Once again the American justice system fail hard. http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/02/union_city_woman_says_she_was.html Union City woman who admitted gang rape lie says she was intoxicated, believed her accusation By The Associated Press February 23, 2010, 7:40PM NEW YORK — A woman who fabricated a gang rape accusation was sentenced today to up to three years behind bars herself, saying she was riven with remorse for sending an innocent man to prison. Biurny Peguero, 27, pleaded guilty in December to perjury, admitting she made up the September 2005 incident that unjustly put construction worker William McCaffrey in jail and prison for nearly four years. A judge overturned his rape conviction in December, with new DNA evidence also playing a role. "I question myself every day as to how I could have done this," Peguero told a Manhattan state court judge. Peguero originally said McCaffrey was the ringleader among three men who raped her at knifepoint after luring her into their car. She met them after a night out at a Manhattan nightclub with female friends. McCaffrey, now 32, said she had agreed to go with them to a party. He said they dropped her off unharmed after she changed her mind. But jurors spurned his account after hearing from Peguero, among other witnesses. She went on to speak at his sentencing hearing, saying, "Justice has finally been served." He was sentenced to 20 years in prison; no one else was convicted. Peguero came to believe her lie because she had been too drunk to remember much of the night in question, according to a report from a psychiatrist who examined Peguero at her lawyer's request. Prosecutors have said she told them she claimed she was raped to make her friends feel sorry for her. Assistant District Attorney Evan Krutoy suggested today that she may have lied out of anger at a man who had upset — but not attacked — her. "I don't know the reason why, but she wanted to do this," he said, urging a two- to six-year sentence. Defense lawyer Paul F. Callan noted that Peguero came forward to clear McCaffrey, approaching a priest and then authorities this year to recant. Meanwhile, new DNA tests had shown that a wound on Peguero's arm came from at least two women — apparently friends she was fighting with — and not McCaffrey. Peguero, who has an infant and a 7-year-old, admitted her lie knowing it could mean prison time for her, he said. He pushed for her to get probation instead. Peguero, of Union City, N.J., got a sentence of one to three years in prison. Still, after she handcuffed to await transportation to jail, "she told me that she was at peace with herself," Callan said later today. "She knew that she was going to be punished, but she knew that she had done the right thing." For his part, McCaffrey's lawyer sent Peguero's judge a letter noting she had made a bold move to right the wrong she had committed. "Although we are upset about her lies that caused, in part, his conviction, we do applaud her courage in coming forward," the lawyer, Glenn A. Garber, said in an interview. As a member of the Exoneration Initiative, a New York-based group that provides free legal help challenging convictions, Garber depicted the case as a reminder that lies can end up carrying legal weight, even in an era of DNA and other forensic evidence. "This case gives you a window into false testimony and makes clear that people can give detailed of accounts of events that are untrue," he said.
how was that a fail brah? the tittle said he got 20 years which is true because he was sentenced to 20 years. u failed at reading brah.
Eyewitness testimony is the worst kind of evidence. Where's that thread on how women can ruin your life if they want to?
he only served 4 because the lady finally came up and confessed. I wonder how much compensation the state is going to give him for the 4 years...not nearly enough i mean taking away 28-32 from a man's life and subjecting him to be in an environment of various criminals when he was truly innocent. OH and am I the only one here who thinks that the lady should get at least 4 years mandatory no probation in jail because thats how much time the actual victim in all of this spent?
i bet she was motivated to confess because of the dna evidence that was gonna come out and show she was lying anyways. she deserves to be locked up for the same original sentence as the guy's.
nah, i believe that was another one of my threads. also about women lying about rape. Innocent until proven guilty, unless you're a male and a female cries rape.
I read the thread title as if a woman lied about rape and the accused STILL got 20 years anyway... ...which sounds ridiculous, but I honestly wouldn't be surprised to see. I think it's only fair the woman serve the same amount of time as the man.
See this crap pisses me off! It always gets big publicity when something like this happens and then people doubt women when they "cry" rape. The damage she did to women as a whole is just as bad as the four years the man served in prison for a crime he didn't commit.
Okay, Hammurabi. I actually would like that idea if the woman didn't have two young children to take care of. I feel bad for her kids that she's such a lying wench.
I understand where you're coming from, but think your reaction is too strong. If anything, this case points to the fact that people really don't doubt women when they cry rape...so much so, that when there is absolutely no corroborating evidence to speak of, a man is still sentenced. I'd imagine, in today's day and age, it is nearly impossible for someone to be raped, and then left to live, and not show some physical signs of rape immediately thereafter. Of course, this requires the person raped to immediately come forward, which I understand, psychological, doesn't always happen. The thought that someone could be out with a woman (or man) late at night, get in an argument but safely and respectfully drop that woman off, then later be called a rapist, be arrested, be tried and be thrown in jail, with no other evidence supporting the story is by far the more disturbing part of the story. It completely flies in the face of innocent until proven guilty, which our entire legal system is based on.
Damn.....eyewitness accounts are garbage. People have no clue what they see, and are always inclined to believe the worst.
