re: OSU baseball and Luke Heimlich

frick me....It's right there in plain English

I kept seeing how these cases aren't sealed.

Ok, sealed but public info???

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OSU's top pitcher was 15 years old when the crime occurred in his family's home in Puyallup, Washington, according to court documents obtained last week by The Oregonian/OregonLive through a public records request. Juvenile court records in Washington, unlike in Oregon, are not automatically confidential.

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What a tough set of emotions and circumstances all around.

Luke is accused of doing this and then has a HUGE decision to make at 16 years old. Plead guilty to something you said you did not do OR fight a charge that may be tough to refute because the natural jury bias would be to believe the child. If he fights and loses, the potential penalties are worse than accepting the plea.

His brother is faced with having to decide whether he believes his daughter or his brother in this whole sad incident. Naturally a father is going lead towards siding with their child. But the brother doing so to this day makes you question if it isn't Luke who is lying.

If my young daughter accused my brother of doing such a thing, I would investigate to the ends of the earth to confirm that my daughter was telling the truth. That would include asking her (kindly, of course) if she was absolutely positive what she is saying actually happened in the way it was reported. Having a young child, I can say from experience that they will lie and misinterpret some things. That's the nature of being 4.

Evidently the child has never wavered from her story either and the brother still believes his daughter. Now that the child is older, she can fully understand the repercussions of her statements and the monumental effect it has had on the family. Her father, grandparents and uncle have all been affected and it's put them all in a situation of having to figure out if they trust their son/siblings. If it did not happen, presumably she could come out and say she was wrong. With her being 4 years old at the time I think her family would understand she may not have known the gravity of her accusation. More than anything, I think ALL family members would be relieved to know this didn't actually happen...even if the consequences have already played out.

It's reasonable to think a 16 year old accepted responsibility for something he didn't do because not doing so could impart far worse consequences to he and his family. However, it's also reasonable to question whether, despite consistent denials, he is telling the truth. Clearly his brother and most importantly, his niece, haven't changed their story either.

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he might have just taken the plea to move on and not make a public spectacle and trial out of it.

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That's what these fricks can't seem to understand. It's not the 40 weeks he would have been afraid of, it's the possibility of the record not being sealed.

I don't know if he did it or not, but I've seen plenty of guys take article 15s in the military not due to guilt, but to prevent far worse consequences if they were found guilty, like having a federal conviction on your record.