CAPITOL IF WE HAVE TO
Mcnorman’s Weblog: Massachusetts Voters’ Discontent Threatens TheStranglehold On Teddy’s Seat and Scott Brown Under Vote Troll Attack In Massachusetts, Stand Now Because It Is NOT The Kennedy Seat
blonde sagacity: Coming Soon to a Liberal Bastion Near You, A Republican In Teddy’s Seat…?!
VotingFemale Speaks!: Coakley to Mass Voters: “Curt Schilling (Scott Brown supporter) is a Yankees Fan”; That’s equiv to telling voters Obama is a Republican; On What PLANET do you live???!!! and SEIU flips Obama the Purple Finger of Fate; campaigns for Scott Brown (no, I’m not kidding) and Obama? Come stump for Coakley and you will See… a Boston Tea Party just for Thee; UPDATE: Obama’s Boston Tea Party On, lets ROLL and Merry Marvy Coakley can see no Terrorists in Afghanistan from her house and Scott Brown issues a stern warning to President Obama; stay away from Massachusetts; Coakley plead to Obama to come rescue her sinking campaign and Coakley and her Goon; How much Lobbyists’ $$$ did ya get in Washington, old girl?Scott Brown under vote troll attack; Read Up
The Lonely Conservative: Scott Brown Filing Criminal Complaint Against Mass Democrats! – Updated and Bumped
Dancing Czars: Is Martha Coakley Capable of being Senator of Any State? Where is the Out Rage? Coakley on Schilling: A Yankee Fan?
The Conservative Pup: “It’s The People’s Seat”
Richard Baehr, American Thinker: Blue to Red: Massachusetts Senate Race

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