[Masterful1]

In 2001, an 11-year-old girl told a judge that her father raped her, sending the man to prison for nine years. Today, she admits that she lied.

Now 23-years-old, Cassandra Ann Kennedy says she made up the story because she was upset with her father following her parents' divorce, The Daily News reports.

Last week, authorities in Washington state finally released the father, Thomas Edward Kennedy, who was serving a 15 year prison term. All charges have been dropped thanks to the daughter's statement, made in January.

According to The Daily News:

"Reached Friday, Thomas Kennedy, now 43, declined to comment, saying he's simply trying to get on with his life. Longview police, who investigated both the initial allegations in 2001 and the details that later exonerated Kennedy, also declined to comment and referred questions to Baur."

Cassandra Kennedy told authorities that guilt prompted her to reveal the truth, according to the Seattle Times.

Cowlitz County Prosecutor Sue Baur says that the county will not take legal action against Kennedy, partly because authorities do not want to discourage individuals who have, in fact, suffered from sexual harassment from stepping forward.


http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=g...74XfO2SIbg

Original Story (more details) by The Daily News  (This is my hometown, by the way)
http://tdn.com/news/local/local-girl-lie...f887a.html

My main beef with this is that the prosecutor has decided to do NOTHING to the girl...  This makes every man afraid that a woman can ruin the rest of his LIFE, just by lying... 

[M. Bison]

He served 70% of his 15 year long prison sentence... That's really horrible. This makes you wonder how many innocent people sit behind bars.  :-\

[lin3ar]

Cowlitz County Prosecutor Sue Baur says that the county will not take legal action against Kennedy, partly because authorities do not want to discourage individuals who have, in fact, suffered from sexual harassment from stepping forward.

This is an utter travesty. I suppose the court system also doesn't want to redress a miscarriage of justice by charging the girl with false accusation of rape? How will punishing people for lying discourage people who want to tell the truth about their sexual abuse from stepping forward?

Shame that a man has to serve a jail sentence for a crime he obviously didn't commit, not to mention it was his daughter who falsely testified against him. It shouldn't matter whether or not the girl was a minor at that time, sexually abused or not - lying in court is perjury is punishable by law. Authorities at that time should have investigated whether or not the girl was telling the truth as studies have shown that children are predisposed to lie about events that never occurred.

[Masterful1]

A later article did, however, state that the statute of limitations for perjury had been exceeded.  That's not to say there isn't another charge that could be brought against her...

I think it's safe to say that under his custody she will surely pay for her actions to an extent in an emotional and moral way. That will definitely not make up for the 5 years of prison for her father however, and charges should definitely be made against her, no matter how young she is.

A horrible situation, and I feel bad for all involved. I think it's going to be hard for the daughter to get rid of the guilt.

[Anubis]

She should be charged with perjury in addition to the rape he probably endured in prison, since he probably didn't invest in soap on a rope.

Yeah, she should be subject to the same laws that other citizens are.

[Spartacus]

I think it's safe to say that under his custody she will surely pay for her actions to an extent in an emotional and moral way. That will definitely not make up for the 5 years of prison for her father however, and charges should definitely be made against her, no matter how young she is.

Charges were not made against her, not because she was too young. She was 23 when she made that admission. 2 years from 21 and 5 years from 18.

She was not charged because they did not want other rape victims to fear being prosecuted if they came forward.

Cowlitz County Prosecutor Sue Baur says that the county will not take legal action against Kennedy, partly because authorities do not want to discourage individuals who have, in fact, suffered from sexual harassment from stepping forward.

I am more pissed at how the guy was not compensated at all for his time in prison.

vote to send her to jail for 9 years.