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Kids Recant Sex Abuse Claim Against Dad After He Serves 20 Years

By Jeralyn

Former police officer Clyde Ray Spencer spent 20 years in prison after his kids claimed he sexually molested them and he pleaded no contest to the charges. On Friday, at a court hearing, the kids, now adults, said the abuse never happened.

What persuaded them at first that it did happen and why did it take them so long to retract the claims?

Matthew, now 33, was 9 years old at the time. He told a judge he made the allegation after months of insistent questioning by now-retired Clark County sheriff's detective Sharon Krause just so she would leave him alone.

Tetz, 30, said she doesn't remember what she told Krause back in 1985, but she remembers Krause buying her ice cream. She said that when she finally read the police reports she was "absolutely sure" the abuse never happened. "I would have remembered something that graphic, that violent," Tetz said.

[More...]

As to what took them so long:

Both children said that while growing up in California they were told by their mother, who divorced Spencer before he was charged, that they were blocking out the memory of the abuse.

They said they realized as adults the abuse never happened, and they came forward because it was the right thing to do.

Gov. Gary Locke commuted Spence's sentence in 2004, but he remains a sex offender and is seeking to overturn the conviction.

Spencer's sentence was commuted by then-Gov. Gary Locke in 2004 after questions arose about his conviction. Among other problems, prosecutors withheld medical exams that showed no evidence of abuse, even though Krause claimed the abuse was repeated and violent.

The DA says he isn't giving up on the conviction.

Senior deputy prosecutor Kim Farr grilled the children about why they are so certain they weren't abused, and chief criminal deputy prosecutor Dennis Hunter said that if the convictions are tossed, his office might appeal to the state Supreme Court.

He was a former police officer. I wonder why he originally pleaded no contest to the charges. To spare his kids the trial? Was he led to believe he'd get probation? The article ends with a description of the hugs and cheers from his kids and supporters at Friday's hearing:

The hardest thing about his ordeal was missing his children, he said. "They were my life, and they were taken away from me," he said. "I could serve in prison. ..." His voice trailed off, and his son came up for one more hug.

I wonder where the ex-wife/mom is today and whether she's still pressing the DA to keep fighting.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on July 12, 2009 (boomark / email).