Randall Raar in His Own Words

Raar details the chain of events which led to his being convicted: wrongfully he claims.

Randall Raar recently celebrated his 75th birthday as an inmate of the Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC).

He’ll likely die there, unless someone takes a fresh look at his case.

Guilty or not, his conviction has raised very troubling questions. He was convicted of possession of child pornography (Raar said this was a 1970s magazine) and sex with a minor.

If it was merely possession of child pornography- a charge he says was fabricated- he would be out of prison by now.

Raar says the magazine was a nudist lifestyle magazine.

It was the more serious charge of sex with a minor that will keep him in prison for life.

That conviction was secured largely on the strength of testimony by a twenty-one year old about events which purportedly occurred when she was five. Here is part of his appeal.

The 59-year-old defendant was convicted of sexually assaulting his then five-year-old neighbor in the summer of 1989 or 1990. In April 2006, the police received information that caused them to investigate defendant and canvass his former neighborhoods. At that time, they had contact with the victim, who alleged that defendant had sexually assaulted her when she was four or five years old by digitally penetrating her vagina. At trial, the 21-year-old victim testified that defendant and his roommate, Robert Higgins, lived next door to her family’s home. Defendant and Higgins encouraged the neighborhood children to come to their home and use their above-ground pool. The victim indicated that she and her neighbor, AB, were among the children who spent time at defendant’s house. The victim explained that defendant and Higgins, both dressed in swimsuits, would be in the pool and catch the children as they came down an attached slide. The victim stated that defendant would “catch [them] between [their] legs and put his hands—or try to put his hands up [them].”

As troubling as that is, it’s what Raar claims led up to his arrest and conviction which may be even more troubling.

Raar says he was targeted not only because of a previous sex crimes conviction but because he was investigating the MDOC for possibly keeping thousands of prisoners for extra sentences.

Is this what happens when you take on the system: you are falsely tried and convicted? Randall certainly thinks so.