June 1, 2016
Page 5
photo Courtesy m otto p iCtures and n aked e dge f ilms
A still from the documentary ‘Southwest of Salem: The Story of the San Antonio Four’ shows Anna Vasquez and a 2012 issue of the San Antonio Current featuring a cover
story about her case.
Tried and Convicted by Mistake
o PinionAted
J udge
by J udge
d arleen o rtega
Documentary
sparks
conversation on
how badly things
can go wrong
d arleen o rtega
When the criminal justice sys-
tem makes mistakes, why are we
as a culture, and especially those
of us inside the system, not more
curious about what went wrong?
While watching “Southwest of
Salem: The Story of the San
Antonio Four,” which closed
the recent Portland Queer Doc-
by
umentary Film Festival, I found
myself sitting with that question.
The criminal justice system is
made up of people, and people
make mistakes. Popular culture
brings stories of a small number
of its more dramatic mistakes or
potential mistakes to our atten-
tion from time to time -- “Serial,”
for example, or “The Making of
a Murderer.” But the energy we
spend trying to understand how
such mistakes happened hardly
seems commensurate with the
cost to the individuals involved,
and to the potential for other
mistakes we can’t see.
The story of the San Anto-
nio Four is an agonizing case in
point. The late ‘90s marked the
tail end of a period of what later
was termed “moral panic” about
supposed ritual Satanic abuse of
children. Stories of such cases
dominated the media and be-
came a focus of prosecutors and
police forces. It is thought that
such fears fueled many crimi-
nal prosecutions, including the
famously wrongful murder con-
victions of the Memphis Three,
depicted in four excellent doc-
umentaries, including “Paradise
Lost” and “West of Memphis.”
Around that same time period,
four young Latinas, all lesbians
in their late teens and early 20s,
were charged with ritual abuse of
two young girls in San Antonio.
The children involved were the
nieces of one of the young wom-
en, Elizabeth Rodriguez, and
the girls told a bizarre story that
became the basis of a celebrat-
ed case against the four young
v Ancouver A venue F irst b APtist c hurch
Sr. Pastor Rev. J.W. Matt Hennessee. M. Div.
MISSION DEPARTMENT
Youth Scholarship Fundraiser
“Fellowship in Unity”
Fashion Show Dinner
“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is
For brethren to dwell together in unity” – Psalms 133:1
June 3, 2016
6:00PM
Donation:
$20.00
C ontinued on p age 15
Health Leader Nominated for PDC
C ontinued from p age 3
Historical Society Board; the Or-
egon Health Policy Board Health-
care Workforce Committee; I Have
a Dream Oregon board; Gover-
nor’s Council on Alcohol and Drug
Abuse Programs; and was appoint-
ed by Mayor Hales to the Commu-
nity Oversight Advisory Board,
which oversees police reform out-
lined in the U.S. Department of
Justice settlement agreement.
“I am excited about the oppor-
tunity to join the PDC, as I will be
sure to offer a different perspec-
tive and frame,” Moreland-Capuia
said. “The city is changing and
progressing rapidly. That progress
must be tempered with perspec-
tive — in this case, broader, wider,
deeper and different perspective.”
She would replace Anesh-
ka Dickson on the ive-member
commission. Dickson’s term
runs through July 1, and More-
land-Capuia’s will begin July 2.
Vancouver Avenue
First Baptist Church
Dr. O.B. & Sister Williams Fellowship Hall
3138 N. Vancouver
Portland, Or 97227
Information:
503 964-0593 / 503 287-3752