GUILTY IL - Coach Michael Cardamone accused of sexually abusing 14 gymnasts

[genecam]

I feel great sympathy for any family that has had a child molested.

However, each case is different. You can't project the circumstances from one case onto another.

There is also no one single profile of a pedophile. I have read and heard of as many different pedophile profiles as there are theories on what a person's optimum cholesterol levels are.

Some pedophiles fit one profile. Some fit another. Some prosecutors make it up as they go along. Some juries are really stupid. This one certainly was. This case was reeking with reasonable doubt. The jurors had to be asleep not to see it.

 

[Mindstar]

More trouble



http://news.yahoo.com/s/cdh/20060107/lo_cdh/coachdeniesharassingparentwith911call

 

[BillyGoatGruff]

More trouble



http://news.yahoo.com/s/cdh/20060107/lo_cdh/coachdeniesharassingparentwith911call

Some people never learn.
I guess it never dawned on him that any of this would be double-checked.

 

[Maddy's Mom]

Some people never learn.
I guess it never dawned on him that any of this would be double-checked.

Its almost like the boy who cried wolf. That wolf bit him in the a$$.

 

[golfmom]

I all but fell out of my chair when I saw this article:

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=162150

Imprisoned Aurora gymnastics coach Michael P. Cardamone has won a new trial.

A state appeals court overturned Thursday his conviction and 20-year prison sentence after citing legal errors made during his DuPage County trial.

Cardamone, 31, was convicted of molesting seven girls under his tutelage at his family's gymnastics facility. He always has maintained his innocence.

In a lengthy opinion, appellate justices found DuPage Circuit Judge Michael Burke denied Cardamone a fair trial, citing specific reasons, such as faulty jury instructions and failing to allow certain expert testimony.

 

[genecam]

The 2nd District Illinois Appellate Court ordered a new trial for (Michael) Cardamone. In its 70-page decision, the three-judge panel cited several trial errors, including faulty instructions given to the jury by DuPage County Judge Michael Burke, exclusion of certain expert testimony sought by the defense and improper referencing of crimes with which Cardamone was not charged


http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-cardamone-webmar29,1,6890711.story?track=rss

This is fantastic news. Nobody gets a fair trial in DuPage County, but Cardamone's trial was egregiously unfair, and the jury verdict was totally off the wall. And Judge Burke, who came to the bench straight from the DuPage County State's Attorney's Office, conducted the trial like he was part of the prosecution team.

I hope they ask for a change of venue for the new trial.

 

[golfmom]

Hey Genecam, I can't believe they got it overturned!

 

[genecam]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-cardamone-both-25sep25,0,462395.story

At last, justice in this case. The Illinois Supreme Court refused to hear this case and affirmed the Appellate Court ruling awarding Michael Cardamone a new trial.

I hope the new trial can be held somewhere else besides DuPage County. He cannot get a fair trial there.

I think his innocence will be proven at a new trial when ALL of the evidence exonerating him is allowed to be presented.

And he's got the Zellner law firm going for him, too.

 

[PattyCake]

How can 14 children be wrong? I haven't followed this story but I cannot believe at the moment that this guy is innocent. What a horrible injustice IF he's released AND hurts children again someday. Pedophiles cannot be fixed! I just don't understand how he could be innocent with the number of children involved.


Came back to add after reading the case:
NOPE, NO WAY. There were a lot of complaints for years about this guy and his inappropriateness? And nothing was done. THEN 14 girls come forward and there were even more children than this? NO WAY. This guy better fry. Sorry folks, he's going to hurt children again. And 20 years is not nearly enough.

 

[MCDRAW]

How can 14 children be wrong? I haven't followed this story but I cannot believe at the moment that this guy is innocent. What a horrible injustice IF he's released AND hurts children again someday. Pedophiles cannot be fixed! I just don't understand how he could be innocent with the number of children involved.


Came back to add after reading the case:
NOPE, NO WAY. There were a lot of complaints for years about this guy and his inappropriateness? And nothing was done. THEN 14 girls come forward and there were even more children than this? NO WAY. This guy better fry. Sorry folks, he's going to hurt children again. And 20 years is not nearly enough.

I agree. I just can not believe that 14 girls decided to lie to get him in trouble. As far as the fathers not being around, aren't these the children that pedophiles target?

 

[genecam]

I personally am convinced this guy is innocent. However, whether he is innocent or guilty, there is no way he received a fair trial. It took the Appellate Court 70 pages to detail how unfair it was. And the Illinois Supreme Court let their decision stand.

There was enough reasonable doubt - about the size of the grand canyon - to find him not guilty.

All of the so called prior acts are just unsubstantiated statements issued by the lawyers in the civil suit. They are just money grubbers. None of them were even brought up at the sentencing hearing. If there was any credibility to them, you'd think the prosecutors would have something more to bring up at sentencing than a violation for riding a moped without a bike flag, or a high school suspension for having a bb gun in his locker.

And yes, there were 14 girls. They all told identical stories. Yet the jury convicted him on 7 and acquitted him on 7. And it was a Friday afternoon and they didn't want to be sequestered for the weekend.

You need to read the details of this case, not just the overblown hyperbole from the prosecutors and the money grubbing civil suit attorneys.

 

[Hucklepie]

I remember hearing about this, but didn't realize the trial stuff was still going on. I figured it had been decided one way or another long before now.

Things like this make me very nervous. I coach gymnastics, and I am super paranoid about catching a kid in the wrong place when I'm spotting, especially if I'm trying to catch a kid who's falling off the bars or beam. A male coach at the gym told us frankly during a seminar a few months ago that yes, he's accidentally grabbed a kid by the breast or butt a few times, and that his immediate response is to apologize to the kid, then speak one-on-one to the parent to explain before they leave that day. It's a fine line to walk - on one hand, you want to avoid touching a kid in any conceivably inappropriate way at all, and on the other hand, you want to do whatever you have to do in order to catch a falling kid so they don't get terribly injured. I'd be devastated if a kid accused me of sexual harassment when I'm just trying to keep them safe.

 

[genecam]

I remember hearing about this, but didn't realize the trial stuff was still going on. I figured it had been decided one way or another long before now.

Things like this make me very nervous. I coach gymnastics, and I am super paranoid about catching a kid in the wrong place when I'm spotting, especially if I'm trying to catch a kid who's falling off the bars or beam. A male coach at the gym told us frankly during a seminar a few months ago that yes, he's accidentally grabbed a kid by the breast or butt a few times, and that his immediate response is to apologize to the kid, then speak one-on-one to the parent to explain before they leave that day. It's a fine line to walk - on one hand, you want to avoid touching a kid in any conceivably inappropriate way at all, and on the other hand, you want to do whatever you have to do in order to catch a falling kid so they don't get terribly injured. I'd be devastated if a kid accused me of sexual harassment when I'm just trying to keep them safe.

Glad to see a thoughtful post from a gymnastics coach here.

 

[genecam]

Michael Cardamone was released from the Illinois State Prison in Taylorville today and taken to the Du Page County jail to await a re-trial.

He could have a bond hearing later this week and, hopefully be out on bail.

 

[MsFacetious]

Went looking for an update...


Regains custody of his kids:

http://www.bowmanandassoc.com/cardamone-wins-custody-of-his-kids/

Pleads to lesser charges

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/...-gymnastics-school-lesser-charges-guilty-plea


Two women found not guilty of forging gymnastic schedules

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/...20_1_linda-lynch-lynch-and-arndt-andrea-arndt