|
The trend in 2004 is
to entrap innocent persons by sucking them into fictitious criminal
conspiracies and then using leverage (fear of death) to extract
"confessions. See Rafay/Burns
| Wilf Hathway | Or to find
a vulnerable person and intimidate them 17 years after the fact:
John Chalmers or to lose the
evidence and subborn perjury 17 years after the fact as with
Dennis Perry in Georgia| Receently
witch hunted: Michael
Cardamone
John
Stoll files lawsuit after being wrongfully imprisoned for 20
years | Dr. Roy Meadow: Mastermind of junk science
| Full
background on the Bakersfield injustices | More
developments | John Stoll on Montel
Williams
next
> > >
Congratulations
to the NCB team in San José on your Emmy nomination
We will
be watching for the story in Rolling Stone April 21!
John Stoll
(1)
Botched child molestation
cases meted out injustice
Jim Boren, editorial page
editor, FresnoBee CA, May 9, 2004
When John Stoll walked to freedom
last week, it was another reminder of how awful it can be when
our justice system screws up. The Bakersfield carpenter spent
20 years in prison after being caught up in the child molestation
hysteria of the 1980s.
The prosecution of organized
groups of molesters had become a national frenzy, but no place
in America was as bad as Bakersfield where authorities encouraged
children to accuse their parents and neighbors of horrible sex
crimes. Stoll and 60 others were charged with child molestation,
and the justice system moved swiftly to put them in prison.
It didn't matter that they
were innocent. And no one wanted to say anything out of fear
that they'd be accused of not caring for children who were being
abused. Some even thought they'd be hauled in by the authorities
if they suggested that maybe there were problems with all these
prosecutions.
Kern County justice wasn't
based on the Constitution. Fear was its best friend.
But over the past two decades,
a group of dedicated defense attorneys, private investigators
and the Northern California Innocence Project worked to right
these terrible wrongs. Stoll was the last of those wrongly convicted
to be released.
Shameful saga
The real tragedy is that those
who ran the justice system knew the charges were trumped up,
especially when the cases began falling apart in the appellate
courts. But it still took a dozen years for the victims to win
their freedom.
That's shameful.
There's no doubt that child
molestation occurs often in our society. But how many of actual
molestation cases were ignored by Kern County authorities while
they chased the hysteria of satanic cults hosting child sex parties?
I got involved in the Kern
County story in 1985 when a colleague from the Sacramento Bee,
the late Paul Avery, suggested that we team up on an investigation
of child molestation rings in Bakersfield. I tried to brush him
off, but he got me with this simple phrase that became our mission
statement: "The molesters are innocent and we can prove
it."
We began writing stories for
the Sacramento and Fresno Bees that pointed out inconsistencies
in the Bakersfield cases. The prosecutors and sheriff's investigators
by then had spiced up the cases with allegations of satanic sacrifices,
and said as many as 29 babies had been killed.
We searched public records
for evidence of baby killings. No victims were ever found, nor
were any babies even reported missing.
We knew we were on the right
track when deputies began watching us and then the Bakersfield
Californian, which was cozy with law enforcement, ran a story
questioning why out-of-town reporters were making waves. The
newspaper now was watching rival reporters who were only there
because it refused to be a community watchdog.
Coaxing the children
The Bee stories finally caught
the interest of the state Attorney General's Office, and a yearlong
investigation concluded that local authorities had used "suggestive"
questioning that led children to give answers that they wanted.
The attorney general said there was both a shortage of corroborating
evidence and that some alleged victims were simply parroting
what they were told in questioning or what they heard other children
say.
In many cases, young children
were interviewed numerous times by authorities until they finally
admitted to being molested. In one case an alleged victim had
been interviewed 35 times before giving the "right"
answer that his parents had molested him.
A 10-year-old boy was hypnotized
after denying that he had been molested by his family. The boy
was in county protective custody for almost two months when he
was administered "reassuring hypnotic messages," according
to investigative files. He finally told investigators what they
wanted to hear -- he'd been molested by his parents and others.
Now that John Stoll is free,
there are many in Bakersfield who want to put all this behind
them. But it would add to the tragedy if the lessons of this
black mark on Kern County justice are forgotten.
Bakersfield lawyer Stan Simrin,
a pioneer in this fight for justice who also was involved in
the Stoll case, said investigative procedures for child molestation
cases are vastly different now. Interviews are taped and everyone
knows if the children are being coaxed into saying things.
"I also don't think there's
the hysteria now, and they aren't brainwashing the kids."
That wasn't true in Kern County
in the 1980s, and dozens of people's lives were ruined because
of it. Just ask John Stoll.
Jim Boren is The Fresno
Bee's editorial page editor. His column appears Sunday. E-mail
him at jboren@fresnobee.com or write him at 1626 E St., Fresno
93786.
Wrongfully
convicted, Stoll receives $200.-- upon his release after
20 years. Stoll knew he'd never survive with the stigma
of being accused of child molestation. So he lied.
Wrongly convicted
man reflects on his 20 years in prison
By BRIAN SKOLOFF, Associated
Press, May 6, 2004
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. - Even
murderers and rapists detest child molesters.
Behind bars, life can
be brutal for people convicted of sexually abusing children
- they're the bottom rung, marked men, constantly living in fear.
Many seek shelter from other inmates by agreeing to "protective
custody," rarely leaving their cells.
Found guilty of 17 counts
of child molestation, John Stoll knew he'd never survive
with that stigma. So he lied, posing as a drug runner for 20
long years - and somehow avoided attack until his conviction
was reversed last week.
"I was terrified,"
said Stoll. "I knew the odds weren't real good that I wasn
't going to get stabbed going to prison as a convicted
child molester."
Stoll walked free on
Tuesday after most of his alleged victims recanted and said they
lied about being molested back in 1984.
During his first days in prison,
Stoll began researching crimes that could carry a 20-year
sentence. He came across a newspaper article about a man convicted
of smuggling marijuana and guns. He became that man - "And
that's what I was for 20 years."
Stoll, now gray and
balding, revealed details of his life in prison as he joined
his lawyers for a celebratory meal on his first night as
a free man - his 61st birthday. Gorging on filet mignon,
calamari, and a chocolate birthday cake, he marveled at
his freedom.
But the past still lingers,
one night in particular.
A fellow inmate came
to his cell - and said he knew Stoll's secret. The man had discovered
his case in the prison law library.
"He says to me, 'I've
got paperwork on you,"' Stoll remembered.
Then the cell doors
closed for the night. Stoll thought it would be his last.
"I could feel the blood
draining from me. I was scared. I sat all night and didn't
sleep," he said. "Who's going to let a child molester
walk around. It's a pretty disgusting crime."
By a stroke of luck,
the next morning there was a riot in the "chow hall"
and the inmate who threatened to expose Stoll was whisked
away.
A guard later came to Stoll's
cell and handed him a bundle of the other inmate's papers
- the details of Stoll's conviction.
"I tore it up and flushed
it down the toilet," Stoll said. "More than once, a
prison staff member saved my life."
Stoll refused the protective
custody given to most child molesters because it meant
23 hours a day alone in a cell. He knew he couldn't take the
solitude, so he banked on his drug-running story to keep
him safe.
Stoll's ability to keep
his conviction a secret was "quite remarkable," said
Anne Mania, an attorney at the San Rafael-based Prison
Law Office, which handles civil rights issues for inmates.
"There's a huge
stigma attached to being a child molester so they're often the
victims of violence by other prisoners," Mania explained.
"A lot of them are parents and everybody can identify
that the abuse of children, particularly sexual abuse of
children, is wrong. There's never any justification for that,
whereas somebody might be able to, in his or her mind,
justify a murder or a rape."
Stoll still can't believe he
was never attacked.
"For 20 years nobody
stabbed me so I must've said the right things," Stoll said.
"I don't know what kept me alive ... You're really
walking a fine line in prison because you can't be yourself."
As Stoll sat at the
steakhouse dinner table, he cleaned his glasses with his cloth
napkin and rubbed his head.
He was a fit man when
he went to prison in 1985, a carpenter with strong hands, a
full head of dark blonde curly hair and a winning smile. Now,
a row of deep wrinkles crosses his forehead, and his gray
mustache frames a mouth with just seven teeth remaining.
Stoll, who seemingly loves
to laugh, lost most of his teeth to gum disease and medical
neglect while in prison.
"This is really
embarrassing to have a mouth full of teeth like this. You can
't even smile," Stoll said, practically gumming each
bite of steak.
Two Innocence Project
groups in California won Stoll's freedom after tracking down
his alleged victims and persuading most of them - now adults
- to come forward once again. Prosecutors still maintain
Stoll is guilty, but said they would not refile charges
because of a lack of evidence and the recanted witness testimony.
Stoll was convicted
as part of an alleged child molestation ring that purportedly
involved sodomy, group sex and pornographic photography. But
no pictures were found - in fact, prosecutors presented
no physical evidence at the trial. None of the children,
ages 6 to 8, were examined by doctors. The case rested
on testimony alone.
Four of those accusers
testified in January that investigators pressured them until
they lied. A fifth testified he has no memories from that part
of his childhood.
The sixth, Stoll's own son,
Jed, still insists his father molested him. Stoll blames
that on a bitter custody dispute, saying his wife at the time
had filled Jed's head with lies.
He has no other family left.
His mother, who paid for his defense, died while he was
in prison.
"But she always
knew I was innocent," Stoll said. "That's what matters."
Stoll left Avenal State
Prison with $200, standard for released prisoners.
"That's 10 bucks
a year," he joked. "I've got nothing else left."
He said he'll likely
sue Kern County - as have six other vindicated child molestation
defendants, some of whom have won millions in settlement money.
Old friends have contacted
him since his release, offering work and shelter. But he
hasn't made any decisions.
He spent his first night
at one of his attorney's homes and went on a shopping spree
at a mall Wednesday, buying a new pair of glasses and a set of
clothes. He called the ordeal "sensory overload."
When the birthday cake
arrived at the table with a burning candle Tuesday night, Stoll's
eyes widened. He grasped both sides of the plate, shaking nervously,
closed his eyes and blew lightly.
"My wish has been
answered," he said.
Man Freed After 20 Years
in Calif. Prison
BRIAN SKOLOFF, Associated
Press, May 4, 2004
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. - A man whose child molestation conviction
was overturned after he served 20 years in prison was released
from custody Tuesday, his 61st birthday.
"Oh my. I don't know.
This is wonderful. It's just amazing," John Stoll said after
taking a bow and thanking his lawyers. His first wish was for
a steak dinner, followed by birthday cake.
"For 20 years, I've had
to go where others wanted me to go," he said.
Stoll walked free hours after
Kern County prosecutors told Judge Lee P. Felice they would not
seek to retry him and the judge dismissed the 17 counts of child
molestation he had been convicted of in 1985.
"He's walking with no
chains," marveled Stoll's attorney, Linda Starr, legal director
of the Northern California Innocence Project at Santa Clara University.
"All those cases that you slog through, this makes you want
to go back and do it all over again."
Stoll's decades-old conviction
was reversed Friday in Kern County Superior Court after a nearly
five-month hearing. Attorneys for two Innocence Project chapters
in California had worked for his freedom, claiming authorities
coerced false testimony from the victims, who were 6 to 8 years
old at the time.
Stoll was convicted along with
two other men and a woman of assaulting six children as part
of a crime ring that allegedly included sodomy, group sex and
pornographic photography.
Prosecutors presented no physical
evidence at the original trial. None of the children were ever
examined by doctors, even though some of the allegations included
forcible sodomy. The case rested on testimony alone.
Four of Stoll's accusers, now
adults, testified in January they were manipulated by overzealous
investigators until they fabricated the stories. A fifth witness
testified he has no memories from that part of his childhood.
The sixth alleged victim, Stoll's
son, Jed, still insists his father molested him.
Prosecutors said they still
believe Stoll was fairly convicted, but acknowledged they no
longer have enough evidence to support a new trial.
The judge sided with defense
attorneys, finding investigators overstepped their boundaries
with manipulative questioning of the children that led to lies.
All along, Stoll claimed he
was swept up in a wave of hysteria in the 1980s that led to the
trials of hundreds of people. Many later had their convictions
overturned for reasons including prosecutorial misconduct and
coercive interview techniques.
In Bakersfield, 46 people were
arrested in eight alleged molestation rings. Thirty were convicted,
eight had their charges dropped and eight struck plea deals that
kept them out of prison.
Twenty-two of those convictions
were later reversed for reasons including legal technicalities,
prosecutorial misconduct or faulty jury instructions. The rest
served out their sentences. One died in prison.
Stoll, the last of his co-defendants
in prison, said he had a lot to catch up on after 20 years. He
made a call on a cell phone and said he wanted to go shopping.
"I have a pretty good idea what's out there - I just haven't
touched any of it yet," he said.
Stoll said the best part of
the whole process is that he will no longer be labeled a child
molester.
"That name does not go
with my name any more," he said. "And that's what it's
really all about."
CNN, ANDERSON COOPER
360 DEGREES transcript
May 5, 2004 Wednesday
GUESTS: John Stoll, Linda Starr,...
Good evening, I'm Anderson
Cooper. ...
COOPER: Time for justice served
now.
After 20 years in prison on
child molestation charges, John Stoll is a free man tonight.
Stoll was released yesterday, his birthday, after his conviction
was overturned. There was no physical evidence at the original
trial. Testimony alone convicted him and four of his accusers
recanted the accusations they made as children saying they were
manipulated by investigators.
In a moment we'll talk with
John Stoll but first CNN's Rusty Dornin has his story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT
(voice-over): It was a heck of a way to celebrate his 61st birthday,
free at last, a moment John Stoll says he imagined a million
times as he sat in his prison cell for 20 years.
JOHN STOLL, RELEASED PRISONER:
Nothing like I thought. My heart's just a pounding away.
DORNIN: Prosecutors in 1985
claimed Stoll was part of a child sex ring in Bakersfield, California.
He was convicted, along with two other men and a woman, of assaulting
six children including his own son.
Chris Diori was eight years
old when he testified he was molested by Stoll but last January
he told the court he was badgered into lying by overzealous investigators.
CHRIS DIORI, RECANTED TESTIMONY:
I told them, you know, numerous times, no it didn't happen to
me, no, no, no, no, no.
DORNIN: Three other alleged
victims also told the court it didn't happen. That convinced
the judge. He reversed Stoll's conviction saying investigators
used improper techniques which resulted in unreliable testimony.
Of the two remaining accusers,
one says he doesn't remember being molested but Stoll's son,
who was six at the time, still insists his father is guilty.
Attorneys from Project Innocence worked for the last two years
to exonerate Stoll. They argued the alleged victims in the case
were never examined by doctors and there was no physical evidence
presented.
Kern County prosecutors say
they no longer have evidence to support a new trial. Stoll now
will begin his life again free at last from the label child molester.
Rusty Dornin, CNN, San Francisco.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: John Stoll and his
attorney Linda Starr join us now live from San Jose, California.
Thanks very much for being on the program both of you.
STOLL: Thank you.
LINDA STARR, NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
INNOCENCE PROJECT: Thanks for having us.
COOPER: John, the judge overturned
your conviction. It doesn't necessarily mean you were acquitted
of the charges. In fact some prosecutors even say they still
believe you're guilty. Do you feel like you're really free today?
STOLL: Yes, I'm free. I feel
free. No problem. They can say what they want to say.
COOPER: You're --
STOLL: I'm innocent.
COOPER: Your son Jed insists
you still molested him. In fact, he's reported to have said,
and I quote, "I want to make sure he can't get out and hurt
anyone else. Did you molest your son? He was six years
old at the time.
STOLL: No, I didn't, no. I
didn't molest anybody.
COOPER: Why do you think he
feels this way?
STOLL: Well, Jed was the focal
point at the beginning of the investigation and I'm sure that
he got a lot of prompting. I mean I don't -- I feel sorry. I
really feel sorry that he feels that way but I didn't do anything
to him and I'm sorry that he feels that way and that's just where
it's at.
COOPER: Well, the bulk of the
young men have recanted their stories. They said they were pressured
by investigators. I know you have spoken to one of them. What
was that conversation like? I mean do you forgive them?
STOLL: Well, of course. They
were just children. I don't forgive the adults who told them
the stories but I forgive the children. They didn't do anything.
COOPER: Linda, you've been
convinced that John is innocent all along. What made you so sure?
STARR: A couple of things made
me sure. First, meeting John made me sure. Once I spoke with
him at length about his case and what he'd been through and what
the accusations were I was certain he was innocent.
An attorney that I respect
very much, who had also looked at his case and several others
like it, also told us that he believed he was innocent and asked
us to take a look at the case.
And then once we got into the
case and began investigating and I spoke with the former child
victims, I read the trial transcripts, I put it in the context
of the other cases that were coming out of Kern County at the
time. It was clear to me that this was just another of those
improper convictions that came out of Kern County in that time
period.
COOPER: John, 20 years behind
bars. This was your first full day of freedom. What did you do?
I mean how do you deal with it?
STOLL: You just got to move
on. I mean I can't -- I can't dwell on it. I just have to move
on. Today was quite a nice day. Yesterday was really a nice day
but today was really exciting, went to the mall. Oh, oh, century
overload, went to the mall. That was something.
COOPER: Was it like you had
remembered it?
STOLL: Oh, no, just -- we stopped
at a gas station and that wasn't even like what I remembered
so the mall was just full. The mall was quite exciting.
COOPER: Well, I wish you peace
and I hope things work out with your family. John Stoll, appreciate
you joining us and Linda Starr as well. Thank you very much for
being on the program.
STOLL: Thank you very much.
STARR: Thank you.
Convicted molester denied
bail: Four of five accusers say crime never happened
BAKERSFIELD, California (AP)
-- A judge has denied bail for a man seeking freedom after 20
years behind bars for a child molestation conviction based on
the testimony of six child witnesses -- most of whom now say
the crimes never happened.
John Stoll, now 60, was convicted
in 1985 on 17 counts of child molestation. Attorneys for two
Innocence Project chapters in California have been arguing for
his freedom since January.
The judge on Monday ruled he
would not release Stoll on bail pending his final decision April
30 on whether to overturn the conviction.
The ruling was followed by
arguments in a hearing Stoll's lawyers requested to show that
he should be exonerated.
"Mr. Stoll's conviction
hangs on the falsehoods told by frightened and confused children
20 years ago," Innocence Project attorney Jill Kent told
the judge. "It was all a result of suggestive questioning."
Stoll's case was one of hundreds
of child molestation cases that swept the nation in the 1980s.
In Bakersfield alone, 46 people
were arrested in eight alleged child molestation rings. Thirty
were convicted, but 22 of the convictions were later reversed
for reasons including prosecutorial misconduct.
Stoll is the last of his group
of four still in prison.
Doctors never examined the
children, ages 6 to 8, who claimed to have been molested by Stoll
and others at parties that included sodomy and group sex.
Four of Stoll's accusers, now
adults, recently testified they were manipulated by investigators
who dogged them for hours until they fabricated the stories.
A fifth witness testified he has no memories from that part of
his childhood.
Eddie Sampley was 7 when he
says he falsely testified against Stoll. On Monday, Sampley paced
nervously outside the courtroom.
"I am just hoping that
this burden can be lifted," Sampley said. "If I could
take this guy's place, I would."
Kern County authorities defend
Stoll's conviction.
"These kids were telling
the truth back then and they are not, for whatever reason, today,"
prosecutor Lisa Green told the judge Monday.
Green has suggested witness
memories may have clouded over time.
The prosecution also has Stoll's
own son, Jed, who maintains his father is guilty. Stoll blames
his son's insistence on a bitter custody dispute, saying his
ex-wife filled their boy's head with lies.
"He was convinced to tell
so many lies that he is just plain confused," Kent said
at the hearing.
In a victory for Stoll, Kern
County Superior Court Judge John Kelly ruled Monday he would
accept defense experts' testimony regarding comparisons between
Stoll's case and another that the judge overturned after finding
that investigators coerced false testimony from children.
The same investigators interviewed
Stoll's accusers.
Though he is up for parole
next year, a release without vindication could send Stoll to
a state mental hospital indefinitely.
"I just want to clear
my name," Stoll said in a jailhouse interview with The Associated
Press. "That's all I've got left."
Copyright 2004 The Associated
Press . All rights reserved.This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Emotions
High as '85 Abuse Case Reviewed
Prosecutor
grills men who recant childhood testimony. The hearing will decide
whether inmate gets retrial.
By John Johnson, LA Times
Staff Writer, January 19, 2004
BAKERSFIELD - Christopher Diuri's
temper was smoldering as he sat on the witness stand, enduring
a prosecutor's withering cross-examination.
The 27-year-old mechanic's
memory was challenged. His motives for coming forward as a witness
were questioned. Even a past run-in with the law - a DUI arrest
- was brought out.
Diuri, a plain-spoken man with
a closely shaved head, finally snapped. "This case tore
my whole family apart when I was a kid," he spat at Deputy
Dist. Atty. Lisa Green. "And it's still doing it now."
Diuri's experience was repeated
again and again last week as four former witnesses in one of
the nation's biggest child molestation cases from the 1980s took
the stand to say they had never been molested as children. They
had only said they were, they now confessed, because law enforcement
had hounded and threatened them.
The witnesses wanted to set
the record straight, they said, because their false testimony
had sent four innocent people to prison, including John Stoll,
who is still there 19 years later. In wrenching testimony, one
of the former child victims, a burly sign painter named Edward
Sampley, tearfully addressed the bald, 60-year-old inmate in
jailhouse brown. "I'm sorry," Sampley said, as both
he and Stoll wiped away tears.
A touching scene of reconciliation?
Hardly. If these young men, all in their mid-20s, thought Kern
County authorities would welcome their heartfelt confessions,
they were mistaken. Green hammered away at them, questioning
whether they might be planning to file suit against the county
and raising the prospect that they had formed some sort of conspiracy
to free the very man who molested them.
As the first week drew to a
close in an unusual hearing to determine whether Stoll should
get a new trial or win his freedom, the prosecutor's strategy
became clear: Make the witnesses look like liars, opportunists
and social outcasts. The court battle shows that even two decades
later, the infamous child molestation investigation that, along
with Merle Haggard and Buck Owens, helped put Bakersfield on
the map refuses to go away. Years later, the cases are still
upending people's lives.
The prosecutor's tactics, meanwhile,
are enraging Stoll's attorneys.
"This is just a continuation
of what went on in 1985," fumed Kathleen Ridolfi, executive
director of Santa Clara University's Northern California Innocence
Project. Project attorneys, along with the California Innocence
Project at the California Western School of Law in San Diego,
are representing Stoll.
"For them to continue
to badger these young men after what they went through as children
is just outrageous," Ridolfi said.
Even Stoll, sweating out his
own future, expressed outrage in a jail interview. "They're
picking on those kids again," he said. "Why can't they
just leave them alone?"
Besides being risky, the prosecution
strategy is replete with irony. Those who are targeted are the
same people who, two decades earlier, were portrayed by the district
attorney's office as tender victims of a vast interlocking network
of child abusers and pornographers.
Stoll was one of more than
40 people convicted in the eight Bakersfield cases that began
in 1984, one of the first of the wave of multi-offender molestation
cases that swept the nation in the 1980s and '90s.
Authorities in Bakersfield
contended that they had uncovered eight multi-offender rings,
of which Stoll's was one. Many were centered in the working-class
area east of Bakersfield called Oildale. Some sheriff's investigators
believed they had stumbled on a network of abusers that had its
roots in the Ozarks. The investigations fell apart two years
after they began, when allegations of child abuse grew into reports
of satanic activity, and when the children, who until then were
thought to be unable to lie, began accusing sheriff's investigators
and even a prosecutor of molestation.
In the intervening years, many
convicted in Kern County have been released after appellate judges
found prosecutorial misconduct and a variety of other errors.
The state attorney general's office also issued a scathing report
blasting the way the investigations had been handled. Among the
findings: Investigators were so convinced they had stumbled on
career-making child abuse cases that they did not bother to do
routine police work, such as taking the alleged victims in for
medical tests.
Of those convicted nearly 20
years ago, Stoll is among the last remaining in prison.
Green has repeatedly refused
to answer questions about her trial strategy. The challenge facing
her, however, is to answer a question that looms large. What
do these young men, a cross section of working-class America
- cooks, salesmen, mechanics, with homes, wives and families
- have to gain by helping to free the man convicted of subjecting
them to perverse acts?
Green will have a chance to
develop her case on Feb. 23, when the hearing resumes. She is
expected to call the sheriff's investigator and the child welfare
worker involved in the Stoll investigation. Green's ace in the
hole, if she can deliver it, will be Jed Stoll, John Stoll's
estranged son. In an affidavit, he insists he was molested, just
as he previously testified. Jed Stoll did not return phone calls
seeking comment.
Innocence Project attorneys
believe Jed's "memories" of molestation were planted
by investigators. To support that, an expert in what has come
to be known as false memory syndrome was called to testify. Because
Jed was the youngest victim, at 6, and because he was considered
under the influence of Stoll's ex-wife, who lodged the original
accusation of molestation during a child custody dispute, his
memories are unreliable, Stoll's attorneys say.
Another alleged victim, whose
story may be the strangest - and most troublesome - of all, is
Allen Grafton, 28, a cook who lives in Idaho. Grafton has spent
what he estimates to be nearly half his life in therapy as a
molestation survivor. His mother, Margie, was convicted of molesting
her sons, Allen and Donald.
The saga was so disturbing
within the family that even after her release from prison, where
other inmates had maimed her hands by pushing them into prison
machinery, she and Allen never discussed what had happened in
1984. He eventually reached a kind of peace with her, he said
in an interview.
"I forgave her,"
he said in an interview. But what if there is nothing to forgive?
Allen Grafton heard a couple
of years ago that Stoll, who had been sentenced to 40 years in
prison, was hoping to get out. Even more shocking, he discovered
that four of Stoll's other alleged victims - including his brother
Donald - were telling Innocence Project attorneys that they had
never been molested.
When he looked inside himself,
he realized that despite all his therapy, he had no memories
of having been molested, he said. But that doesn't mean he agrees
with his brother that nothing happened. His whole concept of
himself was built on the certainty that he'd been victimized,
but never a victim. He was tough. He was smart. He also concedes
that he was a heavy marijuana smoker, but only because he has
what he calls a "monkey mind" that's always going.
Called to the stand last week,
Grafton didn't do much for either side. He didn't join the four
who said they were certain they had not been molested, but neither
did he help the prosecution. He simply said he had no memories
of what happened.
Grafton said it took some courage
to finally look over at John Stoll. Try as he might, he couldn't
see anything bad in his soul, he said. In retrospect, he wished
he could have offered some compassion. "People in his situation,
if he's innocent, I can only imagine what he's going through."
Grafton is just starting to
go through his own trial. If the molestation "didn't happen,"
he said, "what does that do to me? I have to get to the
point where that doesn't matter."
If the term "elephant
in the room" applies to something unacknowledged that looms
over everything, then there is an entire herd in Judge John Kelly's
courtroom. Take the fact that one of the original prosecutors
in Stoll's case was Stephen Tauzer.
Tauzer, then the No. 2 prosecutor
in Kern County behind Dist. Atty. Ed Jagels, was brutally beaten
to death in his own garage two years ago. It later turned out
that the man who killed Tauzer was a former colleague, Chris
Hillis, who was enraged because he felt that Tauzer, who was
gay, was preying on his son.
Another issue lurking in the
background is the battered reputation of Kern County law enforcement.
The collapse of the molestation cases, the critical attorney
general's report, and two books about the Kern legal system -
one titled "Mean Justice" - have given local authorities
a bad name. And perhaps that is now motivating them to ensure
that Stoll doesn't go free like the rest.
Until now, the county's top
prosecutor since 1983, Ed Jagels, has escaped political retribution
from the voters. To many people who like Jagels' hard-nosed approach
to justice, it didn't matter what outsiders said. They felt safe
in their homes, and that was enough.
That may be changing. One factor
was Tauzer's killing and the unseemly details that came out afterward
about his private life. Another was a hard-hitting series in
the local newspaper raising questions about Jagels and a supposedly
secret cabal called the Lords of Bakersfield. Most recently,
Jagels' wife, Bryanna, was arrested for allegedly trying to use
phony prescriptions to obtain painkillers from local pharmacies.
Jagels quickly filed for divorce
and people close to the Kern legal community expect him to run
again in 2006.
Nobody thinks it will be a
walkover this time.
'It Was Just Such a Relief'
John Stoll
describes his reaction to hearing four men recant testimony that
had helped send him to prison for 19 years.
By John Johnson Times Staff
Writer
January 19, 2004
BAKERSFIELD - It had been an
exhilarating week for John Stoll. Easily one of the best he's
had in 19 years. That may not be saying much, since he spent
those years in one or another California prison.
Still, he couldn't seem to
keep a smile off his face as he sat chatting in a classroom at
the Kern County Jail outside Bakersfield. After all those years,
four men who accused Stoll of molesting them when they were children
took the stand last week and said he never touched them. Several
broke down in tears over what they had done.
"When those kids said,
'I didn't do it,' oh, my God, that was just so I really have
a hard time explaining. It was just such a relief," he said.
Stoll was a divorced carpenter
trying to raise a 6-year-old child when he was convicted in 1985
and sentenced to 40 years in prison for leading a ring of child
abusers. Stoll had no way of knowing it, but he was caught up
in one of the most ambitious child-abuse investigations in the
nation, one that would eventually collapse and besmirch the reputation
of Kern County law enforcement.
Stoll said that the 19 years
since his arrest have been lonely and at times desperate. He
dared not share his story with fellow inmates - a child molester
is a frequent target of violence in prison.
Then, several years ago, members
of the Northern California Innocence Project contacted him and
said they were interested in examining his case. Last year, the
attorneys filed a petition with the Kern County courts, claiming,
among other things, that the original conviction was flawed by
the manner in which the children were interrogated.
About eight months ago, Stoll
was anxiously waiting in a Central Valley prison to see if the
court would grant him a hearing. He was buttoned-down, wary.
The perfect institutional man, he'd learned not to look ahead
or behind. You only got through the days by dealing with them
one by one.
The man who sat talking at
the Kern County Jail last week couldn't have been more different.
He was almost ebullient. "I don't know how to explain how
it feels" to finally have corroboration for his decades-old
denials that he did anything wrong, Stoll said.
Yet he knows there is no guarantee
he will win his freedom. The district attorney's office will
present its side of the case in a few weeks.
"I am aware of what's
to come," Stoll said. "I'm sure the [female prosecutor]
is going to do her best to make me look like the evil one."
Besides the original investigators,
who are expected to deny bullying the child "victims,"
another witness likely to be called is John Stoll's son, Jed.
He has given an affidavit to the D.A.'s office saying he stands
by his earlier testimony that his father molested him. But as
the youngest alleged victim, at 6, he was the most vulnerable
to manipulation, attorneys said.
John Stoll said it hurts worse
than anything to know his son believes that about him. "Jed's
the one I really wanted to hear say I didn't do it," Stoll
said, his eyes welling up.
Asked if he was prepared to
face his son in court, he shook his head. "Not at all."
He also admits to being too
scared to think about the future. Although Stoll has a parole
date coming up next year, there is no guarantee he will be released
then either. If Kern County classifies him as a sexually violent
predator, he could be held indefinitely.
Still, last week was a good
week. "No matter what happens," Stoll said, smiling
again, "to hear those kids, it was so unbelievable."
Judge throws
out Stoll's child-molestation conviction after Stoll served
20 years in prison
Conviction Tossed After
19 Years; A man's molestation trial is nullified after several
witnesses retract testimony they gave as children.
John Johnson, Los Angeles
Times, May 1, 2004
BAKERSFIELD
John Stoll had spent nearly
20 years behind bars imagining what it would feel like to hear
a judge say he had been wrongly convicted. Now that it was happening,
his heart was racing so fast he feared he might not survive the
experience.
"I thought,
'Oh great, I'm going to have a heart attack and die in front
of all these people,' " Stoll said Friday afternoon.
Hours earlier,
Kern County Judge John Kelly had overturned his conviction on
17 counts of child molestation in connection with the infamous
Bakersfield "witch hunt" cases. Kelly ruled that techniques
investigators used to question the alleged victims two decades
ago amounted to manipulation and "resulted in unreliable
testimony."
Prosecutor Lisa
Green said the district attorney's office will not seek to retry
Stoll, even though she believes he is guilty. "I'm disappointed,"
Green said outside court. "You win some, you lose some."
Sitting in a jail
cell awaiting his release, Stoll said he hadn't absorbed the
fact that he is apparently about to go free as early as Tuesday,
his 61st birthday. He looked a bit intimidated as he held a cellphone
for the first time and tried to figure out how it worked. He
knows, though, exactly what he wants to do first when he gets
out.
"A piece
of steak and a baked potato would be nice," Stoll said.
As visitors suggested eateries around town, Stoll interrupted:
"Quite frankly, I'd like to eat outside Kern County."
As soon as he
is able, he said, he will leave Bakersfield. That's where, in
the summer of 1984, he was accused of being the ringleader of
a band of child molesters and pornographers. Stoll and his friends
constituted one of eight alleged child molestation rings in town,
committing a litany of sex acts against children, authorities
said.
The "witch
hunts," as critics called them, were the first of a wave
of multiple-victim child molestation cases to sweep the nation
in the mid-1980s. Unlike the McMartin Pre-School case in Manhattan
Beach, in which nobody was convicted, dozens of people in Bakersfield
were sent to prison. Stoll is believed to be the longest held
of all the convicted molesters around the country.
Stoll had long
maintained his innocence, claiming there was no evidence for
any of the charges. No indecent photos were ever found, and the
child victims, who included his own son, were never examined
by a physician. As in many of the cases, Stoll's conviction was
based almost solely on the testimony of child witnesses who defense
attorneys maintained had been badgered and brainwashed by overzealous
investigators.
As time went on,
the convictions of others around the country were reversed on
appeal. But Stoll was unable to find an attorney willing to look
into his case.
Two years ago,
public-interest lawyers from the California Innocence Project
in San Diego and the Northern California Innocence Project in
Santa Clara tracked down several purported victims who are now
adults. Four of them trooped to the stand several weeks ago to
describe horrifying treatment, not at the hands of Stoll but
of law enforcement and prosecutors. Investigators cajoled, badgered
and even threatened them to convince them to testify to sex acts
they now said never happened.
Several of those
witnesses apologized in court to Stoll and two of them, Eddie
Sampley and Victor Monge, were in court Friday to hear the judge's
ruling. Tears rolled down Monge's cheek when Kelly threw out
Stoll's conviction. "I'm glad and happy," Monge said
afterward.
Stoll's happiness
over the judge's reversal was tempered by the damaged relationship
with his son. Jed Stoll, 25, testified against his father in
February, repeating his allegations of two decades ago that his
father molested him.
Under questioning,
however, he said he couldn't remember any details of the alleged
molestation. He also admitted to lying about some details in
court when he was a child.
Defense attorneys
this year called an expert who said young children -- Jed was
the youngest victim at 6 -- who have been repeatedly questioned
can manufacture false memories. Stoll's lawyers also asserted
that Jed was under pressure from his mother, Stoll's ex-wife,
who filed the original complaint against Stoll during a nasty
custody battle.
"That was
the only thing this day didn't cure," Stoll said of his
relationship with his son. Jed's testimony "hurt me. But
I can't do anything about it."
Stoll's habeas
corpus petition relied on three main arguments: that the investigators
tape-recorded victims but now claimed they couldn't find the
tapes; that the questioning techniques were improper; and that
Stoll's conviction was a result of false testimony.
Although several
of the former victims remembered a tape recorder, Judge Kelly
dismissed that claim after the original investigating sheriff's
deputy, Conny Ericsson, said there was no tape recorder. After
finding that the interviews were improper, Kelly said the third
argument was unnecessary.
After Friday's
decision, Stoll's attorneys hugged and cried in the hallway outside
court. "I'm beside myself," said Linda Starr, legal
director of the Northern California Innocence Project at Santa
Clara University. "To actually see the system work."
Ironically, as
the project savors one of its greatest triumphs, it is facing
the prospect of going out of business. Because of state budget
problems, the project has lost $400,000 in funding this year.
"There are
more John Stolls out there," said project Executive Director
Kathleen Ridolfi. "Unless we raise some money, this project
will die."
Stoll was allowed
to meet with reporters at Kern County's Lerdo jail facility.
Reporters asked how he felt about his victory. "I can't
describe it," said Stoll, sitting at a table in a holding
area. "It's indescribable."
Kelly's ruling
does not amount to a finding of actual innocence. It means simply
that the first trial was so compromised that the conviction must
be overturned. Stoll said it was the most he could expect after
all these years, and it had to be enough.
"I'm not
a child molester," he said.
One of his attorneys
recounted a conversation in which Stoll bemoaned the loss of
his early middle age behind prison bars.
The mostly bald
head, the lined face, the weary eyes are those of a man sliding
into old age. Asked if he was angry that he had to wait all these
years for vindication, Stoll shook his head.
"I've got
a fresh start," he said. "Let's move on."
REVERSAL: Lawyer Jill Kent
and John Stoll listen. Several of those who testified against
him 19 years ago apologized in court. PHOTOGRAPHER: Felix Adamo
The Bakersfield Californian PHOTO: AT LAST! John Stoll and lawyers
Jill Kent, left, and Linda Starr react to Judge John Kelly's
ruling. PHOTOGRAPHER: Felix Adamo The Bakersfield Californian
The New York Times May 1, 2004,
Saturday, A13;
California: Molesting Conviction
Rejected AP
A judge threw out the child
molesting conviction of a man who has spent 20 years in prison,
after most of the accusers said the assaults never happened.
The inmate, John Stoll, now 60, was convicted in 1985 on 17 counts
of child molesting, along with two other men and a woman. Mr.
Stoll is the last of the four in prison. Prosecutors presented
no physical evidence at the original trial; none of the six children
involved were examined by doctors. The case rested on testimony,
which the defense contended had been coerced from the children,
who were 6 to 8. Four of the accusers, now adults, testified
in January that they had been manipulated by investigators. A
fifth said he had no memories of that time.
The Washington Post May 1, 2004 Saturday; A12
* BAKERSFEILD,
Calif. -- A judge threw out the child-molestation conviction
of a man who spent 20 years in prison, siding with the defense
after most of the alleged victims claimed the assaults never
happened. John Stoll, 60, was convicted in 1985 on 17 counts
of child molestation. Attorneys for the Innocence Project had
sought his freedom since January, claiming authorities coerced
false testimony from the victims, ranging from 6 to 8 years old.
Howard Fishman
Note: "Though 40 people were convicted in the prosecutions,
the convictions of a vast majority have been reversed over the
years due to witness recantations, prosecutorial misconduct,
and improper child witness interviewing techniques, which lead
to unreliable testimony." What an indictment of
our so-called justice and child protection systems!
Once again, this is a case that will be characterized
as an anomaly. I beg to differ. Several times every week
I am confronted with new cases that have no more merit than the
Stoll case. Tragically, most of the defendants
cannot afford the services of a competent attorney.
(That is not to suggest that highly paid attorneys are necessarily
more effective.) The child abuse industry regularly proclaims
that the necessary reforms have been implemented so that these
travesties are far less likely to occur. Hogwash! H
Attorneys With the Innocence
Project at Santa Clara University Work to Free California Man;
Five Witnesses Recant Testimony That Convicted John Stoll of
Child Molestation
SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS
WIRE)--04/23/2004--A Bakersfield man, in prison since 1985, has
a chance at regaining his freedom, because of the hard work of
the attorneys of the Northern California Innocence Project at
Santa Clara University School of Law and the California Innocence
Project at California Western School of Law. John Andrew Stoll
was convicted of 17 counts of child molestation in 1984. But
five witnesses who testified as children have recanted their
trial testimony of 20 years ago. Kern County Superior Court Judge
John Kelley will rule on the new evidence on Fri., April 30 and
decide if Stoll was wrongfully convicted of a crime he didn't
commit.
Beginning in Jan.
2004, four of Stoll's six former accusers recanted their trial
testimony that Stoll, a former building contractor, had molested
them. A fifth witness has testified that he has little memory
of his childhood and no memory of Stoll molesting him or anyone
else. One young man, Stoll's son, the sixth and final witness,
still maintains he was molested by Stoll.
The men took the
stand in a Kern County Superior Court room and said that the
stories of sexual abuse they told as children were lies, and
that they were coerced by law enforcement officials into making
false allegations against Stoll when they were boys, ages 6 to
8.
The Northern California
Innocence Project and the California Innocence Project are representing
Stoll and presenting the newly discovered evidence supporting
his claim of innocence.
"The tragedy
of this case is the large number of people who were victimized
by the actions of Kern County officials -- children, their families,
and, most profoundly, John Stoll," said Linda Starr, legal
director of the Northern California Innocence Project. "It's
time to take the first step toward restoring the community's
faith in justice by reversing John Stoll's conviction."
The Stoll case
was one of eight Kern County multi-offender, multi-victim sex
ring cases in the mid-1980s. Though 40 people were convicted
in the prosecutions, the convictions of a vast majority have
been reversed over the years due to witness recantations, prosecutorial
misconduct, and improper child witness interviewing techniques,
which lead to unreliable testimony. If Stoll is not released
from prison, he will be eligible for parole in nine months on
Jan 15, 2005.
"These witnesses
were forced to tell lies that robbed a man of 20 years of his
life and robbed them of their innocence," said Kathleen
"Cookie" Ridolfi, a professor at Santa Clara University
School of Law and executive director of the Northern California
Innocence Project. "The children grew up knowing an innocent
man was sent to prison because of something they did. John Stoll
is a victim but so are the boys and their families. The biggest
crime of it all is the District Attorney's continued refusal
to assume responsibility for any of it. Without accountability,
we won't learn from the mistakes, we'll just keep making them."
The Northern California
Innocence Project and the California Innocence Project are part
of the National Innocence Network of similar projects nationwide.
Innocence Project students work alongside practicing criminal
defense lawyers to seek the release of wrongfully convicted inmates
who maintain their factual innocence. The Northern California
Innocence Project, based at both Santa Clara University School
of Law and Golden Gate University, handles Northern California
cases, while the project at California Western School of Law
takes on Southern California cases.
MEDIA: To request
an interview with Kathleen Ridolfi or Linda Starr, contact SCU
media relations at 408-554-5125 / 408-420-8127.
About SCU School of Law
The SCU School
of Law, founded in 1912, combines a tradition of excellence with
a commitment to ethics, diversity, and social justice, and is
fully accredited by the American Bar Association. Many of its
968 students work in criminal and civil community law clinics,
and may earn certificates in intellectual property law, international
law, or public interest law. Law degrees may be combined with
an MBA or master's degree in taxation, and the law school offers
lawyers master's degrees in international law and intellectual
property law.
About Santa Clara University
Santa Clara University,
a comprehensive Jesuit, Catholic university located in California's
Silicon Valley, offers its 8,047 students rigorous undergraduate
curricula in arts and sciences, business, and engineering, plus
masters and law degrees. Distinguished nationally by the third-highest
graduation rate among all U.S. masters' universities, California's
oldest higher-education institution demonstrates faith-inspired
values of ethics and social justice. More information is online
at www.scu.edu.
CONTACT:Santa Clara University
Deepa Arora, 408-554-5125 darora@scu.edu
SOURCE: Santa Clara University
04/23/2004 06:01 EASTERN
|
Truth can never be
told so as to be understood, and not be believ'd. William Blake, The Proverbs of Hell
