Artimus Pyle: Lynyrd Skynyrd Drummer, Victim of The System
Artimus, or Thomas Delmer Pyle, was
born on July 15th,
1948, in Louisville, Kentucky. He is most notable for having been in
Lynyrd Skynyrd not only as their drummer, but also having survived
the fatal crash that killed multiple members.
In
1993, Pyle was charged with attempted sexual battery and lewd assault
on two girls. Pyle initially denied the charges, and claimed that
they had been abused by people connected to babysitters from a
trailer park that had a grudge against him; and the overall claims
were just a way to extort money from the Lynyrd Skynyrd organization.
While the allegations were going on, his lawyers tried to asceratain
that the allegations were misreported by law enforcement and welfare
workers unqualified to perform their jobs. Allegedly, the girls’
mother stated that she had not seen the girls be abused by Pyle.
There was a contention that the girls were influenced by self-help
books and tapes about abusive fathers. Eventually, Pyle pleaded nolo
contendre, no contest, so as not to risk a mandatory life sentence if
he were found guilty. Because of this, he was sentenced to eight
years probation, and required to register as a sex offender. His
official charges were “Sexual battery by an an adult on a victim
under the age of 12”, and “Lewd, lascivious acts on a child under
the age of 16”.
Because
of his status as a sex offender, he had/has to register as an
offender when moving to various areas of Florida (where he lived at
the time), at least. In 2007, Pyle was charged with ‘Failure to
register as a sex offender’. But officials lost his change of
address forms when he moved to North Carolina. While a plea bargain
was offered, he rejected it and ended up being acquitted in 2009.
Essentially,
when Pyle moved to North Carolina, he didn’t have to register
within his old state of Florida. He went back to Florida after to
moving to NC so that he could reinstate his drivers license, after
the sheriff’s office made a series of mistakes. Apparently, the
sheriff’s office never consulted the Florida Department of Law
Enforcement Internet site, which would have shown he had a North
Carolina address. They lost a document showing Pyle notified the
department when he moved in 2002, only to find it again later on; The
department also ignored repeated phone calls from Pyle’s lawyer’s
office the week of Pyle’s arrest that he said could have resolved
the matter.
[NOTE:] I want to clarify, just in case anyone ever talks to me about this, that I do not consider sex offenders to be victims. Pyle is a victim of the Florida Police system that lost his paperwork despite him and his lawyer trying to get into contact multiple times.
video:https://youtu.be/mJRc77DRCJI
video:https://youtu.be/mJRc77DRCJI
[SOURCES]
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