Andrew Cullen of Fremont, New Hampshire filed a federal lawsuit against the town of Fremont, former police chief Neal Janvrin, and Sgt. Adam Raymond, for their involvement in the false rape accusation made against him in 2011. A mentally disabled woman who previously falsely accused someone else of raping her, accused Cullen of rape. After telling the police three different versions of the events, the police arrested Cullen, who she was living with at the time.
In 2012, a Circuit Court judge found that there was no probable cause for the police to have arrested Cullen and dismissed the case. The town of Fremont, in its motion for summary judgment, claims that probable cause was obtained as evidenced by the two arrest warrants and three search warrants. In the alternative, they argue that the town and the officers have qualified immunity from civil suits based on making a “reasonable mistake” about the legality of their actions.
Charles Bauer, the attorney for Fremont, also argued that the county prosecutor bore the majority of the responsibility for Cullen’s prosecution. Cullen’s attorney, Paul McEachern, argued that the police failed to conduct a proper investigation and misled the court through misstatements and omissions to obtain the warrants. The police, in their warrant applications, failed to mention that the accuser’s mental state made her unable to wash or feed herself without assistance.
McEachern argued that the police were aware of the accuser’s mental defects and still relied solely her multiple stories as probable cause to arrest Cullen. Fremont through Bauer has argued that the police have no duty to investigate a crime beyond what is necessary to establish probable cause.
Short version: Even when a mentally retarded woman falsely accuses a man of rape, after having accused another man, and telling three different stories about what happened, is still considered credible when it comes to locking a man up and charging him with rape because they BELIEVE HER. And the police argue that once they haul you off to the jail on charges, they are not responsible for any further investigation of a crime.
God Bless America, because nobody else will or should.