Louis Eze - Child Sex Abuse False Accustation

Eze, Louis AND Okongwu, Dominic AND Wosu, Joy; child sex abuse; NRE: perjury/false accusation, no crime, false/misleading forensic evidence, inadequate legal defense

Suggestibility issues

[Eze] 321 F.3d 11; 2nd Cir. 2/12/03; denial of writ vacated; evidentiary hearing ordered re: ineffective assistance of counsel

"Once again, before us now is someone convicted of child sexual abuse-related crimes whose quality of trial representation causes us serious concern...Several obvious pieces of evidence that would have cast doubt upon Eze's guilt were inexplicably negected at trial, even though defense counsel was aware of them..."

"We therefore vacate the District Court's denial of a writ of habeas corpus and remand for an evidentiary hearing at which Eze's trial counsel be allowed to explain her trial strategy. The District Court then should determine whether such strategy can justify those omissions.

"We are especially concerned...with defense counsel's failure to impeach the underlying medical grounds on which Dr. [Stephen] Lazoritz based his conclusion that the girls had been abused."

[Eze] 2011 WL 4383140; W.D.N.Y. 9/4/11; civil suit

"The conviction was ultimately dismissed on October 10, 2003, following the grant of a petition for a writ of habeas corpus by this court on the basis of ineffective assistance of trial counsel."

[897:330] [Okongwu]; 4th Dept. 3/19/90; reversed, due to ineffective assistance of counsel

"Both [Okongwu] and Eze contended that their attorneys failed to introduce evidence of a 1988 medical examination of one of the victims establishing that the physical findings then were the same as those found during a 1992 examination. That evidence could have nullified any contention that the physical injuries of that victim resulted from the abuse alleged in the indictment.

"Both [Okongwu] and Eze complained that their attorneys failed to obtain experts to refute the [prosecution's] experts and failed to introduce evidence to discredit those experts. Defense counsel...contended that he had tried to contact between 5 and 10 experts but was blocked from contact by the experts' staff...Based on the many charges and the evidence that there were other possibe causes for the physical evidence of abuse, there is no excuse for such feeble attempts to contact experts.

"[T]here were in fact inconsistent statements involving [Okongwu] that were made by the children..."

[Okongwu] 2016 WL 4678979; W.D.N.Y. 9/7/16; civil suit

"[Okongwu] alleges that his daughters were coerced into testifying that he sexually abused them, that they were promised a trip to Disney World if they cooperated, and threatened with deportation to rural Nigeria if they did not."

[624:479] [Wosu]; 4th Dept. 3/17/95; affirmed, but two dissenters

"[Wosu] was charged with multiple counts of various sexual offenses involving a codefendant's [Okongwu's] seven-year-old daughers that allegedly occurred one day in November 1991 when the girls were visiting that codefendant, their father, to celebrate Thanksgiving."

[from dissent ] "In our view County Court erred in allowing the jury to find that the incident occurred on a date that was outside the limited time period stated by the prosecution...and outside the time period stated in the testimony.

"[Wosu] presented an aibi for that entire time period. Both [she] and her finance testified that they were together from the day before Thanksgiving until December 1, 1991, and were not at the house where the offenses occurred at any time during that period. [Wosu] testified that she had Thanksgiving dinner at the Hyatt hotel with her fiance, her brother and two of her brother's friends."

[Eze] from Records and Briefs:

[Case began with the twin 7-year-old girls being 'discovered' [by foster mother] engaged in simulated sexual activity. It appears that they may have cast blame on their father in order to 'scapegoat' him, and thus, get out of 'trouble.']

[D 06] "When [T1] initially testified before the grand jury...she consistently stated that the only place her father [Okongwu] placed his penis was in her vagina, despite numerous attempts by the prosecutor to give her an opportunity to state that he had placed it elsewhere in her body as well (such as her mouth, as he testified at trial)...Her only testimony as to Eze's acts was that on Thanksgiving, he placed his hand on her vagina, in contrast to her trial testimony, which was that he placed his penis into her vagina and mouth. When asked, 'What did he do to [T2], anything?,' she replied, 'Yes, he told her you better not tell or I'm going to kill you'...whereas at trial she testified that Eze put his penis into [T2's] mouth and vagina.

"However, [T1] was recalled before the grand jury an hour later. The prosecutor told [T1] that [T2] had just testified that her father had placed his penis in some portion of [T1] other than in her vagina. Nevertheless, [T1] then twice denied that this was so. But when the prosecutor asked, 'Would he ever put his private in your mouth, [T1]?,' she replied, 'Yes,' and then answered 'Yes' when asked whether this happened on each of the three occasions in question."

[D 07] "[Eze's trial counsel did not] attempt to demonstrate that any of the changes in [T1's] grand jury testimony occurred as a result of leading questions."

[D 08] "[E]ight days after [the girls were discovered] simulating sexual activity, Detective Marcia Scott took statements from each complainant...The only person who [T2] indicated in her statement was involved with the abuse, or who was in the basement when the abuse occurred, was Okongwu...[T1's] statement was similar, adding that on at least one occasion (but not the last one), Eze was upstairs while the abuse occured."

NRE synopsis (by Maurice Possley):

"Okongwu, a Buffalo public school teacher, and his wife were Nigerian citizens. After the twins were born in 1984, his wife became ill and returned to Nigeria. Okongwu was working two jobs and left the children with a babysitter and her boyfriend. In 1988, Okongwu came under suspicion when medical examinations of the girls revealed abnormalities on their hymens that could have been the result of sexual abuse.

"Although suspicion eventualy shifted to the babysitter's boyfriend (who would later be convicted of stabbing a woman to death), a Family Court judge found that Okongwu neglected the girls and both were placed in foster care in December 1990. A Family Court judge appointed Eze, a distant relative of Okongwu who worked as a chemist, to supervise Okongwu's weekend visitations with his daughters.

"In December 1991, the girls' foster mother, Ollie McNair, came into their bedroom and found one of the girls lying on top of the other in a manner suggestive of sexual contact. McNair later told police that when she asked what they were doing, one of the girls said they were doing it because that's what their father did to them when they went to his house.

"McNair notified Child Protective Services, which opened an investigaton. Investigators said the girls described in vivid detail how they were raped on three occasions. A physician examined the girls and said he found physical evidence of sexual abuse. In December 1992, Okongwu, Eze and Wosu, a federal employee who also was a distant relative of Okongwu, were arrested on charges of rape, sodomy and endangering the welfare of a child.

"All three went on trial in Erie County...Court in November 1993. The girls testified that in June 1991, Eze picked them up at their foster home and took them to a community celebration known as the Juneteenth Festival, which they attended with Okongwu and Wosu.

"One of the girls testified that after the festival, they returned to Okongwu's home and Wosu and Eze left. Okongwu then took them to the basement, where he tied them to a chair and taped their mouths, and then raped and sodomized them. The other girl testified that Eze and Wosu also were present. Both girls said their father threatened to kill them if they told what happened.

"The girls said that on September 12, 1991 -- their seventh birthday -- Eze picked them up from McNair's house ad they attended a birthday party with Okongwu and Wosu. After the party, the girls said they were taken to Okongwu's home, where they were again raped in the basement by Okongwu. They both said that after they were raped, they had birthday cake with Eze ad Wosu.

"The third incident, according to the girls, occurred on November 28, 1991, which was Thanksgiving Day. They said they were at Okongwu's home for Thanksgiving dinner with Eze and Wosu. After dinner, the girls testified that the adults took them to the basement, where Okongwu, Eze and Wosu raped and sexually abused them.

"The prosecution also called Dr. Stephen Lazoritz to testify. Lazoritz examined the girls on January 6, 1992, less than a month after they first said they had been raped. Lazoritz said one of the girls had less hymen tissue than would be expected and some scar tissue. He concluded 'beyond a reasonable degree of medical certainty' that she was abused.

"As for the second girl, Lazoritz said he was less sure she had been abused, but that if she 'made a statement that she was sexually abused, I would say, with a reasonable degree of certainty, that these findings were consistent with that abuse.'"

[If a child's mere assertion that he or she was sexually abused is sufficient, why bother to perform forensic phsycial examinations at all?]

"During cross-examination, Lazoritz conceded that he had examined one of the girls in 1988 -- three years prior to any alleged abuse -- and made similar findings of lack of hymen tissue and scarring. The defense attorneys did not pursue questioning about a 1988 examination of the girl's sister by another physician.

Jan Henry, director of a non-profit mental health agency, testified about the psychlogy of child sexual abuse and why some children don't reveal the abuse. She also testified, without defense objection, that out of approximately 50 to 100 child sex abuse cases she had encountered, only one involved a false allegation.

[This latter statement is highly problematic: What evidence is there that she actually 'encountered' that many cases? And what does the word 'encountered' actually mean? Did she actually interview the alleged victims in all of those cases? How does she know that only one of them involved a false allegation? Is that simply her opinion, or did she follow all of these cases for several years, to be sure no one else recanted, or that innocence was not established in some other way? And even if everything she says is accurate, how do we know that her own experience is representative of child sexual abuse generally? And, last but not least, can one imagine a defense expert ever being allowed to testify that a significant percentage of child sexual abuse allegations are actually false ?]

"Wosu testified in her own defense, and denied she sexually abused the girls. She said that she was at the Juneteenth Festival, but was not with Eze, Okongwu and the girls. In addition, Wosu testified that she had Thanksgiving dinner with her fiance, not the Okongwus, and her fiance testified and confirmed her account. Wosu testified that she was at the girls' birthday party, but that it was at a restaurant abd she did not go to Okongwu's hme afterward.

"Eze also testified and denied sexually abusing the girls, and said that the girls' birthday party was at a restaurant. Okongwu testified and also denied sexually abusing the girls. He said he could not think of any reason why the girls would fabricate the claims against him, Eze and Wosu.

"On November 26, 1993, Wosu, Eze and Okongwu were convicted of multiple counts of rape, sodomy, incest and endangering the welfare of a child. Eze was sentenced to 35-2/3 to 107 years in prison. Okongwu was sentenced to 50 years in prison. Wosu was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

"Over the next 17 years, all three convictions were vacated and new trials ordered.

"Although the decisions came down at different times from different courts, all of the decisions were based on the failure of the defense attorneys at trial to hire their own medical experts, as well as their failure to show that both girls had been examined by physicians in 1988 and both had the same tissue scarring that Lazoritz said was proof the girls had been sexually abused in 1991.

"The courts held that the defense attorneys failed to bring in evidence showing that medical studies at the time raised questions about the reliability of hymenal examinations as a basis for determining the occurrence of sexual abuse.

"The courts also were critical of the defense for failing to challenge the prosecution's child sex abuse expert's claim that she had seen only one fabricated case out of 50 to 100 cases she had encountered.

"Ultimately, the charges against all three were dismissed.

"Eze's convictions were vacated by the Second Circuit...in 2003 and he was released on bond. The charges against him were dismissed in 2007.

"Wosu's convictions were vacated by the [NY State Appellate Division] in March of 2010. As the prosecution prepared for a retrial in Okongwu's case, his daughters, by then 26 years old, refused to testfy, and said that their accounts had been false and that there had been no rapes or sexual molestations.

"One of the twins said in a sworn affidavit: 'My foster mother [apparently Ollie McNair ] and her friend. . . told us that if we did not do this the right way, we would probably be sent back to Africa. We were terrified that we would starve to death or be abandoned somewhere in Nigeria . . .I was born here, but did not know that made me a United States citizen.' She said she would not testify at a retrial because 'the allegations I was forced to memorize and told to recite back in November 1993 are untrue.'"

[Are alleged child sexual abuse victims who are still minors allowed to choose whether or not to testify?]

"The other sister said in her affidavit: 'The counselors, our foster mother and [ADAs] coached us on what to say and how to say it. As I look back, I don't think anyone listened to us."'

[Could the above also be true of 'Arthur' in the Nickel case?]

"In December 2010, the prosecution dismissed the charges and Okongwu was released.

"All three sought compensation in the New York Court of Claims, but were denied. Eze filed several federal lawsuits for civil rights violations, but all were dismissed. Okongwu filed a federal civil rights lawsuit in 2014." [This appears to have been dismissed.]