Dear Editor, April 2022
25 years ago, I got out of a jail cell after 64 days. A massive judgment was awarded against me.
In the AP article in the Roanoke Times, the account of my matter was basically incorrect. It created an incorrect impression.
I never denounced the acquittal of that teenager who I mistakenly accused only to the authorities. I exercised my right to peacefully protest three months after the March 1996 acquittal and also after I was in receipt of a lawsuit for $200,000. The reason for that protest was to get my own videotape back which recorded the shoplifting incident. I needed to see if and how I made a mistake in identifying the shoplifter.
There is no need to take my word for it. The Virginian Review, in late June 1996, published about my protest just one day prior. I believe it cited the reason for my protest was to get my tape back.
I did circulate letters 2.5 months after the acquittal. I did indeed cite the young man’s name as an individual who was indeed acquitted and who was now having his mother’s attorney verbally committing to sue me.
With attorney totalitarianism, their words are treated as sacrosanct. The AP did not have a Covington office nor did they get their information from the local newspaper. Otherwise, their story would not have such factual flaws. They chose to interview the plaintiff’s attorney but not me.
The media co-opts this Ruling Class as totally credible in legal matters. A narrative is inherently created filled with inconsistencies because of this.
Many of my contacts were not even adults at that time. The sad part is that 25 years later, people are as brainwashed as ever as to the nature of the aristocratic BAR Attorney-at-law associations.
I will be eternally grateful to all the wonderful people who supported the legal reform cause then and now. It was my ongoing critique of the BAR monopolized legal system for five years that was the motive behind this legal action. People change but systems remain the same.
For information on this case: https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/ROA-Times/issues/1997/rt9704/970426/04280075.htm
Very Truly Yours,
Harsha Sankar
908 Valley Ridge Road
Covington, Virginia 24426