Karma baby...is a B!tch!!!

[RKM]

Infamous hoaxster Tawana Brawley — whose outrageous rape lie 25 years ago inflamed racial tensions nationwide — yesterday was finally slapped with a court order to settle a hefty defamation case against her.

“For at least 25 years, she has been living a major lie,” said former Dutchess County prosecutor Steven Pagones, who was falsely accused of raping Brawley in 1987 and finally tracked her down, thanks to The Post.

“To me, this has always been about responsibility and accountability,’’ added the former ADA, who won the $190,000 defamation lawsuit against Brawley, 40, now a nurse in Virginia, more than a decade ago.




EXPOSED: Tawana Brawley had been living in hiding in Virginia until The Post tracked her down.

At 9 percent interest, that debt, which Brawley never attempted to pay off, now totals $431,492, according to the wage-garnishment papers filed in Virginia’s Surry County Court.

Brawley — whose unbelievable lies made the Rev. Al Sharpton a household name as he bombastically championed her cause — had changed her name and moved down South in the years since she was exposed.

Her fugitive-like antics long thwarted Pagones’ efforts to serve her with the court papers needed to get the financial damages due him.

But The Post finally found Brawley last month, effectively leading Pagones and his lawyer to her.

She was living under the assumed name of Tawana Vacenia Thompson Gutierrez in Hopewell, Va., and working as a licensed nurse at The Laurels of Bon Air, a nursing home in nearby Richmond.

According to Pagones’ lawyer, Garry Bolnick, the single mom’s wages could be docked 10 to 25 percent per paycheck as retribution for her lies.

Pagones said he might waive his entitled windfall — if Brawley finally ’fesses up.

“There is a feeling of unfinished business to it,” he said of the case that ended his career and cost him his marriage. “I look at this as another opportunity for her to tell the truth.

“People criticize me for going after a hardworking single mother trying to support herself and child. My argument has been she has not been held accountable.

“If she is not going to tell the truth, then it is about the money. That is the only way to hold her accountable,” said Pagones, who is now principal owner of a private investigations firm.

But Pagones said he wonders if Sharpton will again try to rush to her aid and bail her out.

“I’ve got to believe since he is primarily responsible for all the damage done, I would think he would come to her aid. That’s what I expect,” Pagones said.

Seemingly a lifetime ago, a 15-year-old Brawley of Wappingers Falls in Dutchess County was found in a trash bag covered in feces with the words “n- - - -r” and “*****” scrawled upside down on her body and “KKK” carved into her shoe.

Sharpton, still relatively unknown outside New York City, and lawyers Alton Maddox and C. Vernon Mason, immediately took up her cause as she claimed she was attacked by a gang of white men, including Pagones.

When 28-year-old Fishkill Police Officer Harry Crist Jr., committed suicide a week later — likely over a romantic breakup and failing the New York State Police exam — Sharpton and his allies used the incident to accuse Crist of participating in the rape.

When Pagones, a friend of Crist, offered an alibi for his besmirched dead friend, he found himself accused of raping Brawley nearly three dozen times.

After a year of hell, a grand jury found Brawley’s accusations without any merit. She likely fabricated the story because she feared her stepfather’s wrath for staying out late, according to the grand-jury evidence.

“This has been on my mind every time Sharpton has been in the news,” Pagones said of the case.

“I am reminded of the damage Tawana Brawley, Sharpton, Mason and Maddox caused. It’s something I live with all the time.”

In 1997, Pagones won a defamation lawsuit against Sharpton, Brawley and her lawyers.

Maddox was found liable for $97,000, Mason for $188,000, and Sharpton was ordered to pony up $66,000, money that was coughed up by O.J. Simpson lawyer Johnnie Cochran and others.

 

[Mgarza_a]

And yet everyday prosecutors such as Mr. Pagones used to be, put people on trial and send them to prison based on questionable evidence. I find it strange this gentleman found himself a victim of the very same system he was a part of in the first place. Not to take anything away from his vindication, but I wonder how other cases around the country would shake out if the same financial or criminal punishment were allowed to be levied against prosecutors themselves.

 

[peanut]

Can we talk about Justice here?

 

[loudshirt]

I wish more of the people that falsely accuse other of rape would be held accountable like this. Accusing someone of rape is horrible and immediately destroys that persons life. Even after the accused is found innocent his life is still screwed up.

 

[Lurker66]

Surely she didnt rape herself, put herself in a bag, then throw herself in a dumpster. So after all this, 20+ years later, you get sued.

I dunno. Whole thing sounds like a mess.

 

[Glocktogo]

Surely she didnt rape herself, put herself in a bag, then throw herself in a dumpster. So after all this, 20+ years later, you get sued.

I dunno. Whole thing sounds like a mess.

Doesn't sound like you read the details, at all.

 

[Baron Driver]

And yet everyday prosecutors such as Mr. Pagones used to be, put people on trial and send them to prison based on questionable evidence. I find it strange this gentleman found himself a victim of the very same system he was a part of in the first place. Not to take anything away from his vindication, but I wonder how other cases around the country would shake out if the same financial or criminal punishment were allowed to be levied against prosecutors themselves.

Believe it or not, Prosecutors are not paid by the conviction, and are charged only with ensuring that justice is done. As with any profession, there are a few bad apples, but the overwhelming majority remember their oath and obligation. Prosecutors, like other law enforcement, can beheld liable for certain misconduct, and rightly so, but ask yourself how many people would be applying for a job which would subject them to civil or criminal penalties if a jury found that the state's case had reasonable doubt. There is a difference between being innocent and being found not guilty.

 

[Mgarza_a]

Believe it or not, Prosecutors are not paid by the conviction, and are charged only with ensuring that justice is done. As with any profession, there are a few bad apples, but the overwhelming majority remember their oath and obligation. Prosecutors, like other law enforcement, can beheld liable for certain misconduct, and rightly so, but ask yourself how many people would be applying for a job which would subject them to civil or criminal penalties if a jury found that the state's case had reasonable doubt. There is a difference between being innocent and being found not guilty.

I am aware of how a state prosecutor is compensated. The key words are "justice" and "certain conduct". I realize there are decent prosecutors out there, but I think its optimistic to say a "few" bad apples. Prosecutors weild extreme power through the use of plea bargains. Across the nation daily people plea out of charges regardless of whether they are innocent of a crime.

Prosecutors across country routinely have conviction rates above 80%. The use of Plea bargains have innocent people agreeing to be labled as felons in return for not having to take the chance on a jury trial and the prosecutor seeking maximum sentence. This is especially true in the case of someone being accused of a sex crime. Sex crimes are at the top of the list for false accusations right along with murder. In murder cases even after dna has exonerated a defendent the prosecution will refile a case or allow it to move to higher courts to maintain conviction rates or avoid the admission that a miscarriage of justice has occured. Many legal wrangling can occur to impose prosecutorial immunity.

 

[Tin Star Firearms]

Mgarza_a,
I think you are painting prosecutors with too broad of a brush in regard to their use of plea bargains which has nothing to do with the OP in the first place.

I think Brawley's wages and any tax returns should be garnished until the debt is re-payed.

Andrew

 

[Baron Driver]

I am aware of how a state prosecutor is compensated. The key words are "justice" and "certain conduct". I realize there are decent prosecutors out there, but I think its optimistic to say a "few" bad apples. Prosecutors weild extreme power through the use of plea bargains. Across the nation daily people plea out of charges regardless of whether they are innocent of a crime.

Prosecutors across country routinely have conviction rates above 80%. The use of Plea bargains have innocent people agreeing to be labled as felons in return for not having to take the chance on a jury trial and the prosecutor seeking maximum sentence. This is especially true in the case of someone being accused of a sex crime. Sex crimes are at the top of the list for false accusations right along with murder. In murder cases even after dna has exonerated a defendent the prosecution will refile a case or allow it to move to higher courts to maintain conviction rates or avoid the admission that a miscarriage of justice has occured. Many legal wrangling can occur to impose prosecutorial immunity.

Are you suggesting that Prosecutors should not engage in plea negotiations with Defendants (through their attorneys) because that is too much power for a person to "wield?" Should every defendant accused of a crime be tried by a jury even if they don't want to be? If so, prepare for your taxes to rise to hire more prosecutors, public defenders, judges, build more courtrooms, and expect to spend significantly more time on jury duty.