TEXAS: Three Lesbians Freed After 15 Years Of Wrongful Imprisonent For Molestation

Three Texas lesbians were freed yesterday after 15 years of imprisonment on child molestation charges that have now been debunked.

Cheers erupted in a San Antonio court when a lawyer for the women told a packed gallery that a deal had been reached to allow the release of Kristie Mayhugh, Elizabeth Ramirez and Cassandra Rivera. A fourth woman convicted is already out on parole. Under the deal, the women will be released on bail pending an appeal. Bexar County District Attorney Susan Reed said prosecutors would not pursue a conviction, adding that expert medical testimony from the 1997 trial would not stand up to scrutiny now. “It was a complete injustice to us,” said Anna Vasquez, the woman on parole. “At this point in my life, I am past angry. I’ve just learned to deal with it and move forward.”The group, known as the “San Antonio Four,” was convicted of sexually assaulting Ramirez’s 7- and 9-year-old nieces and sentenced to prison terms ranging from 15 to 37 years. They have denied guilt, and supporters have slammed testimony presented by the state medical witness at trial, pediatrician Nancy Kellogg. She testified about what she said were physical injuries inflicted on the girls as part of satanic rituals that she said were prevalent among some lesbians.

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The cases against the San Antonio Four are some of the first to be questioned in Texas under a law enacted in June that allows state judges to overturn verdicts based on scientific evidence that has since been debunked. During the defendants' trials, expert witness Dr. Nancy Kellogg testified that one of the victims had a scar on her hymen that was a result of a tear caused by physical trauma. Kellogg now says her testimony was inaccurate and is contradicted by an American Academy of Pediatrics study in 2007 that concluded hymen injuries do not leave scars, according to a petition filed by Ware. "They were four gay women and I think in Bexar County in the mid-nineties the prevalent belief was probably 'they're gay, they're capable of anything'," Ware told the Guardian. "They were gay and that made them 'the other' and that made these preposterous allegations believable to some people." Furthermore, one of the victims recanted her claims last year. "I can't take back what I did, but if I could talk to all of them in one room I would just say I'm sorry," she told the Express-News in 2012. "I'm sorry for ruining them."