VA - Mark Weiner wrongfully convicted, denied remedy

[gitana1]

I read the article and seriously had two vastly opposite trains of thought:

First -- I automatically thought, "Figures, an elected official won't cop to lack of a case, erroneously prosecuting a case, etc... instead, let him rot in jail and be featured on '48 Hours' for the next decade and eventually he'll get out and taxpayers will have paid for it all and the sadness of another innocent man behind bars is just too much."

But then.... I read and re-read the article and remembered the time I was a crime victim and didn't follow "common sense" immediately afterwards and was actually accused by the police of making it up until a similar crime nearby by the same perpetrators made LE realize differently -- the only real difference was my reaction vs the other victims reaction. I was afraid and took time to figure out what to do -- and yes, called 2 people, ended up talking to my mother on the phone while the other person I had called contacted 911; the other victim immediately went for help. Let's just say that all worked against me.

I can't put my finger on it -- something made me think of that.

I can understand the victim being afraid of police -- there are plenty who are--and after my experience I'm sure I will always feel the need to over-explain myself if ever again questioned by LE for any reason. We all bring baggage into every experience of our lives, and it's always easy to blame and question the victim if she/he doesn't react JUST the way we would....

As far as whether or not a 52 year old would "talk like that" -- it entirely depends on the 52 year old.... It's not as though "IMMA" is unknown to people of that generation.... baby imma want you... baby imma need you

So... I guess my point is that I'm reserving my judgment & not getting on the bandwagon just yet.

Look at this! What happened to me? I'm usually the first to play devil's advocate and explain why a suspect should NOT be....

Uh oh, does this "mean" something? :scared:

I don't think it's hard to judge what happened here. Facts:

1. There is no physical evidence tying the defendant to the kidnapping to this woman or to her sexual assault.
2. At one point, the "victim" admitted she made it all up.
3. Chloroform does not knock a person out in seconds as Steiniger claimed happened to her. It takes about 5 minutes. (Which should make everyone who followed the casey anthony case, very sad for Caylee, "the victim would have the ability to struggle and to recall the events").
4. Steiniger had reason to make up a story - she had been kicked out of her boyfriend's home and told she could not stay the night there. She kept trying to find excuses to be able to stay the night, as she walked home, including asking him if she could come back if she fought with her mother once she got home. He refused.
5. Steiniger was able to text her boyfriend repeatedly, during the supposed assault and kidnapping, giving a sort of play by play.
6. Steinginger failed to call 911 to report the abduction as it was occurring, even though she had the opportunity, as her texting showed.
7. The perp supposedly risked that the police would be immediately called and their location tracked, BEFORE he began raping Steiniger, by immediately texting repeated insults and descriptions about what he was going to do, seconds after he supposedly kidnapped and chloroformed Steiniger, which continued for a full 10 minutes. So we are supposed to believe that a rapist wants to take ten minutes to allow cops to find him, before he begins his assault.
8. Inexplicably, in one minute, Weiner was able to chloroform Steiniger, subdue her, take control of her phone while driving a vehicle.
9. 10 minutes after the last tex from the supposed perp, the victim again has control of her phone and texts that she is hiding in the building with the perp and "I cant Answer hell find me,” which makes no sense, and then that she is going out the window. Again, texting her boyfriend instead of calling the police.
10. Steiniger said she escaped by leaping off a second-floor balcony, but she had no injuries.
11. After escaping, Steiniger failed to call 911 or anyone else but her boyfriend, to report the crime or beg to be saved.
12. Steiniger failed to answer the phone when ECC tried to contact her after she claims she escaped the house.
13. Steiniger was examined by a nurse that night and no evidence of sexual assault was found.
14. Steiniger claimed she stopped responding to texts after she escaped because her phone battery died after the 12:52am message. But phone records show she talked to her boyfriend and listened to the ECC message on her voicemail during the time she said the battery was dead.
15. Steiniger's cell phone pinged several times, during the time of the alleged incident, off two towers by her mom's home, but never off any tower near the house she claimed she was assaulted in by Weiner. Police experts who analyzed the cell tower evidence stated that the calls came from Steiniger's mother's home - not the abandoned house she supposedly escaped from. (Their testimony never came in).
16. Steiniger accessed her voicemail during the time she stated she was unconscious.
17. Weiner's cell phone records show his phone was 17 miles away from where the assault supposedly occurred, when it was occurring.

I see nothing that could lead anyone to reasonably conclude, after reviewing all the evidence, that there is any way the guy is guilty or that there exists an iota of doubt as to his credibility.

 

[ArianeEmory]

Thanks for the lengthy analysis and the thread bump, gitana.

I'm not plugged into social media but this one needs to go viral. It's absolutely ridiculous.

 

[Snoofo]

I can see why her story isn't believable but something's nagging at me and it won't go away ... him driving around smoking because his wife didn't like cigarettes.

I know men and women who do this. "Hide" smoking from either spouse, kids or parents. If Weiner's son is at the age where he is learning about deadly effects of smoking at school, this could also be a reason to have to sneak the smokes away from home.

Sent using Tapatalk 2

 

[Snoofo]

Thanks for the lengthy analysis and the thread bump, gitana.

I'm not plugged into social media but this one needs to go viral. It's absolutely ridiculous.

I'd take it straight to a politician known for fairness and integrity (Anyone? Anyone?) I don't know much sbout law down there but you have to ask who gets stuff done? And go to that person for action.

Sent using Tapatalk 2

 

[Hejlena]

What I can't sort out are the legalities of this prosecution, and now he will be sentenced. Like, how in the world were they allowed to prosecute this?

 

[ArianeEmory]

http://www.schillingshow.com/2014/07/15/justice_denied/

http://wina.com/news/064460-judge-delays-sentencing-for-mark-weiner/

 

[SStarr33]

This says sentencing is delayed until October:

http://www.newsplex.com/home/headlines/Sentencing-Delayed-for-Mark-Weiner-269827631.html

 

[Indy Anna]

One encouraging item in this case is that the UVA School of Law’s Innocence Project is involved. I hope they can help Mark Weiner gain his freedom.

Some interesting comments by UVA's Innocence Project's director of investigation:

Enright was also troubled by Higgins’ decision.

“It’s really disheartening to me to hear the court say she has no jurisdiction.” The cell tower evidence was known about during the trial—a rare occurrence of falling within the 21-day rule. “How [Higgins] could say she didn’t have jurisdiction is mystifying to me,” said Enright.

Virginia’s notorious 21-day rule is just one factor that hampers relief to the wrongly convicted, say defense attorneys.

The Innocence Project Clinic’s Enright said that as prosecutor, Lunsford has two jobs: to prosecute the guilty and to seek justice. “Denise Lunsford could have been quite the hero and said, ‘We caught it.’ Now it looks so dishonest,” said Enright.

She remembers looking at Weiner’s family in court as they awaited Higgins’ decision on June 3. “They think it’s a mistake and will get corrected because that’s what rational people do,” she said.

http://www.c-ville.com/an-innocent-...l-conviction-precede-sentencing/#.U_HrGeNr5QY

 

[Indy Anna]

So far, the Innocence Project has exonerated 317 people wrongly incarcerated.

http://www.innocenceproject.org/

However, there's one big hurdle in the case of Mark Weiner:

[CS] was examined by a nurse that night and no evidence of sexual assault was found.

<snipped>
http://www.c-ville.com/an-innocent-...l-conviction-precede-sentencing/#.U_HrGeNr5QY
Ironically, there is no DNA evidence to exclude MW as the perp (because there was no DNA evidence and no crime was committed). :gaah:

 

[montana_16]

This is nuts!!!!!!!! I hope they can help this man.

 

[Hejlena]

Denise Lunsford should be disbarred. I wonder how many other wrongful convictions she has bullied through.

 

[AuntB]

http://www.schillingshow.com/2014/07/15/justice_denied/

http://wina.com/news/064460-judge-delays-sentencing-for-mark-weiner/

ArianeEmory, You posted about this case in the Hayley Turner thread; I wouldn't be here without your nudge, so, thank you. :tyou:

This is so very disturbing. There's so much wrong in this case--from Virginia laws to the prosecutorial shenanigans to the ineffective defense attorney to the judge's behavior. Was the defense attorney on drugs?! How could he fail to produce the matchbook? :gaah:

Poor Mr. Weiner is living a nightmare. One of the few things he has going for him is the defense attorney's own admission that he provided ineffective counsel.

Our justice system has to do better than this. :scared:

 

[iamnotagolem]

I am astonished by this case, more by the gross injustice. I don't understand how a jury could convict, were they not informed what reasonable doubt meant?

Several of the jurors who convicted Weiner declined comment on what led to their decision, but one agreed to speak on condition that his name not be used. He recalls a &#8220;hard decision,&#8221; and said he might have felt differently had he heard about the cell tower evidence.

&#8220;Had his attorney presented a better case and presented other data, it could have gone another way,&#8221; said the juror, who disagreed with the defense motion to set aside the verdict. &#8220;I thought he had grounds for appeal. He&#8217;s not entitled to have the verdict set aside,&#8221; he said.

http://www.c-ville.com/an-innocent-...l-conviction-precede-sentencing/#.VEmCpYvF-H8

 

[pomegranate]

Sentencing postponed until december:
http://m.dailyprogress.com/news/lo...c8-4904-11e4-ba68-0017a43b2370.html?mode=jqm

 

[Hejlena]

Sentencing postponed until december:
http://m.dailyprogress.com/news/lo...c8-4904-11e4-ba68-0017a43b2370.html?mode=jqm

Wow. Denied bond. In jail since Dec 2012. Sentencing delayed again, but he cannot appeal until he is sentenced. It's like a Kafka story.

 

[Jan]

This girl had a husband in jail and a boyfriend on the side, and she wants to make her boyfriend upset/jealous or more attentive. So, she lies about an innocent man and sends him to jail for 20 years. SHE should be in jail!

 

[doubt]

i've never heard of this case until now.

are you kidding me? this is the kind of thing that scares me to death.

and the thing is, even if this travesty of justice is somehow righted, the effects will be there on an entire family forever. horrible.

 

[OkieGranny]

http://www.dailyprogress.com/news/l...cle_3cc3acba-7fd8-11e4-b2ba-7fe65073d908.html

Lawyers say new evidence proves a woman lied when she testified she had never been to the abandoned home in Albemarle County where she said Mark L. Weiner took her two years ago after abducting her...

&#8220;The evidence that [the woman] was at the house at 2184 Richmond Road prior to December 12, 2012, is further evidence that establishes [her] fraud &#8212; that her claim of an abduction was pure fabrication &#8212; and that the verdict must be set aside,&#8221; wrote his lawyers, Steven D. Benjamin and Betty Layne DesPortes of Richmond in a motion filed Monday.

They argue that at the least, the newly discovered evidence requires Judge Cheryl Higgins to grant a new trial. Weiner, 54, is set to be sentenced next week. The jury that convicted Weiner in 2013 recommended a 20-year term, the shortest term allowed by the law.

 

[wendybtn]

Any officer of the court, IMHO, who believes her story is not thinking logically. Her boyfriend is unbelievably naive. There is not evidence of any crime, except perhaps for filing a false report.
Do we know if his attorney ever filed the motion to set aside a verdict in the appropriate court? The last legal paper I saw dated 6/3/14 said the motion to set aside was not in a court of proper jurisdiction. Does it need to go to an appeals court or the state supreme court?

 

[gxm]

I don't think it's hard to judge what happened here. Facts:

1. There is no physical evidence tying the defendant to the kidnapping to this woman or to her sexual assault.
2. At one point, the "victim" admitted she made it all up.
3. Chloroform does not knock a person out in seconds as Steiniger claimed happened to her. It takes about 5 minutes. (Which should make everyone who followed the casey anthony case, very sad for Caylee, "the victim would have the ability to struggle and to recall the events").
4. Steiniger had reason to make up a story - she had been kicked out of her boyfriend's home and told she could not stay the night there. She kept trying to find excuses to be able to stay the night, as she walked home, including asking him if she could come back if she fought with her mother once she got home. He refused.
5. Steiniger was able to text her boyfriend repeatedly, during the supposed assault and kidnapping, giving a sort of play by play.
6. Steinginger failed to call 911 to report the abduction as it was occurring, even though she had the opportunity, as her texting showed.
7. The perp supposedly risked that the police would be immediately called and their location tracked, BEFORE he began raping Steiniger, by immediately texting repeated insults and descriptions about what he was going to do, seconds after he supposedly kidnapped and chloroformed Steiniger, which continued for a full 10 minutes. So we are supposed to believe that a rapist wants to take ten minutes to allow cops to find him, before he begins his assault.
8. Inexplicably, in one minute, Weiner was able to chloroform Steiniger, subdue her, take control of her phone while driving a vehicle.
9. 10 minutes after the last tex from the supposed perp, the victim again has control of her phone and texts that she is hiding in the building with the perp and "I cant Answer hell find me,” which makes no sense, and then that she is going out the window. Again, texting her boyfriend instead of calling the police.
10. Steiniger said she escaped by leaping off a second-floor balcony, but she had no injuries.
11. After escaping, Steiniger failed to call 911 or anyone else but her boyfriend, to report the crime or beg to be saved.
12. Steiniger failed to answer the phone when ECC tried to contact her after she claims she escaped the house.
13. Steiniger was examined by a nurse that night and no evidence of sexual assault was found.
14. Steiniger claimed she stopped responding to texts after she escaped because her phone battery died after the 12:52am message. But phone records show she talked to her boyfriend and listened to the ECC message on her voicemail during the time she said the battery was dead.
15. Steiniger's cell phone pinged several times, during the time of the alleged incident, off two towers by her mom's home, but never off any tower near the house she claimed she was assaulted in by Weiner. Police experts who analyzed the cell tower evidence stated that the calls came from Steiniger's mother's home - not the abandoned house she supposedly escaped from. (Their testimony never came in).
16. Steiniger accessed her voicemail during the time she stated she was unconscious.
17. Weiner's cell phone records show his phone was 17 miles away from where the assault supposedly occurred, when it was occurring.

I see nothing that could lead anyone to reasonably conclude, after reviewing all the evidence, that there is any way the guy is guilty or that there exists an iota of doubt as to his credibility.

Not disagreeing with your conclusion but, IMO, you should remove #10. I once jumped out of a 2nd story window after a person locked me in a bathroom and ordered me to strip. I didn't receive any injuries other than turning my ankle slightly. I was still able to run from the house. I hate to think people would call me a liar just because I figured out that if you hang from the window by your hands and gently let go, it's an easier drop. At least it worked for me.