Before The Trial

The next day I was released on bail, and I hired a defense attorney. Finally, my wife also found out that I had been unfaithful to her. I lost my job. For two months I was jobless. I did have several successful job interviews, but eventually my potential employers would find out about my arrest and charge. This resulted in a couple of job-offers being withdrawn. I explained to these potential employers that I was not guilty, but they assumed from the nature of the charge that I must guilty. My family fell under heavy financial hardships, and needless to say that my marriage was almost over. Though my wife believed me that I was expecting an adult when I went to meet “Amy”, she was naturally heartbroken about my infidelity.A couple of months later I found a contract job in Michigan and left my wife and daughters in Austin to work in Michigan. My wife and I had talked about counseling and potential mending of relations, but my financially-forced move away from her proved to be the deciding factor in our separation, and ultimately our divorce.

In the meantime, the DA’s office in Austin had assumed my guilt and started the plea-bargain process. I had already informed my defense attorney that since I am not guilty of the charge, I will not plead guilty to anything. Instead, at the suggestion of my attorney, I wrote a detailed letter to the DA’s office explaining my background on the Internet chats and the context in which my chats with “Amy” took place. Since at that point I did not have the chat logs, I tried to explain the various things about the chats from memory. I explained how I have experienced people lying and role-playing on the Internet and how I arrived at the conclusion that “Amy” must have been adult. I explained that the “Age” field on the Yahoo profile is an optional field and the only time I have seen people fill that out is when they want other chatters to know their actual age; and since “Amy” had put down “her” age as 18 there, I assumed that “she” was an adult. Further, I explained to him about my personal checks by asking for additional pictures. I told him that though at one point the thought that “Amy” might actually be a minor did cross my mind, but I never actually believed it; I tossed the thought away after seeing “her” age as 18 on her profile, and after “she” did not send me a second picture. This, coupled with the way “she” chatted, and especially her aggressive push to meet during the third chat, convinced me that “she” was an adult.

After I moved to Michigan, my defense attorney suggested that I find a reliable polygraph (lie-detector) examiner and take the test so that if I am speaking the truth, it can be seen in the test. I searched the yellow pages and found and experienced polygraph examiner – R.E.M. Polygraph – who, according to her resume, had been conducting polygraphs since 1980 and had conducted over 8000 exams till then. The results of the polygraph tests came out in my favor. Here are some parts of the results of the polygraph exam:

“EXAMINATION QUESTIONS: The following relevant questions were asked during the instrumental phase of the examination:

This past July 10th, did you make that date with “Amy” knowing she was a minor?
On July 10th, did you personally intend to meet with “Amy” believing she was a minor?
On July 10th, did you think you would be meeting a minor at that ball park in question?
Did you as an adult have any sexual encounter with a minor?

(All relevant questions were answered with a “NO”)

EXAMINATION RESULTS: From Naveed’s polygraph responses of “NO” to the above relevant questions and from the polygrams conducted, it is the opinion of this examiner that he did not exhibit the consistent significant physiological reactions which indicate deception. He appears truthful to the relevant questions in this exam.”

Here are some excerpts the Psychiatric evaluation:

“On September 24, 2003, I spent two and a half hours in clinical examinations of Mr. Shams. During this time I reviewed his sexual history in detail, finding nothing out of the ordinary in regard to sexual practices… There is no history of substance abuse problems… Mr. Shams’ affection for his young daughters (ages 4 and 2 at that time) is quite evident and appropriate.”

The psychiatrist had given me two tests to look for the special personality disorders common among child-molesters. The doctor summarized the two tests as follows:

According to the “Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory 2” I was described as someone who in “Interpersonal Relations” was deemed to be “quite outgoing and sociable,” having a “strong need to be around others, he us gregarious and enjoys attention.” In other words, unlike those who have the obsessive-compulsive personality disorder, or paraphilic child molestation disorder, I was not an isolationist shying away from adult social relationships.

According to the “Millon Clinical Multi-Axial Inventory – III” test , “The MCMI – III profile of this man is generally typified by a well-balanced, easy going personal style. Although he evinces a desire for the esteem of others, these needs are pursued in a socially acceptable manner.” In other words, I was not the kind of person who has a polarized personality, fixated on control of others. According to the doctor’s report, “Although no Axis I clinical syndromes were suggested by the diagnostic profile, Mr. Shams’ personality configuration was that of a Histrionic Personality Disorder with Narcissistic Personality Features.” In other words, though the doctor didn’t find any personality disorders associated with child-molesters, he found another personality disorder whereby I tend to believe that no matter what the problem is, I can figure it out. This theme also occurred in the later tests conducted by the Psychologist.

The psychologist conducted three projective psychological tests – “Incomplete Sentences Blank Revised” (RISB), “Thematic Apperception Test” (TAT), and the “Rorschach Inkblots”. Here are some excerpts from the psychologist’s report:

“Mr. Shams’ response to the items on the RISB are not indicative of psychopathology… The items indicate an individual who is inclined to follow rules and to experience considerable guilt when he breaks rules. Evident is an individual who has a wide variety of interests, enjoys other adults, is empathic towards others, and is nurturing as a father. While Mr. Shams’ responses indicate that he is likely to be quick to come to the aid of others, he is less inclined to ask others for help. He tends to believe that with hard work he can solve any problems he encounters in his life.”The results of the TAT yield stories appropriate to the stimulus materials. Evident are themes of positive adult relationships… Evident themes do not include issues of control or manipulation. Evident themes do include qualities of being understanding of and nurturing towards children.

“The results of the Rorschach yield evidence of good personality integration. Evident is an individual who overall has good impulse control and an individual who will use fantasy to deal with impulses. Evident also is a person who can and will use fantasy in a creative, problem solving way.”

In other words, the three tests indicated that I had a personality where I was nurturing towards children, had adult interests and was unlikely to ask others for help. Instead I used fantasy to solve my problems. This is exactly what happened in my life. I was having problems in my marriage and instead of seeking help from others, I resorted to the fantasy life finding escape in the fantasy of the cyber world.

The psychologist continued to summarize the results of the three tests :

“The results of the projective tests are significant both for what is evident and for what is not evident.”Evident is a bright individual who is creative in dealing with issues and problems in everyday life… Evident is a man who is mature in his interactions with others and who demonstrates adult interests and an adult perspective on human relationships and interaction. His impulse control and control over emotions, even strong emotions, is good… He tends to use fantasy as a way of problem solving and as a way of emotional release…

“Mr. Shams demonstrates a strong sense of right and wrong and desires to do what is right… he does not appear to be fixated in early developmental stages of life and displays appropriate adult interests. He does not display an inappropriate interest in children. Rather he consistently displays an empathic understanding of children as well as protective qualities towards children.

“… There is no evidence of an individual with poor impulse control. There is no evidence of an individual with anti-social or psychopathic tendencies. There is no evidence to suggest that Mr. Shams is sadistic or unduly focused on controlling others. He does not display either a conscious or an unconscious desire to control others for his own satisfaction. He does not display an avoidance of adult interaction or adult relationships. He does not display poor impulse control.”

These results that not only do I consciously or subconsciously not display the characteristics – poor impulse control, lack of empathy for children, desire to control others, avoidance of adult social relationships, fixation on childhood development stages, etc – that are common in child-molesters, but that I actually display the opposite characteristics – good impulse control, empathy for children, no desire to control others, interest in adult relationship, no fixation on childhood development stages, etc – that are not found in child-molesters. In fact, lack of empathy for children is one of the major personality disorders that child-molesters share. That is why modern psychological treatments for child-molesters focus on creating empathy towards children.

“The utter lack of empathy for their victims is one of the main focuses of new treatments being devised for child molesters and other such offenders.”

[Daniel Goleman – "Emotional Intelligence – why it can matter more than IQ" – 1997, p.107]

The reports of the two doctors along with the results of the polygraph examination were submitted by my attorney to the DA’s office in Austin. One assistant DA who was on the case in the beginning told my attorney that she had never seen such good reports from psychological evaluations for anyone accused of any crimes against children. Despite that she urged my attorney to convince me to accept a plea-bargain and accept probation. I rejected that offer. Later, a second assistant DA who ended up prosecuting me told my attorney that he didn’t think I displayed characteristics of a typical child-molester. He too pressured me to accept a plea-bargain and offered an 8 year probation with no prison time. Again I rejected the offer because I was not guilty of what they charged me with.

During the time before my trial I also contacted “Lisa” – the 19 year old girl I had demanded the photo ID from when I met her (in 2002 )and suspected that she was underage. I informed her of what had happened to me. Though initially she was upset at me for not contacting her for so long, she agreed that she would testify on my behalf in the court about our meeting when I had asked her for her ID. She also wrote a letter to the DA’s office, describing the incident.

The reason why I contacted “Lisa” and why the incident with her was important was that it showed how I behaved when I suspected the person was underage. The whole case against me was built on the fictional character of “Amy” and the hypothesis that if “Amy” had been a real minor, I would have committed “aggravated sexual assault”. To counter this fictional hypothesis, I wanted to bring a factual event that showed how I actually did behave when I suspected the person I was meeting was a minor. Had I been a real “Internet child predator” – as I was called in the media – I would have been delighted to meet “Lisa” and to think that she was a minor. No police was watching me then. But my reaction was completely opposite. I was alarmed and refused to have any contact with her unless she showed me a valid photo ID verifying her age as 19. Therefore, I argued, had “Amy” turned out to be real minor, I would have left her without any contact as I did do in a factual incident with “Lisa”.

Before my arrest I had been part of a Theological Discussion group in Austin for a while. Most of the people in that group were Christians belonging to a local church. After my arrest several of my friends as well as several members of the Theological discussion group also wrote letters to the DA’s office vying for my innocence and emphasizing that despite these charges against me, they would still trust me with their children and grandchildren.

None of this made any difference. The DA, under political pressure from the Texas Attorney General’s office, presumed my guilt and continued pressuring me for a guilty plea. I continued to refuse. Finally, after 18 months of my arrest my case went to court for trial in January of 2005.

Tags: Art, Daniel Goleman, Emotional Intelligence, justice, Naveed, Naveed Shams, pagan, polygraph, San Francisco, sex, Shams, Texas, Texas Attorney General, USA