04/26/24
January 16, 2012
Bernie Fine Accuser Recants: Floyd VanHooser, an imprisoned burglar who accused Syracuse University assistant basketball coach Bernie Fine of sexually abusing him as a child, has admitted he made up the claim. VanHooser wrote in a letter that he lied about Fine to police and in media interviews. VanHooser, 56, said he lied because he was angry Fine didn't help him get a lawyer. Syracuse fired Fine in November after 35 years as an assistant.
posted by rcade to basketball at 06:11 PM - 8 comments
I don't even remember hearing this accusation, so I don't think this is any real vindication of Fine.
posted by bperk at 08:40 PM on January 16, 2012
People who say we shouldn't jump to conclusions when Fine was accused on molesting young boys also shouldn't automatically assume that this guy's story now is any more true. There are many reasons a person could decide to change their story. For Fine's sake I hope it was all lies.
posted by dyams at 05:58 AM on January 17, 2012
This accusation was widely reported, but it was lost by all the stories on the Zach Tomaselli accusation. Tomaselli's story also has huge holes in it, because school records contradict his claim to have been on a road trip with Fine.
posted by rcade at 08:15 AM on January 17, 2012
I don't even remember hearing this accusation, so I don't think this is any real vindication of Fine.
Vindication: an act of vindicating : the state of being vindicated; specifically : justification against denial or censure : defense Vindicate: to free from allegation or blame
A former accuser recants his accusation. How is it not a "real vindication"?
posted by lil_brown_bat at 09:46 AM on January 17, 2012
Because it's one person stepping out of a line of people. The line has to disappear before we start talking about vindication. And then, of course, there's the horror unique to this type of accusation: there is no way you will ever clear your name if you are innocent.
posted by yerfatma at 10:32 AM on January 17, 2012
Right, my mistake. It's the "you can't prove a negative" problem.
posted by lil_brown_bat at 12:06 PM on January 17, 2012
... there is no way you will ever clear your name if you are innocent.
Especially when people don't consider a recanted accusation to be vindicating. Two of four Fine accusers are bogus. One recanted and the other was shown to be lying. The main piece of evidence held against Fine among the public -- his wife's phone conversation with one of the remaining two accusers -- is colored by her admission to have been his adult sex partner also.
As others have said, I wish ESPN had held on to its original Fine story until the Penn State furor had died down, so it could be judged on its own merits. This is nothing like Sandusky, where the number of purported victims is staggering and there were witnesses to the alleged abuse.
posted by rcade at 09:01 AM on January 18, 2012
I hope all of those people who were jumping to conclusions are happy now.