Updated: September 19, 2004 for "An unknown author's Dream".

Jessica Langshaw, 20, and Raul Umana, 28, tried netting $500,000 from 8 blackmailed men by the threat of charging them with rape. The men had not raped her and some were not even romantically involved with her. They were just 8 men she met over the course of an 18 month period.

The ransoms consisted of specified amounts of money from each 'rapist', ranging from 8 to 150 thousand dollars, and at least 2 motorcycles. During the time of extortion from the 8 'rapists', 2 of these 'rapists' had their cars incinerated. Apparently, still a mystery to the DA's office, since neither of the extortionists were charged with arson.

Jessica and Raul could still be happily spending their rewards from the 'rapists' were it not for a meeting of county law enforcement officers. . Jessica Langshaw's name was mentioned more than once, otherwise these innocent men might still be in their nightmarish hell. Jessica and Raul would be looking for their next 'rapist'.

Eventually, it's determined that there were 8 'rapists' all total. Three of which she had filed criminal reports for charges. Ms. Langshaw was charged with 6 felony counts of extortion, 5 felony counts of postal threats, and the 3 perjurous and false reports of rape. All total, between Ms. Langshaw and Raul Umana her co-conspirator, 9 counts of extortion, 8 threats, 3 perjuries (dropped?) and 3 false reports for a grand total of 17 felonies and 6 misdemeanors. Only 3 of the misdemeanors for filing false reports were charged, however, I am unable to comprehend how one may file a false report without perjury since they are sworn statements.

The DA, according to her webpage is Ms. Jan Scully, and her office felt that a plea bargain of Less than 1 year prison for Langshaw, and Less than 2 years for Umana was appropriate. Despite Langshaw being the most culpable and having more charges. Despite the United States Sentencing Commission showing the median sentence time for JUST ONE count of extortion being 8 years, Langshaw was offered LESS than one year of prison time for all of her crimes. (see pages 93 and 94 for median sentences of extortion and blackmail.)

How is it possible to cause that much harm to the innocent 'rapists', their families, and women that have truely been brutally raped and wind up with less than ONE year in prison? First, you have to start out with a dispicable person that doesn't care what they do to others. There are plenty of them in this world. Then you have to add a DA's office that, apparently, doesn't care that it is happening and is not interested in keeping it from happening.

In my opinion, allowing a plea bargain of LESS than ONE year of prison for 8 offenses and 8 male versions of events versus 1 female version of events is so perverse as to be laughable, as it must be a joke. But, at least the DA's office did set a limit on the number of 'rapists' you can cull from the crowd at random. Apparently, when you get 8 men testifying and 1 woman testifying, it must approach the realm of believability for the vile 'rapists'. The volumous charges kept these men from being 'rapists', but, a charged rapist goes on a database that forever links him to rape, regardless of conviction or acquital.

So ladies, if you are looking to make some quick cash in Sacremento (or just about anywhere in the present western civilization), keep your accusations down to 7 'rapists' a year and you should be ok. If it takes 8 male testiments to be believeable against 1 female testiment of rape. What chance does one man have against one woman's word in criminal court against the rape or abuse charge? What chance does one man have against one woman's word in civil court against the rape or abuse charge? Little or none. Men, make no mistake, you are only one false accusation away from being a 'rapist' or an 'abuser' for the rest of your life. Which may not be long, as suicide rates for divorced men are 8 to 10 times higher than the average person.

Because of domestic violence, child protection, 'in the best interest of the child' laws and a political correctness hysteria which requires protection of some individuals at all costs, due process is removed from the accused by these laws. The constitution is here for a reason. It must be followed or more accused innocents will follow the thousands that have already been abused by this system.

Folks, there is more than one crime here. There's the crimes that Langshaw did. There is the crime that DA, Jan Scully's office did when they plea bargained for less than a year in jail. There is a crime of agenda to protect some, at any cost to the liberty and rights of the innocent (as in more concern over whether an unborn is a being or an abortion, than the actual death of the unborn or what may have caused it). And there is the crime our legislators did when they made laws that make accusations take precedence over due process and the constitution while bowing to political correctness.

Rapists, killers and abusers need to be punished to prevent and stop crimes. But, those punishments need to be based on evidence subject to due process, not the mere unsubstantiated accusation of any gender, race, creed or class. Ethics demands it. Justice demands it. The Constitution demands it.

The sentencing on this particular case was June 13, 2003. So, while the plea bargain was agreed, the official sentencing is still unknown. Jessica Langshaw case # 02F07967, & case # 02f03040. Raul Umana case # 02F03040. After this original article was published, one of the "rapists" contacted me to thank me for the article. We emailed several times. I had not heard from him in several months when he informed me that he had gone to the June 13th sentencing. It did not happen. Last he heard, Ms Langshaw was not happy about a less than one year sentence and had reniged on the plea bargain. At that point, he washed his hands of it, glad to have escaped with his life and I have not heard from him since. Surely, he was one of the lucky ones. Many have lost jobs, houses and their children just for the accusation of sexual abuse. How much prison time did Jessica Langshaw and Raul Umana get for this abuse of justice? Did Jessica learn her lesson about false charges or did she just learn her lesson about how many she could cull from the herd at one time? Jessica, just keep your accusations down to one at a time. Jessic'ettes are anonymous. They can just keep going down the line of individual rapists indefinitely, as long as they stick to culling one at a time. The author is going to ask the DA and the Governor. My readers are more than welcome to ask along with me. : DA's phone 916-874-6217 &18, Include Langshaw & Umana & case #'s. Honorable David Abbott was supposed to be the presiding judge on June 13, 2003. Dept 14, 916-874-6156. Change Sentence Div. at: 720 9th St., Room 101, Sacremento, CA., 95814

Ed Ward, MD, MT.

Author's Note: Feedback on the reader's forum for my article here at The Price of Liberty

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