When the Greeks and Romans created their respective gods of justice, they apparently did not have Louisiana’s Second Judicial District in mind.
The Lady of Justice, holding a sword and the scales of justice, is a familiar sight in Western culture. Her statue adorns many courthouses and halls of justice across the U.S. and miniature versions stand proudly on the desks of countless attorneys. In some depictions, she is blindfolded but most often, she is not.
The origin of the statue is said to be Themis, a Greek goddess of divine justice. In illustrations of her, she carries the scales of justice in one hand and a sword in the other, with her eyes covered. The Romans consolidated her and her daughter Dike to form Justitia.
So just how did the Second Judicial District, which comprises the parishes of Jackson, Bienville and Claiborne, come to be overlooked in the administering of so-called blind justice, aka fair and impartial justice?
Two words.
Mack Ford.
Or more accurately, three words: Rev. Mack Ford.
Back in January, a Bienville Parish grand jury declined to indict Ford, then 82, who was accused of raping girls who were residents of his infamous New Bethany Home in Arcadia in the 1970s, ‘80s and into the ‘90s. Ford died suddenly just over a month later, on February 11. http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2015/02/mack_w_ford_founder_of_new_bet.html
And while it may seem unfair to pick on him at this point, his death is not the issue here.
Three former residents of New Bethany traveled to Arcadia from three different states in December of 2014 to testify about their experiences with Ford. Other witnesses testified in October of that year.
But in a terse, one-paragraph written statement, then-District Attorney Jonathan Stewart said the grand jury was given “research and information regarding the statute of limitations with regard to each alleged act and, after deliberation, returned a no true bill.” STEWART GRAND JURY LETTER A no true bill means the grand jury decided not to indict. http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2015/01/grand_jury_declines_to_indict.html
So, if we are to understand Stewart’s statement and his interpretation of the law (and apparently, his instructions to the grand jury—though we will never know that for sure since grand jury proceedings are secret), the reason there was no indictment was because the statute of limitations had expired.
But wait!
Just last week, on Thursday (October 8), Shreveport television station KSLA ran a story about a 74-year-old Grant Parish man who was arrested for his alleged involvement in the rape of a young girl….in the 1970s. http://www.ksla.com/story/30219460/74-year-old-charged-in-1970s-rape-of-young-girl?fb_action_ids=10154259652069128&fb_action_types=og.comments&fb_source=other_multiline&action_object_map=%5B913686945391152%5D&action_type_map=%5B%22og.comments%22%5D&action_ref_map=%5B%5D
Roy Leon Robertson was booked into the Caddo Correctional Center on Monday, October 5 and charged with aggravated rape, according to the TV report.
He is accused of raping a girl under the age of 13 in the ‘70s, but the rape was not reported to Caddo authorities until 2014 when he came under investigation for similar offenses in Winn Parish.
The parallels in the Robertson and Ford cases are unmistakable. Both were accused of raping juveniles in the ‘70s even though in each case, the offenses were not formally reported until 2014, and the reported offenses occurred in the same general area of the state.
Yet, while one such report resulted in an immediate arrest, the other was dismissed because of what the local D.A said was an expired statute of limitation.
But let’s hear what a Caddo official had to say about that:
“There is no prescription for aggravated rape,” according to investigator Jared Marshall. A victim may come forward at any time. “Normally it’s called the statue (sic) of limitations, but in Louisiana it’s called a prescription,” the TV station quoted Marshall as saying.
Detectives said the victim decided to come forward upon learning that Robertson may still be harming young children.
“It doesn’t shock me at all that a report like this was made years later,” said psychologist Bruce McCormick. “Sometimes people are just not psychologically ready to make a report at the time, particularly the younger people,” he said.
Marshall said victims should not be concerned if it’s too late to prosecute. “The process of coming forward is for the protection of potential future victims,” he said.
Never too late to prosecute?
Oops. Apparently Jonathan Stewart didn’t get the memo.
“If he (Ford) had been indicted for just one thing, it would have been justice for so many people,” Kansas police dispatcher Simone Jones, one of Ford’s accusers, told the New Orleans Times-Picayune in January. She said Ford raped her in the early 1980s. “Why does this man continue to walk free?” she said following the grand jury’s decision.
The grand jury was convened a year after Jones and other former residents traveled to Arcadia in support of Jennifer Halter, a cancer victim who said she wanted to fulfill a dying wish to report Ford who she said began molesting her shortly after she arrived at the school in 1988, abuse she said continued until she left in 1990.
Jones said she was 14 when Ford forced her to perform oral sex on him.
“They let us down again,” Halter told The Times-Picayune. “I can’t understand why it’s okay for these people to do what they do and walk away like nothing was done wrong.” She said she experienced frequent sexual contact by Ford during choir trips to area churches which he chaperoned. She said she reported those incidents to police in 2013.
“This has gone on for years,” Tara Cummings told The Times-Picayune. A resident of New Bethany in 1982 and ’83, she said if the statute of limitations was an issue, Stewart should never have convened a grand jury to in the first place. “The particulars for the statutes of limitations for these crimes was always accessible to the DA’s office,” she was quoted as saying. “They (prosecutors) are the party who needs to understand and be clear about what is and what is not possible under the statutes.”
Perhaps Stewart should contact the District Attorney’s office in Caddo Parish—except he is no longer in office.
In April of 2014, Stewart fired Assistant District Attorney Danny Newell after Newell announced he would run against his boss. Stewart subsequently withdrew from his re-election bid and Newell was elected district attorney. https://lincolnparishnewsonline.wordpress.com/2013/04/25/da-stewart-fires-assistant-in-claiborne-newell-likely-opponent-in-14/
Politics. Ew. I believe somewhere in the Bienville Parish political theater, we will find politician wannabe Tim Johnson and his family friend, assistant DA Tammy Jump, possibly with the assistance of the Bossier Parish Sheriff’s Office, spraying the lysol to keep the stink down.
Tammy Jump knew the statutes changed, and in 2013 was unsure and was going to find out (per her email). Obviously, this woman has no business practicing law. The prescribed law had been in effect for 10 years, when the incorrect statutes were given to the Grand Jury.
Reported to the Office of Inspector General, the Office of Attorney General, and the Louisiana District Attorney’s office and the OAG responded that they were not the correct office to file complaints against BPSO, BPDA, and LSP.
How much of the taxpayer’s money was wasted to put on the show of a grand jury? Mike Epps, the investigator, did not call eyewitnesses. He didn’t return victim’s calls and several victims were not be heard.
In 2013, I reported forcible rape of a minor. Tammy Jump said if I reported a rape, she would arrest Mack Ford. I went to Louisiana, reported rape, and nothing was done. Others reported after me, and still, no one dared arrest Mack W. Ford.
I am a survivor of New Bethany myself, and while I don’t see what there is to gain by continuing to bring a case against Mack Ford, I do understand why the authorities are trying to get this hushed up. The laws are clear, any government agency can sue and be sued. If we filed a class action suit against Child Services, all law enforcement agencies involved, and every other agency that so much as had an individual read a document pertaining to abuse it would have hundreds of defendants. Some of which have held fairly high places in office. It would mean possibly paying millions in restitution for all the physical, mental, and sexual abuse not to mention all those that have committed suicide or suffer from such severe psychological truama they are unable to work. Can you imagine them trying to explain to taxpayers why they did nothing for almost 30 years? How angry would you be as a taxpayer to learn no one did anything. Even when given irrefutable evidence of the rape and torture of countless children and now decadeslater they still wont be punished. The taxpayers will just have to bear the cost. There’s a lot of very dirty secrets buried in this mess and the law is not fair, and justice has a new definition. When the people who have the money and power decide who gets to make the rules.
Two last things, please. First, I am no one special. I am asking for nothing except to say this bit. Second, while the original article may not have been written by an award winning journalist, her pain, anger, frustration, and loss are very real. If anyone is curious where the blindfold on the statue of Justice went, personally I think that America’s leaders took it off to see how much money would tip the scales in their favor. Thank you for reading, I apologize for my inability to write in a more articulate manner. Stephanie Young
[…] Source: Rape arrest in Caddo conflicts with Bienville Parish grand jury’s no true bill in New Bethany case… […]
With what office would a private citizen file a complaint concerning unethical (maybe illegal) behavior from the BPDA, BPSO, and Louisiana State Police?
Does anyone know?
I went to New Bethany the years of 1986 to 1987 I was 13 years old came from a great family who THOUGHT they were sending me to a good school. BOY Were they wrong, I am 43 now and still have nightmares of the treatment and things I saw there. The way we were treated as prisoners the beatings. There were kids who escaped before I even was taken there who went to the police for help and were taken back and there claims not even looked into. Some articles I read say the kids there were prostitutes and drug addicts not wanted by there parents and so forth. That is not TRUE!!! Yes there was a very small fraction of children there because of these reasons im sure. But alot of us like myself were just normal kids, me just got bad grades in school. One night after lights out I got to giggling with one of my friends and a Dorm mother heard us and pulled us out to the living area. Were she had us grab our ankles and start walking up and down this long carpeted area. My toes started bleeding from the carpet burn and i just could move any longer so she grabbed a wooden paddle and hit me in my lower back telling me to keep going. I thought i was going to die!! I got hit for reasons as small as a run in my panty hose.
SOMEONE THE STATE THE COUNTY should be help responsible for this!!! I suffer from ptsd take medications have anxiety issues that have followed me since I left this PRISON! Actually Worst than any prison this HELL!! IF anyone has any questions to what I have to say or care to hear you can email me at Dparks305@gmail.com
Something needs to be done, Justice needs to be served!!
Sadly once again, when the dust settled it was all about the Benjamins. To hell with justice, lets save the Benjamins.
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My heart bleeds for these innocent victims.
I know deep down in my heart though, that the people who were responsible for providing justice to those victims have better bought themselves some damn good fire insurance because when they get to hell they will need it.