Read The Morning Call's Skillfully incomplete story ... Veronica Rohrer, 66, believes her father sodomized her when she was 5 years old, and he was 35.
As a result, when Rohrer's ailing, 94-year-old father was sent home from Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest on February 22, 2007, the memory of her father raping her as a child made it difficult for Roher to provide care for her father-- especially traumatic to Rohrer was seeing her father naked while changing his diapers.
The next day, Veronica Rohrer called her sister Mary Ann in Virginia and requested that she come to Allentown to provide in-home care for their father.
There was a period of about 24 hours when Roher's bedridden father Adolph Marks was alone, as Rohrer waited for her sister Mary Ann to arrive from Virginia.
When Rohrer's sister didn't arrive on time because of a snowstorm, Rohrer phoned the police and told them her father "may have passed away."
The police checked on Mr. Marks and discovered he hadn't passed away. Marks was hospitalized again briefly and then was moved to a skilled nursing care facility near his daughter Mary Ann's home in Virginia.
Three weeks later, on March 21, 2007, Adolph Marks died in the nursing home in Virginia. He had suffered from heart failure, heart disease, diabetes, sight loss, brain shrinkage, a twice-broken hip, and he was 94 years old. He had also refused to take his medication in his final months.
In September 2007, Lehigh County DA Jim Martin charged Veronica Rohrer with attempted homicide of her father. > Read Morning Call article ...
"The charges that are filed are the charges that will be prosecuted," DA Martin boasted confidently at the time for The Morning Call and its many senior citizen readers who, for the most part, never miss voting.
But Martin quietly dropped his attempted homicide charge, last year, and the always-helpful-to-Martin Morning Call waited until last week to mention that fact-- I suppose they didn't want Martin to come off looking like he was unsure of himself, or back-pedaling, or totally full of shit with this case.
In any case, DA Martin forged ahead with his "crusade for justice" against childhood sexual/sodomy abuse victim Veronica Rohrer with the reduced charges of criminal neglect and reckless endangerment of her father.
On Friday, it took a jury just 3 hours to clear Veronica Rohrer of all of DA Jim Martin's grandstanding charges.
So what was this latest DA Jim Martin/Morning Call collaboration all about?
Votes. Senior votes. Seniors like Adolph Marks, who The Morning Call not so subliminally interjected, "had not missed voting in 50 years."
In its "reporting," The Morning Call kept on the front burner, up until the very end, all of the seemingly damaging allegation details against Veronica Rohrer. But conveniently for DA Jim Martin's sake, the "newspaper" never got around to reporting on any of the counter arguments and explanations Veronica Rohrer's defense attorney presented to the jury. We'll need court transcripts for that side of this story which The Morning Call wasn't interested in.
In the end, the jury did not believe in DA Jim Martin's case and this is likely because the jurors had much more to go on, than what was reported on, in The Morning Call.
Silver Lining. Once again, DA Jim Martin's predecessor as DA, Judge Robert Steinberg, somehow succeeded in shepherding justice in this case, despite the disingenuous and self-serving efforts of DA Jim Martin.
Essential Reading > WHY WE FIGHT
As a result, when Rohrer's ailing, 94-year-old father was sent home from Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest on February 22, 2007, the memory of her father raping her as a child made it difficult for Roher to provide care for her father-- especially traumatic to Rohrer was seeing her father naked while changing his diapers.
The next day, Veronica Rohrer called her sister Mary Ann in Virginia and requested that she come to Allentown to provide in-home care for their father.
There was a period of about 24 hours when Roher's bedridden father Adolph Marks was alone, as Rohrer waited for her sister Mary Ann to arrive from Virginia.
When Rohrer's sister didn't arrive on time because of a snowstorm, Rohrer phoned the police and told them her father "may have passed away."
The police checked on Mr. Marks and discovered he hadn't passed away. Marks was hospitalized again briefly and then was moved to a skilled nursing care facility near his daughter Mary Ann's home in Virginia.
Three weeks later, on March 21, 2007, Adolph Marks died in the nursing home in Virginia. He had suffered from heart failure, heart disease, diabetes, sight loss, brain shrinkage, a twice-broken hip, and he was 94 years old. He had also refused to take his medication in his final months.
In September 2007, Lehigh County DA Jim Martin charged Veronica Rohrer with attempted homicide of her father. > Read Morning Call article ...
"The charges that are filed are the charges that will be prosecuted," DA Martin boasted confidently at the time for The Morning Call and its many senior citizen readers who, for the most part, never miss voting.
But Martin quietly dropped his attempted homicide charge, last year, and the always-helpful-to-Martin Morning Call waited until last week to mention that fact-- I suppose they didn't want Martin to come off looking like he was unsure of himself, or back-pedaling, or totally full of shit with this case.
In any case, DA Martin forged ahead with his "crusade for justice" against childhood sexual/sodomy abuse victim Veronica Rohrer with the reduced charges of criminal neglect and reckless endangerment of her father.
On Friday, it took a jury just 3 hours to clear Veronica Rohrer of all of DA Jim Martin's grandstanding charges.
So what was this latest DA Jim Martin/Morning Call collaboration all about?
Votes. Senior votes. Seniors like Adolph Marks, who The Morning Call not so subliminally interjected, "had not missed voting in 50 years."
In its "reporting," The Morning Call kept on the front burner, up until the very end, all of the seemingly damaging allegation details against Veronica Rohrer. But conveniently for DA Jim Martin's sake, the "newspaper" never got around to reporting on any of the counter arguments and explanations Veronica Rohrer's defense attorney presented to the jury. We'll need court transcripts for that side of this story which The Morning Call wasn't interested in.
In the end, the jury did not believe in DA Jim Martin's case and this is likely because the jurors had much more to go on, than what was reported on, in The Morning Call.
Silver Lining. Once again, DA Jim Martin's predecessor as DA, Judge Robert Steinberg, somehow succeeded in shepherding justice in this case, despite the disingenuous and self-serving efforts of DA Jim Martin.
Essential Reading > WHY WE FIGHT
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18 comments:
"In its "reporting," The Morning Call kept on the front burner, up until the very end, all of the seemingly damaging allegation details against Veronica Rohrer."
Readers, here's a pivotal eye-opener (and eyebrow raiser) for you that can be interpreted as either very shoddy reporting, or, agenda framing.
When DA Jim Martin charged Veronica Rohrer with attempted homicide in September 2007, The Morning Call in its paragraph 1 reported that Rohrer's father was "found ... covered in feces and urine as he lay in bed."
That's a very damaging, and very graphic, image.
However, this inflammatory description changed dramatically in The Morning Call's paragraph 1 from Saturday:
"he ... was wearing a soiled diaper."
Which is it, Morning Call?
"Covered in feces and urine?"
or
"Wearing a soiled diaper."
There's a huge difference here.
And as I mentioned in my post, the jury in this case obviously wasn't relying on The Morning Call for accurate information in rendering its verdict.
Bill, I highly doubt we'll see this excellent blog post as The Morning Call's next "Blogger Tuesday" selection ;)
This post hits so many of my nerves:
1. The Morning Call's dereliction of duty.
As noted by the post, none of this Page One story consisted of any direct coverage of the trial. The reporter tried to piece together an account of the trial by talking to a handful of participants after the dust had settled. So all the reporting was filtered. No direct testimony, no first-hand observations. Not very responsible, but this is what we get when a newspaper is not staffed adequately. Gone are the days when a Debbie Garlicki would be assigned full time to covering the courthouse.
2. Once again, the prosecution overreaches.
There's a big difference between being aggressive and being a zealot. Aggressive means going after bad guys. Being a zealot means distorting reality to rationalize an agenda. Sort of like taking a quote out of context. In this example, the post reasonably asserts the DA's agenda is pandering to senior citizens and their fears by staging a witch hunt. It's standard practice for prosecutors to "overcharge" or pile on criminal allegations to gain an advantage over a citizen accused of wrongdoing. Which results in ....
3. Abuse of Power.
The state Supreme Court's rules of professional conduct has a section titled "Special Responsibilities of a Prosecutor." It is no coincidence that Rule 1 is that "a prosecutor in a criminal case shall refrain from prosecuting a charge that the prosecutor knows is not supported by probable cause."
Here, "attempted homicide" was initially filed against this woman and the charge was paraded by the DA. However, after the headlines were forgotten (unlike the effect it had on the woman's reputation that she tried to kill her own father) that charge was withdrawn and a much less serious offense was alleged. Which brings us to ....
4. DA Martin's ethics.
What purpose does it serve to have the DA stand at a podium and make speeches at a news conference when a torrid crime like attempted patricide is alleged? No good purpose, just self-serving purposes.
The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania's rules for ethical conduct of lawyers (that includes a District Attorney) sets strict limits on pre-trial publicity. The rules forbid making statements to the news media when those statements "will have a substantial likelihood of materially prejudicing" a trial or jury pool. Especially when those statements can't be supported at trial (withdrawing the charge prior to trial is proof of just that!).
Statements like, she left her father to die in a feces-filled diaper with no food, water or even a light.
The rules state that the right to a fair trial requires "curtailment" of information that could be viewed as speech designed to rile up a lynch mob. To be fair, the rules allow pre-trial publicity of the sort that serves to inform the public about threats to its safety and measures being taken to assure the public of its security. This exception plainly does not apply here, however.
Thank goodness for juries. They remind us that here in America it's the rule of law, not the rule of man, that has the last word.
Anon 8:28, agreed.
Anon 8:29, wow. Thank you for your astute analysis and obvious passion. We hope you will join us in our "crusade for justice," that is, making sure that this term is Jim Martin's final term as Lehigh County DA.
Readers, thank you for making LVS the #1 Most Influential Political Blog in Pennsylvania again this week.
Jim Martin took 6 months to ponder what charges (if any) to file in this case, plenty of time to figure out if he could prove attempted homicide. Obviously, he had no intention of prosecuting that charge (which he dropped in secret with "cover" from The Morning Call). He used the charge strictly as "lead float" in his political publicity parade (charade). Martin's a total phony.
Agreed, anon 7:41. Paul Carpenter likes to call Jim Martin our "no nonsense" DA. This is like calling our 37th President, "honest" Dick Nixon.
We wish DA James B. Martin would have displayed the same ruthless political ambition in his prosecution of the homicidal drunk driver who killed Bill's daughter, Sheena. In that case, Martin could and should have filed charges of third degree murder which he would have had no problem proving. Martin "overreaches" when it's politically beneficial re: bamboozling seniors, and he under-reaches for political reasons too ... guess whose daddy's law firm is among Jim Martin's most generous and most reliable campaign contributors. Let's call this "Pay To Not Prosecute" (P2XP). Under (reach) or over (reach), The Morning Call never questions Jimbo.
The same month and year (9/07) that Jim Martin was overreaching and grandstanding on the Rohrer case to disingenuously impress seniors, he was dropping 9 of 14 charges against the grandson of a longtime pal who had killed someone while driving drunk-- and had then scored a 2nd DUI, after having committed vehicular homicide while DUI. Martin dropped 9 of the 14 charges, including the major charge, the night before trial, while totally bamboozling the DUI homicide victim's grieving family.
Like Martin's overreach on the Rohrer case, there were purely political reasons for his shameful under-reach on Sheena's case, and the 9/07 DUI homicide case ...
which, btw, is the case The Morning Call Editorial Board refuses to meet with me on, despite 218 polite requests from me, the intercession of members of Allentown City Council and the Lehigh County Commissioners, and their own investigations editor Tim Darragh deeming the questions I have on Martin's "special handling" of the 9/07 case as "excellent questions that deserve to be answered."
"Pay to Not Prosecute" (P2XP), I like that,
Mrs. D.
Something tells me there's a related quid pro quo in here regarding The Morning Call and DA Jim Martin that's called "Pay to Not Publish" (P2XP).
Mr. Villa, you do not seem at all 'cuckoo' to me, as the Morning Call's "Blogger Tuesday" bloggers go to great lengths to deceive their readers into buying. Just so you know, I'm not buying it (and never have). Keep up the great work, you are doing our community a great service "w/ " your courage and your stamina in the aftermath of your unspeakably painful loss of Sheena.
Thank you.
"Aggressive means going after bad guys."
-Anonymous Sun Mar 01, 08:29:00 AM 2009
Readers, drawing on our first-hand experience, we’d like to reveal to you how Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin fixes DUI homicide cases-- at least one of the ways that we know of, having experienced it first-hand.
Fortunately for us, we foiled Martin's case fix efforts. More on that later, but here’s how DA Jim Martin fixes DUI Homicide cases:
1. He waits for a trial date to be set by the court for the homicidal drunk driver criminal defendant who is oftentimes the offspring or close relative of a drinking buddy/reelection campaign contributor.
Note: in our case, the trial start date for Sheena’s well-connected killer was set for February 12, 2007.
2. He then cuts a secret plea deal w/ his drinking buddy’s criminal offspring and doesn’t breathe a word of this to the DUI homicide victim’s grief-stricken family.
3. He then secretly changes the trial start date, to a guilty plea hearing court date, and secretly moves the court date up-- and again, he does not breathe a word of any of this to the victim’s family.
Note: In Sheena’s case, on January 17, 2007, DA Jim Martin secretly changed, and moved, our trial start date of FEB 12, to a guilty plea hearing court date of FEB 2, and never breathed a word of any of this to Sheena’s grief-stricken family. More on this later.
4. With the DUI homicide victim’s family not present in court for the guilty plea hearing (because the DA’s office, um, “forgot” (wink wink) to inform them of the court date and procedural change), DA Martin’s office can tell the judge anything it wants. And what they say … usually goes something … like this ...
“Your Honor, the prosecution is withdrawing the major charge in this case as part of a plea deal that the dead person’s grief-stricken family is totally and completely and w/ out any reservations whatsoever absolutely on board w/ (wink wink), honest.
Note: This is, of course, a lie as huge and as shameful as Jim Martin’s rump.
5. The victim’s family, however, IS NOT THERE IN THE COURTROOM TO REFUTE THE LIE (Jim’s a genius, eh?) and it’s not the judge’s job to determine if the DA is lying about the victim’s family being “on board” (wink wink) with the guilty plea deal.
6. And the offspring of Martin’s drinking buddy gets off easy as pie and the grief-stricken family gets ROBBED & RAPED AGAIN, only this time by someone they had been trusting: i.e., the County’s Top Law Enforcement official, James B. Martin.
7. If/When the DUI homicide victim’s grief-stricken family cries (literally) FOUL!!
Martin merely tells them they “misunderstood” the court proceedings and if they want to get a lawyer and complain, well go right ahead, because it will be their word against His.
8. Case Closed, w/ The Morning Call looking the other way and steadfastly refusing to meet w/ anyone who has “excellent questions that deserve to be answered” regarding how DA Jim Martin’s office “handles” select/connected DUI homicide cases.
-----------------------
In late January 2007, I got a phone call (no caller I.D.) from a woman who told me that the scheduled trial start date for Sheena’s killer (FEB 12) had been changed to a guilty plea hearing court date … and that this guilty plea hearing court date had been secretly MOVED UP 10 DAYS to FEB 2.
Jim Martin’s office never breathed a word of this to us in advance of FEB 2. But when Sheena’s family, and dozens of Sheena Squad members unexpectedly showed up in court on FEB 2 for the guilty plea hearing, Jim Martin was forced to keep all the major charges “in play.” That is, he couldn’t tell the judge to dismiss any significant charges, because Sheena’s many supporters and family in attendance would have screamed bloody fuckin’ murder.
Readers, I’ll go to my grave knowing exactly what Jim Martin would have pulled, and what he would have gotten away w/ , had we not been there in court on FEB 2, 2007.
--------------------
In September of that same year, 2007, DA Jim Martin repeated the exact scenario I’ve described above in another DUI homicide case—i.e., he cut a plea deal the victim’s grieving family was on record as being against … and he changed a trial start date, to a guilty plea hearing court date, w/ no advance notification to the grieving family, who was not in attendance in court for the guilty plea hearing to refute their alleged “agreement” (according to Martin’s office) w/ the terms of the plea deal, which included a dropping of 9 of the 14 charges, including the major charge.
Note: In this case, incredibly, the homicidal drunk driver criminal defendant had actually received a second DUI, after having already killed someone while driving drunk. And Jim Martin still dropped 9 of the 14 charges, including the “big one,” in direct opposition to this grieving family’s stated position on any plea deal.
Unfortunately, in this case, the grief-stricken family did not have the good fortune of receiving an anonymous phone call, tipping them off as to how DA Jim Martin handles select/connected DUI homicide cases.
Ladies & Gentlemen, in Lehigh County, w/ out a guardian angel/anonymous informer pulling for you, you may not get any justice out of DA Jim Martin.
Just so you know, and can keep top of mind, the next time Jimbo runs (unopposed again?) for reelection in 2011.
Another Related Story ...
On March 16, 2008, a car-full of former Parkland students (now all in their early 20s) were involved in a super-high-speed crash on Route 22 near the LV Mall ... about a half-hour after the bars closed on a Saturday night.
One of the passengers, a young man, was killed in the crash.
This case seems to have completely disappeared.
DA Martin? Any word on this case?
Charges? No Charges?
Nearly a YEAR has gone by ...
DA Jim Martin, up close and personal ...
"Be careful, Jim Martin has friends at The Morning Call."
Kranzley is hardly the only one.
This was the most informative and the bravest local blog post I've ever read.
Thank you.
Please contact Lehigh County Democrats and encourage them, no, let's all insist, that they produce a suitable candidate to run against Jim Martin for Lehigh County District Attorney in 2011.
Jim Martin's a bum.
Let's throw him out of office.
Excellent exposé. Politico hacks like Jim Martin are unfortunately a dime a dozen but the Morning Call should abide by higher standards. They all should be ashamned of themselves.
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