Guilty until proven Innocent

I'm no expert on how life is supposed to go, but I imagine it's not supposed to be this messed up.

Growing up, I had the best life. My parents we're the best to me and my older sister, there was no abuse, there was happiness and support all throughout my childhood. My mother was a dedicated Christian and my father was the rock of the family. He was always the nicest person, he's the type of person who stops and helps the old lady across the street, the one that returns the shopping carts to the store, the kind of man who makes a child smile.

Since my mother was a Christian, we kind of just became engulfed in that church life ourselves. Me and my sister were always going to Sunday school, went to all the bible studies, the Youth group, and I believed, I really believed. God was good. He was always there for us, always provided for us. He gave us our house and set down roots in California for us so we could create this great Church family and I could make friends in school. Before California we were always moving because of my dads job. We originally are from Arkansas and had been to fifteen other states before settling down. So it was nice to finally have a home, a real home, with a yard and a fence. So you're probably wondering how can my life really be?

Well, lets fast forward about 15 years. I'm married, and I have a beautiful little boy with my husband and we're expecting baby #2, another little boy. Earlier in the year, my Mamaw in Arkansas, my dads mother, sadly passed away. My husband and I decided to stay in Arkansas after her funeral and were there for about six months before I finally gave in and decided I couldn't have this second baby without my mom and dad. So we moved back to California and everything was fine.

My mother never really had a career, but she did do some house cleaning and babysat a lot. She had a couple kids she would babysit, but once we came back from Arkansas she just had one little girl left, lets name her Sally and mostly just cleaned houses. Well Sally's parents were always kind of odd, they seemed nice enough, we met them from church, but there was always something just off about them. On the days my mother had a house to clean, she asked me if I could watch Sally, so I agreed because I liked her, and so did my son, they were about the same age so they played great together.

When we would watch Sally, she would usually leave around 4 or 5 in the afternoon, and my dad wouldn't come home from work until about 3:30 and then would take about a 30 minute shower and then lay down and take a nap for a couple hours. So I would usually put Sally down for a nap around 2, but she would never sleep and so I'd get her up around 4 and let her play until her parents got there. Well one day my mom and dad get a call, from Sally's parents, and they start accusing my dad of doing terrible things to their little Sally. My dad of course denied everything and told them how he would never do anything like that, because he wouldn't. So after the phone call, my parents we're upset, obviously at the accusation, and started to wonder if they should get a lawyer or something. At the end of the week we get a knock at the door, and its these two guys and they say that they've accidentally hit my parents car in the driveway. So of course my mom goes out, and then my dad gets out, and that's when they pull out handcuffs and say that my dad is under arrest. They don't tell him why he's under arrest, they don't give us an explanation, and they just take him away to the police station. Well of course we suspect it's because of what Sally's parents had accused him of earlier, and sure enough, that's what it is.

Well fast forward again to about a little more than a year later, yes..a year. My dad has been in prison this whole time awaiting his trial. Innocent until proven guilty, right? Wrong. With absolutely no evidence, physical or mental, they held my dad for over a year until his trial. Well there's no way they could keep him with no evidence, right? Wrong again. It seems the jury was just so moved by the little girls made up story, clearly told to her by her parents, that they decided my father was guilty. Her story had flaws, it had gaps, it changed several times. The evidence said that this little girl had not been touched, that there was no sort of penetration, and the psychologist which interviewed her, said there was no indication of some sort of abuse in her life. People are so dumb, aren't they? The worst part is that they get away with it. Her parents are trying to get money now. They sued our church because of association to us meeting them. They are trying to get money from my mom because of the "psychological toll" on their daughter. A bunch of bull. The only thing they want is money. They are greedy, like so many people in this world are.

So here we are, another year later in 2020, another Christmas without my dad, awaiting his appeal to go through. We hope for a miracle, that they would see the lack of evidence in his case and dismiss it. As for the two years we've been without him, well that we can never get back. My dad missed the birth of my son, his second grandchild. He missed out on holidays, on me getting my first apartment, on so many important things that we can never get back. I have to hear my mother break down in tears every day for being without my dad, and because of Covid, we haven't even been able to see him in almost a year. It has been miserable, and I just wish I could talk to Sally's parents and show them what they've done. I just hope for a miracle.