Tears and forgiveness as Longview dad, daughter speak on false rape allegations

BY Alyssa Kleven  on December 11, 2012 @ 6:04 am (Updated: 8:32 am - 12/11/12 )

A Longview father, wrongly accused of raping his own child tearfully spoke out on national television with his daughter at his side.

Cassandra Kennedy was 11 years old in 2001 when she accused her father of rape. Now, as a 23-year-old, she apologized to her now-free dad on "Katie."

"Thank you for being a good dad and I'm sorry for my wrong perspective as a child about you," she told her dad, Thomas Edward Kennedy, on the show. "I'm glad you're here for me now."

Last January, Cassandra told police she made up the rape allegations when she was a child.

"I was just angry and upset because I felt like he wasn't around enough and you know, broken promises and stuff like that," Cassandra said. Host Katie Couric asked her if she had just wanted more of her dad, "I did. I wanted more of my dad."

Thomas denied the rape allegations at the time but was convicted and sentenced to more than 15 years in prison. After serving nearly a decade, he was released and all charges against him were dismissed.

When he was released, "I felt joy, I felt security. Knowing that my prayer had finally been answered. I had hope and faith all along," Thomas said.

As an innocent man in prison, Thomas said it was scary and horrible: not knowing from one second to the next what was going to come at him.

When he was released, and Cassandra, now an adult, was reunited with her dad, she feared his response.

"I didn't really know for sure what he was thinking or what he was going to say or anything like that. Then I saw he took his hand out from behind his back and had a bouquet of flowers for me. So I melted right there. It was awesome."

In April when Cassandra recanted her story, prosecutors said they were unsure whether she lied in 2001 or is lying now. Cowlitz County Prosecutor Sue Baur said there was sufficient evidence for a jury to convict Thomas Kennedy at the time.

"It's impossible for anyone to know what the truth is, isn't it?" Baur had said. "There is basically no way that a jury now would be able to convict [...] when she's recanting now. But, technically that doesn't mean that anybody has made a finding that she lied back then."

Baur said her office would not seek to have the case tried again, and that the statute of limitations prevents her office from charging the daughter with false reporting.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Alyssa Kleven, MyNorthwest.com Editor
Alyssa Kleven is an editor and content producer at MyNorthwest.com. She enjoys doting over her adorable dachshund Winnie - named for Arcade Fire front-man Win Butler.
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Comments (7)


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  • NW observer wrote...
    False allegations
    December 11, 2012 7:01 am
    We see this way too often. Prosecutors refuse to admit a mistake, even when DNA evidence proves the wrong man was convicted. With rape of a child, no evidence is required other than an allegation. An 11-year-old doesn't really understand what she is doing when she lashes out this way. What a waste.
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  • DesertRez wrote...
    I can't imagine
    December 11, 2012 7:20 am
    what a life was like as a wrongfully convicted child rapist was like in prison.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • silvanamama wrote...
    seriously?
    December 11, 2012 8:23 am
    She waited until she was 23 years old to recant her story? What a piece of crap this woman is.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • mnpat wrote...
    I'm sure all the expert witnesses and DSHS
    December 11, 2012 8:50 am
    Helped convict this person....in their eyes all men are mother/daughter/women rapers, and if they get some innoncent folks along the way they could care less.
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  • Ernie in the East wrote...
    guilty until proven innocent
    December 11, 2012 9:09 am
    While I hate, loath, etc any child molester, there is in our society the given that the person is "guilty until proven innocent" rather than our normal cry of "innocent, until proven guilty" when it comes to such crime as rape, especially child rape. This certainly begs the question, just what "evidence" convicted this man in 2001? While I am glad that a wrong has been righted, yet this man has lost 10 years of his life and that wrongfully. That is something that can never be returned to him. Tragic.
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  • sambra27 wrote...
    Yikes
    December 11, 2012 9:15 am
    Makes me wonder how long it took him in prison to come to terms with forgiving his daughter. I imagine that was an extremely difficult thing to do. I don't have children myself but I understand that undying and unconditional commitment to your blood relative.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Oly80 wrote...
    i can't say...
    December 11, 2012 9:43 am
    that i'd be so cavalier as to go on tv and do what this man did.

    i'm sure i'd be able to forgive at some point, but i'd need time and a lot of work on THEIR part to persuade me to forgive.

    ten years of life...gone. that's a tough issue to deal with.

    it does feel like SOMEBODY should take a fall for his wrongful imprisonment.

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