I found the short piece below. Strange the DA's office only charged him with the murder at first. Only after the jury found him not guilty of murder did they decide to file rape charges against him. If they had the DNA, why not? Sounds like a weak case and maybe just overzealousness on the part of the investigators looking for a scapegoat to close their case. He was tried and found guilty and was in prison for some time, but is now free. He wasn't tried and found guilty. He was just stuck in jail during his trial. Here is a link that might be useful: Man Set Free

I'm glad you had a great Mother's Day. Those babies keep growing too fast. I love that last picture, too. Something about siblings taking care of each other is so sweet to see. I bet Camryn's a laugh a minute. She just has that look!

"There's a difference in having "rights" and forcing something on someone. "Rights" are like gifts given to us. We can choose to accept them or not." That is true. But, whether you agree or not... it's not forcing his rights, he has the same rights as the mother on the day the child is born if he is the biological father. A man should not have to go to court to obtain his parental rights any more than a woman should have to. Sharing DNA gives him the same rights as the mother, the child gets his/her DNA from BOTH parents and both parents have equal rights... until a court says otherwise. That comes with an equal responsibility... to support and have a relationship and parent the child. If a parent does not want to exercise their rights or accept their responsibility, they need to have a court, legally terminate those rights/responsibilities. It is not the same as your right to bear arms or your right to vote... you can choose not to carry a gun or not to vote, you cannot (legally) turn your back on a child... until a court terminates that relationship legally. BTW, It is the child's rights, not the parents. The child has the right to both parents and the answer isn't for some people to pick and choose which 'sperm donors' get the right to be a father or get a pass on their responsibility... otherwise, I know a few mothers that don't deserve that title.... deadbeat egg donors. But a guy can't make that decision, why should a woman get to decide if a man should be given the same rights she has the day the baby is born? I'm sure a Judge may not give a drug dealing low life deadbeat very much in the way of rights, but if he doesn't want the responsibility, then he can terminate rights and responsibility since they go hand in hand. and if a good man wants to step up and be named the father, and take responsibility and rights of a father to a child that is not his biologically, he should adopt.. just like a woman should adopt a child that isn't hers biologically if she wants the same rights and responsibility as a bio parent. I'm not preaching that deadbeats SHOULD have rights but it's not for US to decide. I sure would not like it if someone made me fight to get the rights that are mine... just because they didn't like me or the way I live my life. A court would be able to, and that's why we have courts.

Joanie, this blog post might be right up your alley, then. http://www.legalgenealogist.com/blog/2016/05/15/musings-on-a-dna-sunday/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheLegalGenealogist+%28The+Legal+Genealogist%29 If anyone came over before Ellis Island they might be at Ward's Island/Castle Garden from 1820-1892. http://www.castlegarden.org/ I got good stuff there for great grandparents. Some of mine came over before there was anywhere to be "processed". I still haven't found a passenger list or any evidence of them leaving there and landing here. And of course the Mayflower stuff is so documented you can read about it for days. I don't know how hard you've looked or where but ancestry isn't the only place with good records and lots of places are free. About every 3 years new data bases come on line so don't keep a subscription anywhere year after year. Spread them out. And be sure and use the free ship's lists and Germans to America and google books. There is enough free stuff "out there" to keep you occupied for a long time. I want to know the same things you want to know; more than names and dates. It's Time Consuming. But- so interesting I wouldn't do it any other way. I've written a couple dozen stories about my ancestor couples. It puts their life on paper and shows more about their life than born-died. You can put together a good time line from census and birth of children. One Thing: Census. Read the original census page, not just the transcript. And there are years that have more than one page of answers. Look at the page before and the page after to see if your family is continued. Also, you might find more family near by. Copy everything the census asked. Usually they ask occupation and where an individual and their parents were born. Different questions on different census will add up to the story. Then if you really want the birth certificate or marriage license you can usually get it. One time period I've had the most trouble with is 1800ish. The east coast kept records. The rest........well, it's been a headache. A lot of the midwest states weren't even required to keep records until into 1900. My first piece of advice is to subscribe to some genealogy blogs. They know when new data bases come on line and where to find them. They also know stuff that I don't know I don't know ;-) Even reading someone's Irish blog might give you a clue about where to look or what to look for.