User:Bedford Woman

Samantha Stone Werkheiser and Julie Werkheiser https://wnbf.com/former-binghamton-dance-teacher-sexual-abuse-conviction-reversed/ https://caselaw.findlaw.com/ny-supreme-court/1718056.html https://www.pressconnects.com/story/news/public-safety/2017/01/27/sex-abuse-trial-womans-fate-judges-hands/97140688/ owned and operated upstate New York dance studios in Binghamton and Waverly, NY. Samantha was first convicted of Predatory Sexual Assault of A Child in May of 2013, and at trial was five months pregnant with twins. She received a full acquittal on one of the charges. At birth, the baby girl twin died after 22 minutes, while the baby boy twin survived. Samantha won two direct appeals vacating her convictions in both November 2015, and in February 2019. Both convictions were overturned by the State of New York Supreme Court Appellate Division Third Judicial Department, and the indictment was dismissed. Julie was charged in 2014, three years after Samantha, and one year after the birth of their twins. Samantha and Julie Werkheiser are the first simultaneously incarcerated married lesbian couple in New York State. While they were incarcerated at the same time, Samantha was housed at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility(the state’s only maximum security prison for women), and Julie was housed in Albion Correctional Facility(a medium security prison for women.) In June of 2020, Julie Werkheiser’s civil rights attorney, Arthur Larkin of Hale Law LLC., Manhattan, NY, filed a motion to vacate her sentence. Samantha Werkheiser now advocates for humane conditions and adequate treatment of pregnant women. She, along with activist and author Donna Hylton, were instrumental in pushing for the release of pregnant women during the COVID-19 pandemic. Post advocacy, 8 of 11 pregnant women at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility were released during the pandemic as per Governor Andrew Cuomo. Both Werkheisers have publicly maintained their innocence since their original arrests, as well as throughout the three public trials between them. The couple has significant community support behind their innocence, with the local news reporting over 40 letters were written to the judges on their behalf. No medical evidence was ever presented as evidence in court in any of the three trials. https://www.dissentmagazine.org/online_articles/the-pandemic-inside-the-only-womens-maximum-security-prison-in-new-york https://theappeal.org/new-york-prison-bedford-hills-coronavirus/ See also

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