Details are ghastly, but don’t judge until the jury does

The recent charges in the Mohler sex abuse case are ghastly.

Five men of the same family, a father and his four adult sons, are alleged to have engaged in a pattern of bizarre and unspeakable acts of abuse of a sexual nature, over a period of years, involving children within their own family, beginning in 1988 and ending some 14 years ago. 

And more recently, a sixth family member in Florida, an elderly man who carries the Mohler last name, has also been arrested.

The case has garnered nationwide attention, and by now we have all seen the photos of these men clad in shackles and orange jumpsuits, sitting in a Lafayette County courtroom.

In his press conference announcing these charges, Lafayette County Sheriff Kerrick Alumbaugh made a public plea for other victims to come forward. He said that authorities have received information of additional crimes, that there are other victims residing all around the United States, and that one or more individuals may have been killed over the course of these crimes.

The affidavit of probable cause filed by police reads like an excerpt from an X-rated horror novel, and describes ungodly incidents of sexual abuse, rape, and bestiality involving children. It also states that the unidentified victim who came forward, and to whom the description of the multiple acts of abuse are attributed, had “suppressed” her memories of the alleged abuse.

There can be no question but that anyone who would commit or participate in the horrendous acts alleged to have been perpetrated deserves the harshest punishment the law would allow. 

However, we must not forget that each one of these accused men is entitled to the presumption of innocence, and a fair trial, even though the court of public opinion would seem to have already convicted each and every one of them.   

We also know that one apparently innocent individual has already been the victim of false information in this case, and was arrested and held in jail for a period of time, before being subsequently cleared and released.  

What if one or more of the men sitting in jail now is likewise innocent of any wrongdoing, other than being a son or brother of those who may be guilty?

And, is there any way they can get a fair trial in light of the horrible allegations and the widespread sense of public outrage that this case has inspired?

Other questions I have, that remain unanswered by the information authorities have provided so far include: How did the suppressed memories of the unidentified victim in this case come to be “unsuppressed”?

Did these once-suppressed, 15- to 20-year-old memories just come to her one day?

Or, were these suppressed memories purportedly recovered in a clinical setting, through a course of therapy? Hypnosis? Or what? And could there be any element of suggestion or unreliability in how these memories may have been recovered?

And, who and where are all of the other victims which authorities have said are and must be out there? What do they have to say about all of this? Do they corroborate the recovered memory of the victim referred to in the probable cause affidavit? And why have none of these other victims ever come forward over the last 15 to 20 years?

Perhaps when these cases are actually tried in a court of law, all of these questions will be answered by the evidence that supports these prosecutions. Time will tell.

But until then, whether or not any or all of these men will be found guilty of and punished for these offenses must and should be determined ultimately by the actual evidence that is presented in a court of law, and not by the sense of outrage that media reports of these allegations incite in the court of public opinion.