Mercedes Carrera and husband Jason Whitney have been unlawfully detained in county jail without a trial, any evidence or a conviction for in excess of 4.5 years. They were originally arrested in In February 2019. This is yet another blatant constitutional violation in what used to be the United States of America. What separates the United States from other countries is that we have a constitution that guarantees us a right to a speedy and fair trial in front of a jury of our peers. The Sixth Amendment guarantees the rights of criminal defendants, including the right to a public trial without unnecessary delay, the right to a lawyer, the right to an impartial jury, and the right to know who your accusers are and the nature of the charges and evidence against you.
Upon investigation it was found that the warrant used in the arrest and search was not stamped, signed or registered with the court as it usually would be. This is a direct violation of the fourth amendment of the constitution which protects against unlawful search and seizure. Searches and seizures inside a home without a warrant are presumptively unreasonable. Payton v. New York , 445 U.S. 573 (1980). In addition none of the items confiscated from their home are illegal.
Carrera is a military brat — her father served in Vietnam and he, like many other returning Vietnam veterans, did not get the homecoming Iraq and Afghanistan veterans receive today. She even contributed to a project to help benefit veterans.
From within the San Bernardino County Jail, Mercedes, states that she has been wrongfully accused and that there were no illegal narcotics on the premises. The handgun was legally registered, and locked in a safety box. She and her ex were in the middle of a custody battle when he came up with a plan to make false criminal allegations against her and her husband to gain custody of the child without a continuing legal battle. He then coerced their own child into making a false criminal accusation.
While a career in adult entertainment is outside of the mainstream, it does not involve any illegal activity and it absolutely does not involve children or drugs!! Neither of these individuals are child molesters. The allegations against Melinda and Jason are false. Why hasn't the prosecutor's office presented the evidence they claim proves that these law abiding individuals posed a menace to society? If the allegations are true, why hasn't the San Bernardino prosecutors office gone to trial? Holding anybody in county jail for this long while denying them bail is inhumane, unamerican and fits a consistent pattern of unlawful conduct by the law enforcement community and the California court system.
Statistical analysis shows that it is extremely unusual for a female to commit sexual abuse of a child. In the annual police crime reports on child sexual abuse just 3% of perpetrators were recorded as female. An even smaller percentage of the female perpetrators molested their own child. It is highly unlikely that Melinda(Mercedes) committed the act that she is accused of. The state of California has presented no evidence to substantiate the claim that either of these defendants have every sexually abused or harmed a child even after a five year investigation. Both defendants find the accusations repugnant and demeaning, their most sincere hope is to return to their normal lives.
California currently leads the nation in wrongful convictions that have been overturned, the prosecutors office has failed to live up to the requirements to obtain a conviction and two innocent people are having their lives destroyed based on false allegations. How are they supposed to defend themselves legally after being held in subhuman living conditions with no access to the internet or the outside world for half a decade? Regardless of how heinous the accusation defendants are innocent until proven guilty!!!
Isn't it possible that innocent people could be accused of a crime that they did not commit?
According to the ACLU of Northern California, between 1989 and 2006 more than 200 people in California were wrongfully convicted of murder, rape, and other serious criminal offenses. In 2012, a research group found that those 200 wrongful convictions cost those people more than 1,300 years of freedom and $129 million in California taxpayer funds. Nationwide, more than 123 people have been exonerated and released from death row between 1973 and 2006. On average, a wrongfully convicted person sentenced to death spends nine years behind bars before the error is recognized.
Prior to starting a career in Adult Entertainment, Melinda Smith, who goes under the stage name Mercedes Carrera completed her degree in Aerospace engineering and worked for a defense contractor with a security clearance. With a mild case of autism she excelled in math and engineering. After she started her career in adult entertainment she helped organize and fund a scholarship for students studying STEM fields. Both of the defendants are horrified at what they have been accused of, and Melinda states "I would absolutely never do anything to harm my daughter, who I love more than anyone else in this world." After catching Covid-19 five times, having their family torn apart, and being held in conditions that are inhumane These people just want to go home, they have already suffered enough.
In the United States of America we should not incarcerate people for the long term without evidence or due process, for the prejudices against their occupation or for their political beliefs. Please help fight the inherent prejudice against adult entertainers, they are normal people just like the rest of us.
Amendment VI
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.
Amendment IV
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
