I have always disagreed that alleged victims should be allowed an opinion on the right to be pardoned. After all, what we are seeing with Ms. Cornelius's campaign is a prime example of abuse of that privilege. A man has served his time and yet is continuously unable to be given the chance to be restored because a person labeled a victim will not let go nearly 50 years after the fact.
I say alleged because an accusation that old is hard to prove, and knowing the conviction came during the height of the Satanic Panic scares, when many people were falsely accused of multiple rapes of children as part of some kind of underground Satanic cabal. This conspiracy theory was recently revived with the Pizzagate/ QAnon conspiracies, something completely fabricated by the online troll community 4Chan. I have to wonder if this alleged victim didn't fall for the SRA hoax as well. Plenty of people back then believed they were abused when they were not actually abused.
None of these things should be considered for Mr. Prince's pardon hearing. This hearing should be on the merits of Leon's time since his release and nothing more. Leon was already judged and convicted and served time. What has he done since that time? He at least tried to work to help others, which is more han I can say for Ms. Corneluis. She has stalked this man with the blessings of the state of Alabama for 14 years since Leon's release, including lobbying to have him placed on the registry through an unconstitutional ex post facto law.
Allison, if you read this, I sent MY OWN email to the pardon board in opposition to your campaign. I think you should be arrested for harassment.
If my readers with to be a voice of reason against this campaign of unforgiveness and hatemongering, email pardons@paroles.alabama.gov
'You destroyed our lives’: Alabama woman opposes pardon for Sunday School teacher who raped her in 1972
Updated Oct 05, 2020; Posted Oct 05, 2020
By Carol Robinson | crobinson@al.com
It’s been nearly 50 years since Leon Albert Prince raped a 7-year-old girl who was a student in his Sunday School class and now, 14 years after he walked out of prison, he is seeking a pardon from the state of Alabama.
However, the 76-year-old Prince, who served 15 years of a 30-year sentence, isn’t asking his victim or victims for forgiveness. Prince has requested a state pardon and will go before the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles in two weeks to plead his case.
It’s a move that infuriates his victim, Allison Black Cornelius, who has long been outspoken about the horrendous crimes committed against her and remains devoted to the fight for her abuser to be held accountable. "It seems to me the very first person he would want to get a pardon from would be me or one of his other 52 victims,'' Cornelius said. “It makes me angry.”
Repeated efforts to reach Prince for comment have been unsuccessful.
In an emotional Facebook Live video, Cornelius delivered a “message to my rapist” which she said she knew Prince would be watching.
A message to my rapist.... (please send your opposition to email below) and SHARE THIS! Join me in opposing Leon Albert Prince’s request for a pardon. His hearing is October 20, 2020 Please email your opposition to pardons@paroles.alabama.gov Alabama Board of Pardons & Paroles
Posted by Allison Black Cornelius on Thursday, October 1, 2020
“I wanted to say to you personally, I am so tired of having to monitor and babysit you," she said in the Facebook video. "I have heard from 52 of your victims since you were convicted in 1991. I don’t understand, why did you think it was a good idea to ask the state of Alabama for a pardon before you asked me, or my mom, or dad. You were my youth pastor at Tarrant First Baptist Church when you did that. My dad and my mom trusted you. When you did this, you destroyed our lives.”
It was the national attention surrounding Prince’s trial that brought out dozens of victims – both boys and girls – who told of similar abuse by Prince. Cornelius, however, was the only one to take him to court.
“If you really deserve a pardon it would seem to me to you would have the asked us first," Cornelius said on Facebook. "You’ve never once looked me in the eye and acknowledged what you did. I’m going to tell you something Leon and I hate to admit it, but you dropped a bomb in our family when you did what you did. And you dropped a bomb in a lot of other children’s lives when you did what you did to them.”
Cornelius, now the executive director of the Greater Birmingham Humane Society, was 7 years old in 1972 when Prince, her Sunday school teacher, molested and raped her. She has said in previous interviews that he headed the bus ministry at Tarrant First Baptist Church and told her if she did not do what he wanted her to, and if she told anyone what he was doing, he would kill her dog.
It wasn’t until 20 years later, when Cornelius could no long bear the thought that he could be harming other children, that she came forward. It became a landmark case that made national headlines when she testified against Prince in a Jefferson County court.
Prince was convicted, sentenced to 30 years and served 15, leaving prison in November 2006.
Just a year after his release, Cornelius discovered that Prince was working as a volunteer with Montgomery’s Frazer Memorial Baptist Church, and volunteering with youth male sex offenders at the state’s Mount Meigs Youth Center. A required background check was never conducted, and Prince had not been required to register as a sex offender under a loophole in the law.
Prince had been convicted of “carnal knowledge of a child” which was not explicitly listed as a crime under the Community Notification Act. Cornelius and lawmakers fought that, and won and, in 2008, a state administrative law judge said a state law that requires neighbors to be notified about a sex offender living nearby applied Prince. He is now registered as a sex offender and living in Deatsville.
Cornelius said she was recently notified that Prince had applied for a state pardon. All that is required to do so is to fill out a form on the agency’s website. Prince did so, and an Oct. 20 hearing was scheduled.
The Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles can grant a full pardon, or can grant a pardon with restrictions, such as the right to possess a firearm or registering as a sex offender. During Fiscal Year 2020, which began on Oct. 1, 2019 and ended on Sept. 30, 2020, there were a total of 509 pardon hearings. Of those, 210 pardons were granted and 299 were denied.
Cornelius said she was floored, and because Prince did not list a reason for his request on his application, she has no idea why he wants one now. "It set off alarm bells for me because there would be one reason he wants a pardon and that’s because he’s trying to something that he cannot do because he is a registered sex offender,'' Cornelius said.
"I asked the (board) is he applying for nursing school? Is he wishing to carry a firearm? We just don’t know why he’s up and asked for a pardon out of the blue,'' she said.
“I would think he would start with atonement of his victims and then once all of us were convinced of his incredible transformation, then we would all join him in going down to the parole board to ask to pardon it. I would think he would need a letter of support from us.”
Though Cornelius says she has forgiven Prince, she does not support a pardon.
"I don’t know if it’s a great idea if he’s walking around and nobody knows about his past,'' she said. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m not hoping that when someone who has abused a child gets out of prison they can’t move anywhere or walk around safely without people hurting them. I’m not wishing that on anybody, but I do think it’s important for people to know who these folks are and what their background is.”
Forgiveness, Cornelius said, doesn’t erase consequences. "President Nixon has been forgiven but he can’t be president anymore,'' she said. “There are some things you do in life that you lose the privilege of getting to do what you want to do.”
“Absolutely you’re forgiven, especially if you’re a person who believes in Christ, but I don’t know that Christ says, ‘I forgive you and yes you can now back and work with children.’ He can’t live his life in a way that puts him around children – that can never happen again. Everywhere he went, he left vast destruction.”
In her video, in which she asked that those opposed to a pardon voice their concerns by either writing a letter to the board or make a donation to their favorite charity, Cornelius addressed Prince directly.
“I’m not saying you don’t deserve forgiveness, because the one thing you didn’t take from during that entire time you were raping and molesting and torturing me over those three month in 1972, you did not kill my faith. I have always had a strong faith. You didn’t take that from me. I have always had a purpose and I live that purpose because I knew if I didn’t, then I would probably succumb to all manner of addiction and brokenness and that would be me living on your purpose and that wasn’t going to happen.”
She said the pardon request had drudged up the issue all over again – though it never strays far from her thoughts, unfortunately.
“It just wears me out and I wanted you to know from me that I will do everything in my power if you want to continue to go public then I’m going to go public and talk about what you did to me and those other children. As much as it pains me and as hard as it is to be this vulnerable on a medium like this, I will do whatever I have to do to keep you from going under the radar ever again.”
that photo of the tramp and her dogs suggests she puts peanut butter on her dirty cunt for the dogs to lick.
ReplyDeleteThat reminds me of Valigator, who's burning in Hell along with Huck and Grits.
Delete