A Disturbing View Of the American Legal System

I noted an article in the Peshtigo Times from September, 2007. This dealt with the conviction of a fifty‑one‑year‑old man for first‑degree sexual assault of a child.

The news account covered severe juror misconduct and a corrupted prosecution witness.

Dennis Keith Durocher was found guilty by a Marinette County jury after being accused of sexually assaulting a five‑year‑old child.

One the jurors talked to his wife, a registered nurse about the case. He then told the other jurors about her opinion. This juror needed to be censured by the judge for this activity. In addition, this should have been grounds for a mistrial. I don’t know whether Defense Attorney Shane Brabazon requested a mistrial or if the request were denied by Judge David Miron. But, something was screwed up.

The other item involves the prosecution witness, a registered nurse. She testified that the physical evidence of the child was due to a sexual assault.

The witness admitted that the physical signs could have just as well been the result of the child themself. But, since the request for an examination included the child’s statement she made herself the finder of fact and claimed that it physical signs were an assault.

This illustrates one of the most disturbing features of our justice system. The introduction of biasing material to be examined by forensics people. The forensic examination should be conducted impartially and thoroughly. When the forensics person is directed toward a conclusion by non‑forensic material, their conclusions are compromised. Here, the nurse testified that she was swayed by material submitted that was not within her expertise.

When she allowed that material to be submitted and then made use of the material, she allowed her professional opinion to be corrupted. Allen Brey was the prosecutor and it should be his responsibility to ensure that evidence is evaluated fairly.

I don’t know how much effort the defense made to undermine her opinion, but the fact that she allowed her opinion to be biased by this scurrilous inclusion is something that needs to be emphasized to the jury.

The jury needs to be remained that pediatric nurse Susan Kelley testified for the prosecution in the Fells Acres case and the evidence she developed was fabricated.

I would hope that the nurse’s credentials were examined as well. Prosecutors will present unqualified people as expert witnesses. My observation of some trial leads me to the conclusion that some of the prosecution witnesses would not give an honest opinion if the opinion would benefit the defendant.

Now, the jury would have gone with guilty anyway simply because of the allegation. Unfortunately, jurors do not take this awesome responsibility as serious as they need to. They need to be reminded by the defense to place themselves in the defendant’s chair and ask what kind of deliberations they would expect. And, for a juror to obtain an outside opinion and bring that back into the jury room is criminal.

I hope to gather more information on this case. I suspect it is a false conviction. Durocher does not have any kind of background to match this activity. If there is a divorce in his future then we can all be certain this is a trumped up case, and the wrong person is in prison.