Just throwing this into the thread: I personally know three supposedly intelligent & decent women who, when they went through a divorce, claimed that the man to whom each had been married was the worst child molester in the world. Not that I know all of the facts one way or another, but there's a saying about hell hath no fury.

This is very common in custody cases. First mom accuses dad of being abusive to her. If that doesn't work, the kids start making disclosures. When I have these sorts of women (I've never seen or heard of this pattern of conduct from a father), I'll tell my client to prepare for each stage of escalation.

Most of the time, it completely blows up in her face, but other times, especially when mom has convinced the kids that it really did happen, it's ruined parent-child relationships. In fact, in about half an hour, I'll be in front of a judge on exactly that type of case where mom's sexual abuse allegations blew up completely in her face.

Of course the fact that so many, including a former case worker are so sure of this guy's guilt, having access to very little information about the case, or even not admitting there's plenty of room for doubt here is concerning. It does tell me that he probably did the right thing in taking a plea rather than going before a jury of his peers.

Ouch.

Sounds a little familiar, huh? :::cough cough Mia Farrow:::

You said yourself the guy is guilty.

There you go assuming again. Like Iamblue mentioned, not everyone feels the need to shout it from the rooftops about how much education they have. You never answered any of my questions. What is comparable to your degree? Did you receive your JD from a top-tier law school? Were most of your degrees from well-known institutions? I'm just asking. Also, as I stated earlier, when you get pulled from college to go to war that will later help pay for your education, then you can come talk to me about working "hard" for your coveted degree. Until then, you present yourself as an attorney with poor deductive reasoning skills ("You damn sure didn't as a CPS worker"), assumptions that people on GC must have lesser degrees than you or potentially attended lesser institutions, and your need to continuously harp on how those people who choose to do a job because they care--I mean, because the money sucks--aren't fit enough to sit with you at the head table with the silver spoons. I bet you are great at making all types of friends in those "lowly" positions you choose to turn your nose up to.

I find this argument really interesting. So here's my 2 cents:
1-advanced education only expresses a certain amount of intelligence. And lack of said advanced education does NOT reflect the opposite. I could have 3 PhD's if I wanted and I'd still be an underpaid travel agent. But I LIKE being a travel agent and no degree is required for that whatsoever (although most agents I know do have undergrad degrees). Thank god for smart people who choose to do shitty jobs even though they could be lawyers or work on Wall Street. (my career not included in that thanks. I mean nurses, CPS types, garbage men, the really crappy jobs, excusing the pun)
2-while this is an interesting case that makes for good news coverage, I've seen first hand a sexual assault claim from a child (in this case a teenager) that was a load of crap. That isn't to say that it happens all the time, but I think in certain circles it is probably much more common to accuse unjustly. This girl was the embodiment of the stereotype you'd expect of an unjust accuser. And molestation as a divorce argument? I believe him when he says it happens all the time. People can and will do horrible, seriously vile things to each other in divorce. But regarding the girl I know who did the accusing years ago, she got help, got her life together and now, wait for it, works as a school counselor.

Are you being intentionally obtuse?

In this context it's relevant because I am higher up the food chain than the case worker. I issue subpoenas, prepare orders, examine or cross-examine them on their reports and observations, I run my show and they are just players. Important players, but role players nonetheless.

And often, as in this case, they arrive at certainty without all of the facts. You wouldn't accept that someone could have a gun and meth in their car and be clean. You seem to be jumping to accept this case at face value. Those aren't good traits for a case worker.

Relevance? Yes, my J.D. and further training and experience qualify me to be an officer of the court. A B.A. in Business Management does not help a caseworker be qualified to do her job, but it's often accepted.

I'm pretty sure the money I took out of my IRA last year to pay my loans off paid for my education.

Like I said... they love me. My assumption is pretty firmly rooted in the fact that you are accepting things as absolutely true without knowing what's really going on. Tell me--you are accused by a three year old of molesting her. You have a choice--no jail time, take a plea, be a sex offender with a trust fund or face a trial and 20+ years in prison.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/02/justic...html?hpt=hp_t4

Check out the prosecutor's public statement at the end.

Will some of you just admit that I might know what I'm talking about?

This.

Not everyone aspires to be the President of the United States or the CEO of a Fortune 500 company. That doesn't mean that everyone who works below those people are actually "below" them. I know people who went to college, but lack any kind of common sense. I also know people who never attended college, but they're extremely intelligent.

More prestigious positions don't always = more money and less stress. And some people thrive on being stressed; they need the pressure to stay motivated. Others, like DubaisSis, could have a high-paying job, but they choose not to because they love what they do, and making six figures isn't their number one priority.

To say something like, "You might have advanced degrees now, which I still doubt, but you damn sure didn't as a CPS worker," is kind of ignorant. I have a friend who is very intelligent, has a college degree, and he's delivering pizzas right now. I have another friend who has 2 degrees, a master's, and she's teaching 2nd grade. You just never know.

The problem isn't you "knowing what you're talking about", it's that you sound like you think less of the rest of us because we don't have the same letters following our names that you do. Maybe that's not how you intended to come across, but that's exactly what it sounds like.

There are multiple conversations happening in this thread.

I only care about your failure to admit that you, too, come with prejudices and subjectivity; and your assholeness regarding the letters discussion.

This. I don't really doubt your knowledge of the mechanics of the legal system, but your condescension to others on this board regarding the worthiness of your qualifications vs other qualifications has been really nasty. You and your qualifications aren't the only ones who know things, and you're not better than anyone else posting here. Quite frankly, that's been your tone: I'm a lawyer and therefore automatically better than you. Your tone has buried your legal knowledge.

There are many GCers with terminal degrees. That includes GCers who, even if we are not attorneys, have careers that require knowledge of the legal system.

Kevin's problem arose when he tripped over himself. The thread got derailed because of the back and forth. I'm all for a good back and forth but Kevin assumed he was most qualified and falsely believed he is an unbiased, nonprejudiced, objectively neutral expert. Then instead of critiquing the qualifications of the average CPS worker for the sake of discussion, and in a general sense, he made it a specific "you" directly aimed at als463 and (based on the tone) any GCer who Kevin assumes isn't up to his level of (insert whatever he unfoundedly assumed). Maybe we should create a pissing contest thread in which everyone posts their resume'/CV...not!!!

/thread recap

Miss Manners says your advanced degrees should be like silk underwear - it should be enough that you know you have them; there's no need to show everyone.

A gentleman who worked with my father was a former professor with very impressive credentials. He never made an issue of it, so when people found out about them, they were positively taken aback by 1.) his achievements and 2.) his humility.


And finally - How many lawyer jokes are there?
Three. The rest are true stories.