Part 3 of 4
to finish it when she left.  The next month, she insisted that I meet
her at her office.  I said no, that I couldn't, and she said she didn't
want to be video taped-and I asked about their use of video taping in
their offices.  She denied it, although my husband and I had talked to
others who had been through this who told us they did tape-Audio and
Video, and had been known to use it in trials.  I assured her I would
not video tape her but she never came to see us.  She went to see my
daughter instead at the beginning of the year at school, and when the
girl said she couldn't talk without her Mommy being there, the agent
left.
She called me, telling me three different stories about what might
happen if I didn't start cooperating again, and I said I wouldn't,
that we were a family, would remain a family.  She said that she would
have to close the case due to non-cooperation, and I grabbed at that.
She backed away from her words, realizing she had given me an out.
A few weeks later, we found a notice in the local paper that my husband
had been indicted by the Grand Jury.  There had been no contact from the
police, no arrest, nothing.  He contacted a private investigator friend
who got him in touch with a lawyer, and found out if there was a warrant
issued, how much bail would be, etc.  The friend arranged bail to be
paid out of the county, as we had begun to hear horror stories about the
corruption in our own county's "justice" system.  I had gone back to
work, and his work had fallen off, so scraping up the money to pay the
bond and lawyer wasn't easy, and put us ever deeper into a hole.  Then,
CPS sent us a letter, informing us that they were closing their case.
They were finally out of our lives, but we now faced the legal angle.
His lawyer began to announce ready at pretrial, but the county kept
putting the case at the bottom of the docket, where it constantly got
knocked off.  A really important case, here, I suppose.  High-priority.
This began in January of 1992, and in October 1994, the lawyer
told us that the county DA's office had boasted to the media once
that he never dropped a case once charges were filed-and he always won.
He's a very high-profile DA, with an amazing conviction record-one won-
ders how long he will be content to be stuck in a backwater little
county before moving on to bigger and better things.
The DA's office offered a deal:  Deferred adjudication, probation for
five years.  Period.  A way to save their face since their case isn't
as strong as they hoped.  At the moment, we're waiting to see if the
judge agrees to the deal.  If he doesn't, my husband is willing to
take his chances in court-on a charge that the court claims happened
over five years ago.  Trouble is, the DA doesn't realize that my daugh-
ter can't remember how long ago we moved to the area, couldn't tell you
the year if her life depended on it-and she was old enough that she
should be able to recall it.  The big drawback to a trial is that my
husband's lawyer may be forced to place her on the stand and tear her
apart in order to make a jury understand how easily led and confused
the girl is.
(Continued in next post)...
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