It has been a year since a Yolo County
Jury Convicted Ajay Dev of multiple counts of rape of his adopted
daughter. He would in August be sentence to 378 years in prison. The
family continues to maintain his innocence, throwing out evidence that
the multiple incidents of rape did not occur. And offering general
support to the family.
In a letter to family, friends, and well
wishers, Ajay Dev said, "This June 25, 2010 marks one year since the
worst miscarriage of justice that has occurred against me and my family.
It has been tremendously difficult as the wounds of betrayal, injustice
and the loss of my freedom are still very fresh."
Particularly difficult is that due to
the type of conviction he has received, Mr. Dev said, "The prison
authorities will not let me have contact visits with my children due to
the type of conviction. This has been devastating. I miss my older son
tremendously and I have not even seen or held my little 4 month old
son."
"Sometimes I think the injustice resulting from lies built
upon lies is impossible to untangle, especially for those far and
removed from the reality of the situation, like the jury. Let the
record be clear, I am innocent of all charges and was wrongly
convicted," he said.
"The fight for the truth and exposing the
gross miscarriage of justice that has occurred in Yolo County is an
uphill battle," he continued. "In spite of all the hurdles we have to
overcome, people are taking notice. We are making progress up that hill
and we will overcome, but we still have a lot of work to do."
One
of the more interesting stories we heard was from Terry Easley, the
sister of Peggy Dev. As she explained it, one of the rapes was said to
have occurred in her Monterrey home. She lived in a small apartment and
she explained, "700 sq ft is a generous estimate of the size of the
entire apartment. My niece slept in the living room on the floor next
to my two sons and a dog. My sister and I slept no more than 10 to 15
feet away from them."
She continued, "According to all four of
us, there was no way a rape could have occurred at that time--the ONLY
time the accuser spent the night in our home."
She described in
vivid detail her oldest son's recollection. "He did not testify in
court and is not here today, as he lives on the east coast. After the
verdict was read, he had a complete breakdown, sobbing uncontrollably,
and through his sobs he asked me if Ajay had been convicted of the rape
during the time when she visited our house. I answered yes. He choked
and heaved sobs, grew limp in my arms saying over and over, "That's not
right. Ajay didn't do it. Ajay didn't do it. It didn't happen.""
Her
younger son Ben Easley also spoke and described in explicit detail the
sleeping arrangements and why they believe there is no way that the
accuser could have been raped in their Monterrey home.
He
explained that the accuser, himself, his brother, and his uncle Ajay Dev
all lay shoulder to shoulder in the living. Mr. Easley described
himself as a light sleeper and a night owl who often lay awake at night,
sleepless. "For her to say that she was raped by my uncle under these
circumstances, considering that we were all lying shoulder to shoulder,
it's really unthinkable. I don't understand how this could happen."
"Not
only that," Ben Easley said, "but for him to get convicted on it on
basically someone's word, there's no tangible evidence whatsoever."
According
to the family, this is just one of many times and locations where the
claim of rape just did not seem possible let alone credible.
Unfortunately, the family maintains that a lot of these witnesses were
not allowed to testify.
The Vanguard spoke to Peggy Dev, wife
of Ajay. She told the Vanguard that their attorney is hoping to have
the opening brief filed this winter. It can be a two to year process
which includes the opening brief, the Attorney General's response, and
then the appellant files a reply brief.
Following that there will
be oral arguments and then the judges will examine the arguments and no
one is sure how long that will take.
As Ajay Dev explained in
his letter, "Unfortunately, the appeal process is complex and takes
time. The appellate court is only concerned about procedural errors and
if the defendant had an unfair trial."
"We all believe there were
errors and prejudice throughout the trial, causing this injustice," he
continued. "It has taken many hours to read and analyze the court
transcript. Although, reading the transcript was extremely emotional and
difficult, it confirmed our belief."
Peggy Dev has the enormous
burden of not only fighting what she believes is a worthy fight for her
husband's vindication but also is raising two very young children, one
of them four months old who as her husband explained, he has never even
met or held.
She told the Vanguard, "The kids are absolutely
wonderful and the source of my strength. They are too young to know what
is happening, which is a blessing."
"At times I just break down
and then I pick my-self up and continue to fight," Mrs. Dev continued,
"Being the only other person in the house, my conscience tells me that I
have to keep going until everything is out and this injustice is
undone. We have great support from family and friends and that helps me
to continue."
As she later explained, "This is my life and it is
so surreal to sit in court and hear the DDA talk about my life with more
authority than me. Especially when he wasn't there, nor has he ever
spoken to me outside of trial."
She continued, "No one can tell
me what my life was. I lived it. So, I feel an obligation of conscience
to make sure the truth does come out. I cannot live with myself knowing
what I know and that an innocent person is sitting in prison."
The events on Saturday began with a
dance called Lakhe which is according to Nepali custom, symbolically
protect Ajay by hunting down evil spirits and destroying them. In
essence asking God to conquer evil. According to the family, the Lakhe
dance is performed yearly during the Indra Jatra Festival in the streets
of Kathmandu. As king of the demons, the Lakhe serves to protect the
residents of the city from evil spirits and misfortune. His dance is
wild and spontaneous, performed to the music of cymbals and special
drums. Masked and robed in red, his bells jingle loudly as he hunts and
destroys the dangerous demons.
The Vanguard will be receiving a
copy of the trial transcript for the first time and will then be able to
evaluate key testimony and see who was able to speak and who was not.
This will enable us to really understand the evidence that the DA had
against Mr. Dev and see what the jury saw.
---David M. Greenwald
reporting
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