Paper: Family Tawana Brawley Case Reopened

(CBS)  Twenty years after her allegations of a racially charged rape became a national flashpoint, Tawana Brawley's mother and stepfather want to reopen the case, a newspaper reported Sunday.

Glenda Brawley and Ralph King want to press Gov. Eliot Spitzer and state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo to re-examine the November 1987 incident, which a state grand jury ultimately concluded was a hoax, the Daily News reported.

"New York State owes my daughter. They owe her the truth," said Glenda Brawley. She reiterated her stance that her daughter was indeed raped by a group of white men who smeared her with feces and scrawled racial epithets on her body.

Representatives for Spitzer and Cuomo did not immediately respond to telephone and e-mail messages early Saturday.

Brawley was 15 when she went missing for four days from her home in Wappingers Falls, about 75 miles north of New York City. After being found, she made the shocking allegation that she had been abducted and raped by six white law enforcement officials.

The case quickly made headlines and drew the attention of the Rev. Al Sharpton, who became an outspoken advocate for the teen.

But a special state grand jury found evidence Brawley had fabricated her story. A former Dutchess County prosecutor who had been implicated in the case later sued Brawley, Sharpton and other Brawley advisers for defamation, winning a $345,000 judgment against the advisers and a $185,000 judgment against Brawley.

A spokeswoman for Sharpton, who was held liable for $65,000 in the case, did not immediately respond to an e-mail message early Sunday. The former prosecutor's lawyer did not immediately return a telephone message.

Brawley has changed her name and become a nurse, the Daily News reported.

[funksgirl2u]

Hey, ibsteve2u, Good comment! If they WERE all cops, they would have had enough forensics knowledge among them to know how to get away with it! I''m studying criminology right now and I can''t for the life of me figure out how she thought she was gonna get away with this! She could be a case study in my Forensic Psychology class! Al Sharpton just needs to GO AWAY! QUICKLY! He''s just a joke! Let''s all turn our attention to the Stacy Peterson case... not a shred of evidence anywhere with a COP husband.... there''s how to get away with a crime if you are in law enforcement.

[korinsha]

Where the dog feces came from (it was said to have come from Brawley''s neighbor''s dog, though I''m not clear on how that was determined) is irrelevant! The main point was that she didn''t have so much as a scratch or bruise anywhere on her body except for a small bruise behind one ear. Tawanda was seen by classmates at a party during the time she was "missing". Like I said, just look up the forensics on this... it was a total and complete lie. Though, when subponed, both Brawley and her mother took their "defense fund" of about 300k and fled the state and never went to court. I guess they got what they wanted, and now, the mother is quoted as saying "we should be millionares". I think that sums up her interest in the case. Also, now that Brawley (changed her name & converted to Islam since then) is an adult... why is her MOTHER still trying to cash in? What a sow. They make a mockery of REAL victims, like poor Megan Williams (the young lady held prisoner, tortured and raped by the 6 epitomes of the ''white trash'' stereotype). Nothing but theives and liars, the Brawley clan.

[korinsha]

"Will somebody refresh our memory on this case, I remember something about it, but can''''t recall everything, lets have the details in short- thank-you !!" - JetRanger7

I''ll refresh your memory. There''s this mysterious thing called the in-ter-net, where you can actually find all this information yourself, instantly. Rather than asking strangers to recap (and even saying HOW they are supposed to do it for you!), you could just look it up. I think someone even posted part of the article on Wikipedia for you. Yeesh. What a lazy country.

[gunnerv1]

When you get into their purse, you will have their undivided attention

[eggy1620]

The most effective way to silence flamethrowers like Sharpton, et.al. and their false accusers is to discover and publicy expose whoever is writing their paychecks. This goes for those funeral protesting nutcases from Kansas, too.

[ajmarine1]

"covered herself in feces"


Couldn''t DNA samples have been taken from this "feces" and determined who''s butt it came from?

[nyckate]

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=980CE5D8133AF936A35757C0A96E958260

All these years later, Harry Crist Sr.''s grief should be less keen, the awful circumstances of his son''s death less immediate.

But recent weeks have scraped the tenuous scabs off his suffering, and the mere mention of Harry Crist Jr. has the power to convulse his father''s 6-foot-2 frame with a toddler''s unrestrained sobbing.

Why, he asks, can''t his son rest in peace?

On Dec. 2, 1987, Harry Crist Jr., 28, was found dead in his apartment here, a hole in his head and a .357 Magnum revolver at his side.

His timing, like his final act, proved disastrous. Less than a week earlier, a 15-year-old black girl named Tawana Brawley had said she was raped by several white men, at least one of them a police officer. Because Mr. Crist had worked part time for the Police Department in nearby Fishkill, some people ventured that his death should be examined, and the investigators duly examined it.

Before long, Ms. Brawley''s advisers were identifying him as one of her attackers, with one adviser even suggesting that Mr. Crist had not committed suicide, as the police determined, but had been murdered in the service of a cover-up. When Steven A. Pagones, then a Dutchess County prosecutor, offered an alibi for Mr. Crist, he too was ensnared in the advisers'' web of accusations.

[nyckate]

sjw1253 -- this girl''s story was taken apart minutely - there wasn''t a shred of truth to her story -- her momma wants her daughter to be righteous - she isn''t.

There isn''t one member of the brawley group that deserves an iota of respect - they destroyed lives, careers and families and now want some sort of payment? How low can they get is the question.

[nyckate]

JetRanger7

a 15 year old girl had a wild weekend with her friends and boyfriend - she didn''t call home and was of course in trouble as she had stayed out for 3/4 nights.

She made up a story, drew things on her body, covered herself in feces and then of made up the story that every black community will want to believe - this ''poor'' ''innocent'' girl was attacked by racists white men.

All Sharpton, two of his pal attorneys made the situation into a full-blown nightmare of racism - demonsstrations, national news coverage for months - wild accusations, careers and families destroyed with one falsely accused man committing suicide as his name was ruined, his career destroyed and his future gone.

The two attorneys were reprimaned by the ABA and put up for disbarrment. Shartpon got off scot free.

Intellectually I understand that this mother wants desperately for it to notbe her daughter who stuck by this horrendous lie and destroyed so many people because she was a lying fool who wanted to party with her friends. Factually there isn''t a shred of truth to her story.

[trenticus-2009]

six white law enforcement officials" - that number gives me pause...two or even three, maybe - but six rotten apples?

Even assuming there were six, then between them they''''d have had at least one brain sufficiently cunning to realize that a living victim represented a significant problem.

Posted by ibsteve2u


ROFLMFAO!