Kern County child abuse cases

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The Kern County child abuse cases started the day care sexual abuse hysteria of the 1980s in Kern County, California. [1] The cases involved allegations of satanic ritual abuse by a sex ring against as many as 60 children who testified they had been abused. At least 36 people were convicted and most of them spent years in prison. Thirty-four convictions were overturned on appeal. The district attorney responsible for the convictions was Ed Jagels, [2] who was sued by at least one of those whose conviction was overturned, [3] and who remained in office until 2009. [4] Two of the convicted individuals were unable to prove their innocence because they died in prison.

Contents

History

In 1982, Alvin and Debbie McCuan's two daughters, coached by their step-grandmother Mary Ann Barbour, who had custody of them, alleged they had been abused by their parents, and accused them of being part of a "sex ring" that included Scott and Brenda Kniffen. The Kniffens' two sons also claimed to have been abused. No physical evidence was ever found. The McCuans and Kniffens were convicted in 1984 and given a combined sentence of more than 1000 years in prison. [5] In 1996 the convictions were overturned and the two couples were released. A television movie about the Kniffens titled Just Ask My Children was broadcast on Lifetime in 2001.

Six similar cases occurred throughout Kern County. For instance, the testimony of five young boys was the prosecution's evidence in a trial in which four defendants were convicted. John Stoll, a 41-year-old carpenter, received the longest sentence of the group—40 years for 17 counts of lewd and lascivious conduct. "It never happened," Ed Sampley, one of the accusers, told a New York Times reporter in 2004. He claimed he had lied about Stoll. Stoll was in prison for 19 years before his conviction was overturned. [6] In 2009, Stoll sued Kern County and was awarded $5 million in compensation. [7] The county paid nearly $10 million to settle claims made by the former prisoners and the alleged victims. [4] A documentary titled Witch Hunt, which emphasized primarily Stoll's case, was produced and released in 2007. MSNBC also made a documentary concerning John Stoll and the Kern County cases.

In 2004 Sampley and three other former accusers returned to the courthouse where they had testified against Stoll, this time to say that Stoll never molested them. In their late 20s, each of them said they always knew that Stoll had never touched them. [8] However, Stoll's son has "continued to say that he had been molested." [9] In the case, the only defendant with a previous conviction of molestation was Grant Self, who rented Stoll's pool house briefly. [10] John Stoll had to wait until 2004 for the reversal of his convictions, but was released due to the new testimony. Self was sent to a mental hospital for sexual offenders because he had two prior convictions for child molestation. Self was freed in 2009. [11] He was re-arrested in 2012 on suspicion of child molestation in Oregon. [12] In July 2013, Self pleaded guilty to sexually abusing three young boys and was sentenced to five years and 10 months in prison. [13]

Prior to the start of the Kern County child abuse cases, several local social workers had attended a training seminar that emphasized satanic ritual abuse as a major element of child sexual abuse, and had used the now-debunked memoir Michelle Remembers as training material. [14]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Satanic panic</span> Widespread moral panic alleging abuse in the context of occult rituals

The Satanic panic is a moral panic consisting of over 12,000 unsubstantiated cases of Satanic ritual abuse starting in the United States in the 1980s, spreading throughout many parts of the world by the late 1990s, and persisting today. The panic originated in 1980 with the publication of Michelle Remembers, a book co-written by Canadian psychiatrist Lawrence Pazder and his patient, Michelle Smith, which used the discredited practice of recovered-memory therapy to make sweeping lurid claims about satanic ritual abuse involving Smith. The allegations which afterwards arose throughout much of the United States involved reports of physical and sexual abuse of people in the context of occult or Satanic rituals. In its most extreme form, allegations involve a conspiracy of a global Satanic cult that includes the wealthy and powerful world elite in which children are abducted or bred for human sacrifices, pornography, and prostitution, an allegation that returned to prominence in the form of QAnon.

<i>Capturing the Friedmans</i> 2003 film by Andrew Jarecki

Capturing the Friedmans is a 2003 HBO documentary film directed by Andrew Jarecki. It focuses on the 1980s investigation of Arnold and Jesse Friedman for child molestation. The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2003. Some of the Friedmans' alleged victims and family members wrote to the Awards Committee, protesting the nomination.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">McMartin preschool trial</span> Day care sexual abuse case in the 1980s that overlapped with the Satanic ritual abuse panic

The McMartin preschool trial was a day care sexual abuse case in the 1980s, prosecuted by the Los Angeles District Attorney Ira Reiner. Members of the McMartin family, who operated a preschool in Manhattan Beach, California, were charged with hundreds of acts of sexual abuse of children in their care. Accusations were made in 1983, arrests and the pretrial investigation took place from 1984 to 1987, and trials ran from 1987 to 1990. The case lasted seven years but resulted in no convictions, and all charges were dropped in 1990. By the case's end, it had become the longest and most expensive series of criminal trials in American history. The case was part of day-care sex-abuse hysteria, a moral panic over alleged Satanic ritual abuse in the 1980s and early 1990s.

Wee Care Nursery School, located in Maplewood, New Jersey, was the subject of a day care child abuse case that was tried during the 1980s. Although Margaret Kelly Michaels was prosecuted and convicted, the decision was reversed after she spent five years in prison. An appellate court ruled that several features of the original trial had produced an unjust ruling and the conviction was reversed. The case was studied by several psychologists who were concerned about the interrogation methods used and the quality of the children's testimony in the case. This resulted in research concerning the topic of children's memory and suggestibility, resulting in new recommendations for performing interviews with child victims and witnesses.

The Fells Acres day care sexual abuse trial took place in the U.S. state of Massachusetts following charges initially lodged in the mid-1980s against family members who operated a day care center, Fells Acres Day School, in Malden, Massachusetts. The facility had been opened in 1966 by Violet Amirault (1923–1997). She and her two children—son Gerald Amirault and daughter Cheryl Amirault LeFave —were tried for sexual abusing children at their facility. Gerald was tried in 1986 while his sister and mother were tried in 1987. All three were convicted and sentenced to prison. The Amiraults deny the charges, which supporters regard as a conspicuous example of day-care sex-abuse hysteria.

The Little Rascals Day Care Center was a day care in Edenton, North Carolina, where, from 1989 to 1995, there were arrests, charges and trials of seven people associated with the day care center, including the owner-operators, Bob and Betsy Kelly. In retrospect, the case reflected day care sex abuse hysteria, including allegations of satanic ritual abuse. The testimony of the children was coached.

Day-care sex-abuse hysteria was a moral panic that occurred primarily during the 1980s and early 1990s, and featured charges against day-care providers accused of committing several forms of child abuse, including Satanic ritual abuse. The collective cases are often considered a part of the Satanic Panic. A 1982 case in Kern County, California, United States, first publicized the issue of day-care sexual abuse, and the issue figured prominently in news coverage for almost a decade. The Kern County case was followed by cases elsewhere in the United States, as well as Canada, New Zealand, Brazil, and various European countries.

Michael Charles Glennon was a convicted Australian child molester and former Roman Catholic priest, the subject of one of the most notorious clergy sex abuse cases in Australia. Glennon ran a youth camp in Lancefield, Victoria, where most of the abuse took place.

This is a list of notable overturned convictions in the United States.

The San Diego Church ritual abuse case was a case of a developmentally disabled individual charged with child sexual abuse in 1991 as part of the satanic ritual abuse moral panic. After a 9-month trial, the accused was found not guilty by the jury.

The Catholic Archdiocese of Boston sex abuse scandal was part of a series of Catholic Church sexual abuse cases in the United States that revealed widespread crimes in the American Roman Catholic Church. In early 2002, TheBoston Globe published results of an investigation that led to the criminal prosecutions of five Roman Catholic priests and thrust the sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy into the national spotlight. Another accused priest who was involved in the Spotlight scandal also pleaded guilty. The Globe's coverage encouraged other victims to come forward with allegations of abuse, resulting in numerous lawsuits and 249 criminal cases.

The Martensville satanic sex scandal, also known as the Martensville Nightmare occurred in Martensville, Saskatchewan, Canada. There were two similar events around the same time where an allegation of child sex abuse escalated into claims of satanic ritual abuse. The more widely known of the two is the Martensville Daycare Scandal, and the second but earlier story is of the Foster Parent Scandal in nearby Saskatoon.

The Oak Hill satanic ritual abuse trial occurred in Oak Hill, Austin, Texas, in 1991 when Fran Keller and her husband Dan, proprietors of a small day care, were accused of repeatedly and sadistically abusing several children.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ed Jagels</span>

Edward R. Jagels is a former American prosecutor and was Kern County, California’s longest-sitting District Attorney, holding the office from 1983 to 2010. During this time, he prosecuted some notorious cases of wrongful convictions, and engaged in what is now acknowledged widely to have been a pattern of prosecutorial misconduct, in which he convicted innocent people of abusing children. Kern County has since paid out 10 million dollars in settlements to the people wrongly convicted by Ed Jagels.

The Country Walk case is a Florida 1985 "Multi-Victim, Multi-Offender" child sex abuse case that occurred during the day-care sex-abuse hysteria. Frank Fuster remains imprisoned, making him the last perpetrator in this moral panic. His wife Ileana Flores Fuster initially denied any wrongdoing, but following months of interrogations, she testified against Frank and confessed to the alleged crimes, later recanting her confession, then recanting her recantation, and finally recanting that. This case became known because it seemed to have better evidence than other ritual abuse cases, but scientific findings since Fuster's conviction have challenged the evidence. The case, prosecuted by Janet Reno, was profiled in the 2002 Frontline episode "Did Daddy Do It?"

The response of the Haredi Jewish community in Brooklyn, New York City, to allegations of sexual abuse against its spiritual leaders has drawn scrutiny. When teachers, rabbis, and other leaders have been accused of sexual abuse, authorities in the Haredi community have often failed to report offenses to Brooklyn police, intimidated witnesses, and encouraged shunning against victims and those members of the community who speak out against cases of abuse.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">California Innocence Project</span> American legal non-profit founded 1999

The California Innocence Project is a non-profit based at California Western School of Law in San Diego, California, United States, which provides pro bono legal services to individuals who maintain their factual innocence of crime(s) for which they have been convicted. It is an independent chapter of the Innocence Project. Its mission is to exonerate wrongly convicted inmates through the use of DNA and other evidences.

The Saskatoon foster parent scandal occurred in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. There were two similar events around the same time where an allegation of child sex abuse escalated into claims of satanic ritual abuse. The more widely known of the two is the Martensville satanic sex scandal, and the second but earlier story is of the foster parent scandal in nearby Saskatoon.

<i>Just Ask My Children</i> 2001 historical drama made-for-TV film

Just Ask My Children is a 2001 historical drama made-for-television film, recounting the true story of the Kern County child abuse cases from the perspectives of various members of the Kniffen Family.

References

  1. ↑ Jones, Maggie (September 19, 2004). "Who Was Abused?". The New York Times . Retrieved 2007-08-21. There are several ways to view the small white house on Center Street in Bakersfield, California. From one perspective it's just another low-slung home in a working-class neighborhood, with a front yard, brown carpeting, a TV in the living room.
  2. ↑ "Mean Justice - Dirty Secrets". Truthinjustice.org. Archived from the original on 2015-04-13. Retrieved 2016-11-18.
  3. ↑ "Modahl v. County of Kern". Aele.org. Retrieved 14 December 2014.
  4. 1 2 Garance Burke (2009-11-15). "Crusading Calif. D.A. retires, leaves painful wake". Associated Press.
  5. ↑ "Kern County ritual abuse cases". Religious Tolerance. Retrieved 2007-08-26. The triggering incident occurred in 1980 when Becky McCuan disclosed that her grandfather, Rod Phelps, had touched her inappropriately. The family doctor confirmed the abuse.
  6. ↑ Conviction reversed after 19 years, Los Angeles Times, John Johnson, May 1, 2004. Retrieved 11 October 2014.
  7. ↑ Web.archive.org
  8. ↑ "Who Was Abused?". The New York Times. 19 September 2004.
  9. ↑ Logan, Jessica (2005-05-31). "Prosecutor's fire makes her either loved or loathed". The Bakersfield Californian. Archived from the original on August 27, 2008. Retrieved 2008-07-11.
  10. ↑ Branco, Shellie (2007-04-18). "Ruling puts man back in hospital". The Bakersfield Californian. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2008-07-11.
  11. ↑ Web.archive.org
  12. ↑ "Kern County settles last of molestation conviction suits". The Bakersfield Californian. Retrieved 14 December 2014.
  13. ↑ "Grant Self" . Retrieved 14 December 2014.
  14. ↑ Archive.is
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