Not News: DragonCon Founder Still Untried in Molestation Case
With his monotone speech, robotic movements, and a plastic tube snaking from his nostrils to a battery-powered oxygen source, Edward Kramer is beginning to resemble the science fiction characters he writes about. Labels: court drama, dragoncon, local news
He's well-known as an author and the founder of DragonCon, a sci-fi, fantasy and gaming convention that brings thousands of visitors and millions of dollars to Atlanta every year.
Yet Kramer is also known for something else: Investigators say he molested three teenage boys.
Police first arrested Kramer on Aug. 25, 2000, but the case has not yet gone to trial.
Kramer says he's innocent.
Legal experts say a seven-year delay is unusual and potentially damaging, as memories fade and evidence deteriorates. Former U.S. Rep. Bob Barr, a former federal prosecutor, decries "an overwhelming sense of injustice" toward Kramer, but prosecutors say Kramer has mischaracterized his illness and orchestrated delays to stave off a possible 60-year prison sentence.
"The amount of time here raises eyebrows," said Ron Carlson, a criminal law professor at the University of Georgia.
Kramer argued the delay violates his right to a speedy trial, but the Georgia Court of Appeals ruled last week that the delays were mostly his fault. Kramer's lawyers are appealing.
Meanwhile, two brothers who were teens when police charged Kramer with molesting them have grown up and enlisted in the U.S. Army. They are prepared to testify against Kramer, their mother said. The Journal-Constitution isn't naming her because doing so could identify the victims of sexual abuse.
"They want to see him in jail," she said.
Speediness is variable
Legal experts say a delay of seven years is exceptional, but the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that each speedy trial case must be evaluated on its own merits, Carlson said.
District Attorney Danny Porter of Gwinnett County acknowledges that his office is to blame for early postponements. First the lead prosecutor's father died. Then prosecutors appealed a decision to suppress evidence seized from Kramer's home.
Kramer's lawyers filed a motion to dismiss the charges and blamed the delays on prosecutors, the judge — even Kramer's former defense attorney. However, the Georgia Court of Appeals rejected that argument last week.
"The record strongly indicates that Kramer either sought or knowingly acquiesced in the great majority of the delay and did not want a speedy trial," the court said.
McNeill Stokes, Kramer's attorney, says he will appeal.
Tethered to home
Kramer has been under house arrest in his two-story home in Duluth since 2001.
He has paid more than $250,000 in legal fees, according to a Web site his supporters maintain, and he says he's running out of money. He no longer has an active role with DragonCon — Kramer said he didn't want to saddle the event with negative publicity.
"I'm a whole lot weaker now than I was before," Kramer said in an interview as he sat tethered to an oxygen tank under the shade of a patio umbrella.
He said he suffers from spinal injuries that affect his breathing.
"It's like my life has essentially halted for seven years waiting for this to end."
Kramer dated mother
The lives of two brothers also have changed. They were 13 and 15 when Kramer began dating their mother.
Kramer dazzled them with his action figures, sci-fi memorabilia and celebrity connections, their mother said. The boys told police Kramer took advantage of them during sleepovers.
Now the brothers, in their early 20s, serve in the Army. One is in South Korea; the other may soon go to Iraq, according to their mother.
"They do not want this to happen to anyone else," their mother said.
A third victim came forward a few years ago to say Kramer molested him for four years. Investigators charged Kramer with child molestation in that case, too.
Jail allegations
Questions about the delay are clouded by Kramer's allegations that he was hurt in state custody and that the delays are therefore the state's fault.
Kramer says that a masked deputy slammed his head into a wall in Gwinnett's jail. He sued the county, citing the spinal injury and the medical staff's "deliberate indifference" to his medical needs. A federal judge dismissed the claim of indifference but threw out the alleged assault, court records show, because Kramer's attorney didn't present any supporting evidence. Kramer said he plans to refile with a new attorney.
Porter, the district attorney, says there was no evidence of a jail assault, and that Kramer's injury stemmed from a car wreck.
Meanwhile, supporters raise money for Kramer's defense at www.edkramer.org. Barr posted a YouTube video titled "The legal persecution of Ed Kramer;" he also filed a legal brief supporting a motion to have the case dismissed.
A friend of 20 years, Linda Bruce, expects about 40 people to rally on Kramer's behalf at the Gwinnett County Justice and Administration Center on Oct. 20.
"We hope to let people know how bad his health is, and that this really needs to be stopped," she said. "I think they're hoping he'll die before they get it to trial."
2 comments
This is the point where I'd start calling psych~info out to point out the chances of anything actually happening.
Speaking as someone who has had a friend get called to trail just because an annoying little girl was out to late and "told her parents two guys had tried to abduct her" and he matched the description. She later admitted that she lied and though that the "imaginary people wouldn't be found"
So for these two boys, which may I mention, unless you are educated or aware of homosexuality and sexuality in general, there is little chance you'll recognize it. Hell, there are people my age that still don't get it.
Now, to the psych of it. I highly doubt that these kids BOTH came forward at the same time and said that he tried to molest them. Perhaps (and consider this for which is more reasonable regardless of how true it might be) they wanted him to leave their Mom alone (lots of kids with single mothers feel protective of them) and thought that would work. Now I'm not saying that he couldn't have done it, but come on!
Now the second kid is just looking for an easy payout from a civil suit. I seriously doubt that that would even happen. Considering how likely someone in his condition could do it. And the injury he received ... let it suffice to say, I've heard to many descriptions of prison guards to not believe that nothing happened. [Seriously I've heard a lot worse that that]
I know that I'm not in a position (or on the right side of the country) to make a big difference, but this kinda crap needs to be stopped. Think about how many rape accusations and molestation (blackmail, theft, etc) that occur every year that end up being fake. I've personally heard of 14. Not multiply that by the number of people living in cities in the U.S. and poof you've a got huge freaking number!
In short, those two boys can go to hell, and I think the army isn't a fair way to go considering what they've but Kramer through.
~Roflcopter
[Just wait, I'll rule the world]
By 
, at
Sunday, October 14, 2007 1:20:00 AM
I know supporting Ed is a very very unpopular decision when it comes to the DragonCon long time loyalists, but even if he DID do what they claim, for this to go on this long without a trial is horrible.
Who do they think he is? Some guy at Guantanmo?
By 
Qale, at
Sunday, October 14, 2007 2:02:00 PM
Email?... Permalink?