S.B. writing from Alabama
“I am innocent and I need help. I want to go home. I do not want to spend the rest of my life in prison for a crime I did not commit.”
Location
Limestone County, AL
Crime of Conviction
Sexual torture and sexual abuse of a child
Year of Conviction
2012
S.B. is serving two life sentences for sexual torture of a child and sexual abuse of a child. Following a drug raid, S.B. was charged with distribution of a controlled substance and her daugher was removed from her custody. At the time of the removal, S.B.’s daughter was being treated for psychosis and taking myriad medications to treat her condition, as attested to by the daughter’s psychiatrist at the time. The psychiatrist attempted to have S.B.’s daughter placed in a mental hospital, but there was no space available, so she was placed in foster care. The foster mother took S.B.’s daughter to a child advocacy center, where a video interview was conducted in which the child stated, “Mommy beats me with a stick and makes me do back-flips.” Investigators claimed that the child had been sexually molested, but a medical examination showed no evidence of sexual abuse.
S.B.’s lawyer did not call the child’s psychiatrist to the stand because, according to the lawyer, the judge threatened to have the pychiatrist “brought to court in handcuffs.” Additionally, one juror that claimed to have no criminal history actually had charges pending against them by the district attorney. S.B.’s lawyer has written that he regrets not calling the psychiatrist to testify and openly admits that he provided ineffective assistance of counsel..
Procedural issues
Voir Dire; Judicial Abuse of Discretion
Counsel
Yes