Re: Encryption & self-incrimination

[tcmay@netcom.com (Timothy C. May)]

> I recall a case several years ago where a woman (somewhere on the East
> Coast?) was thrown in jail for contempt.  She refused several times to
> tell the court where her child was in an attempt to keep her ex-husband
> from gaining custody (I believe he was accused of sexually abusing the
> child).  The woman had been in jail for several months when a higher court
> ruled that she must be released.  I don't have any references to this case,
> perhaps someone else does.
> 
> John Schultz

This was the Elizabeth Morgan case, and she was in jail for a lot
longer than several months...more like a year or two. She claimed her
ex-husband, a doctor or dentist, had molested her daughter.

As John noted, she refused to say where the child was and so remained
in jail indefinitely.

(I have mixed feelings about this case. Suppose the father had never
molested the daughter and this was just a custody ploy. Does the
mother's silence mean the daughter is forever inaccessible? That there
will never be a trial to resolve the issue?)

When she was eventually released, details escape me as to how this
happened, she travelled to Australia, where her daughter was being
raised by the grandparents.

I've heard nothing more of the case.


--Tim May


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