Post portrayed Gonzalez’s confession as more noble than it really was

The previous entry on Biurny Peguero Gonzalez was based on an article in the February 28 New York Post. But, as a reader has brought to my attention, an article in the February 25 Post showed a very different side of Gonzalez’s conduct, which was not mentioned in the February 28 story.

Eric R. writes:

Accounts reveal that Biurny Peguero Gonzalez, pregnant at time of her sentencing, attempted to avoid her testimony after learning she was with child. She sought to retract her confession at the expense of the wrongly imprisoned. Her priest took a proactive role to ensure she followed through.

Regarding the conviction, the defendant was found guilty on the strength of her testimony alone. She was admitted to the hospital with scratches and cuts, though the nurses observed no evidence of rape. The scratches were obtained during a fight with her girlfriends, who were mad at her for separating from them during a night of partying. She invented the rape to cover up the fight with her friends, though her lawyers maintained that she actually grew to believe her own lies, since her memory was blurred from excessive alcohol.

It is likely, as I see it, that the confession was simply typical impulsive behavior on her part. The absolution she sought from confession is consistent with her purely selfish, self-centered attitude that is pattern behavior.

The Gothamist has details of the original conviction. Here is the New York Post’s Feb. 25 account of Biurney’s attempted retraction of her confession.

The story has garnered extensive coverage from the False Rape Society, though their tone is repetitive.

[end of commnet]

The Gothamist account fails to explain how William McCaffrey could have been found guilty of rape in the absence of any physical evidence of rape.

Here is the New York Post’s story on how Gonzalez sought to get out of her confession and only went through with it under pressure from the priest

‘Rape’ girl’s new shocker
By LAURA ITALIANO
Last Updated: 7:33 AM, February 26, 2010
Posted: 3:03 AM, February 25, 2010

The notorious “Girl who Cried Rape”—now prison-bound for perjury—would have let her victim rot behind bars if she’d known she was pregnant when she first recanted, according to court papers.

Biurny Peguero Gonzalez would never have told a Union City priest last February that she’d framed an innocent man if she’d known at the moment she sat in the confessional that she and her husband were going to have a baby, the papers say she told investigators.

“She said that had she been aware of her pregnancy, she probably would not have confessed when she did,” the papers, part of a prosecution filing, said. The baby boy was born three months ago, the second of her two children.

Gonzalez, 27, did find out she was pregnant soon after confessing to her priest a year ago. Weeks went by as she tried to wiggle out of the confession—even at one point lying that she’d lost the phone number after the priest kept urging her to call a lawyer.

When she did finally call civil and criminal lawyer Paul Callan, it was from a church phone, with the priest watching to be sure she finished the job.

Had she not confessed, William McCaffrey, 33, who served four years on her say-so, would likely have finished out his 20-year sentence.

laura.italiano@nypost.com

- end of initial entry -

LA to Erik R.:

This still doesn’t explain how a man is sentenced to 20 years in prison for a rape for which there is zero physical evidence.

Erik R. replies:

We can chalk that up to the misandry of the justice system. McCaffrey was convicted by strong testimony plus the corroborating evidence of Ms. Gonzalez’ physical wounds. When “new” DNA evidence revealed that there were no X chromosomes taken from the hospital swabs, the district attorney’s office refused even an appeal, rationalizing that the female DNA could have come from her “friends’ tears”.

I’m certainly no expert on DNA testing, but this seems like a very rudimentary procedure. I would hypothesize that either McCaffrey’s original defense attorney did not pay for it, or that he was assigned a public defender unmotivated to request it.

LA replies.:

But there was no evidence of a rape. Nothing. I’ve never heard of such a case.

And didn’t McCaffrey’s lawyer bring out the drunken brawl among Gonzalez and her friends at the garage? Would it be believable that Gonzales has just been raped, and she gets into this drunken violent cat fight with her friends?

This sounds like one of those nightmares in which the defendant received essentially no defense. Some court appointed attorney doing nothing.

But even with ZERO defense, I can’t see how they would have found him guilty and given such a severe sentence in the absence of physical evidence.

Erik R. replies:

Sadly, the conviction implies the knowing corroboration of Gonzalez’ female friends, as they would have at the very least remained silent while she gave her false testimony. They are not punished or named.

The False Rape Society website describes a revolting number of cases, though the majority of stories don’t include the added humiliation of a wrongful conviction. The conviction makes this story an outlier, but the sheer number of similar cases leads me to believe that the reason this case stands out is because the rest of the accusers never bother to confess. The two contributors to that site have dropped their pen names, to my knowledge, and respond to inquiries and requests for help. It’s a noble exercise for a very depressing subject.

Jim C. writes:

Here’s the interesting thing about false accusations of rape: the law does not even recognize them as unlawful per se. They are only unlawful because they are false police reports. That’s unbelievable! I think false accusations of rape are just as vile, disgusting, and felonious as the actual act of rape. The law should be changed so that these female predators can be put away for a very long time.

A journalist friend once tried to get ethnic/racial data from Morgenthau on which females file false charges (his theory was that Hispanics file the majority because oftentimes they are trying to punish an abusive husband or boyfriend). Wouldn’t you know that NY state has no such breakdown (as of 2000).

Posted by Lawrence Auster at March 02, 2010 06:26 AM | Send