Kern County child abuse cases
Encyclopedia
The Kern County child abuse cases started the day care sexual abuse hysteria
of the 1980s in Kern County, California
. The cases involved claims of Satanic ritual abuse
that were performed by pedophile sex rings with as many as 60 children testifying they had been abused. At least 36 people were convicted and most of them spent years imprisoned. 34 convictions were overturned on appeal. The district attorney responsible for the convictions was Ed Jagels
, who was sued by at least one of those whose conviction was overturned, and who remained in office until 2009. Two of the convicted died in prison and were unable to clear their names.
The convictions were overturned in 1996 and the two couples were released. In 2001, a TV movie about the Kniffens titled Just Ask My Children was aired on Lifetime.
Six similar cases occurred throughout Kern County. For instance, the testimony of five young boys was the prosecution's key evidence in a trial in which four defendants were convicted, with John Stoll, a 41-year-old carpenter, receiving 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 had lied about Stoll.
Sampley and three other former accusers returned in 2004 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 he always knew the truth—that Stoll had never touched them. However, Stoll's son has "continued to say that he had been molested." In the case, the only defendant with a previous conviction of molestation was Grant Self, who rented Stoll's pool house briefly. John Stoll had to wait until 2004 for the reversal of his convictions, but was released on the new testimony. Self was sent to a mental hospital for sexual offenders because he had a prior conviction for child molestation. Self was freed in 2009.
A documentary titled Witch Hunt
, which focused primarily on Stoll's case, was produced and released in 2007. MSNBC also did a documentary on John Stoll and the Kern County cases. In 2009, John Stoll sued Kern County and was awarded 5 million dollars in compensation.
Prior to the start of the Kern County child abuse cases, several local social workers had attended a training seminar that foregrounded satanic ritual abuse as a major element in child sexual abuse, and had used the now-debunked memoir Michelle Remembers
as training material.
Day care sexual abuse hysteria
Day-care sex-abuse hysteria was a panic that occurred primarily in the 1980s and early 1990s featuring claims against daycare providers of satanic ritual abuse and several forms of child abuse...
of the 1980s in Kern County, California
Kern County, California
Spreading across the southern end of the California Central Valley, Kern County is the fifth-largest county by population in California. Its economy is heavily linked to agriculture and to petroleum extraction, and there is a strong aviation and space presence. Politically, it has generally...
. The cases involved claims of Satanic ritual abuse
Satanic ritual abuse
Satanic ritual abuse refers to the abuse of a person or animal in a ritual setting or manner...
that were performed by pedophile sex rings with as many as 60 children testifying they had been abused. At least 36 people were convicted and most of them spent years imprisoned. 34 convictions were overturned on appeal. The district attorney responsible for the convictions was Ed Jagels
Ed Jagels
Ed Jagels is an American prosecutor best known for obtaining child sexual abuse convictions as Kern County, California District Attorney against 36 innocent people in the Kern County child abuse cases, and for leading successful conservative efforts to replace liberal California Supreme Court...
, who was sued by at least one of those whose conviction was overturned, and who remained in office until 2009. Two of the convicted died in prison and were unable to clear their names.
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 over 1000 years in prison.The convictions were overturned in 1996 and the two couples were released. In 2001, a TV movie about the Kniffens titled Just Ask My Children was aired on Lifetime.
Six similar cases occurred throughout Kern County. For instance, the testimony of five young boys was the prosecution's key evidence in a trial in which four defendants were convicted, with John Stoll, a 41-year-old carpenter, receiving 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 had lied about Stoll.
Sampley and three other former accusers returned in 2004 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 he always knew the truth—that Stoll had never touched them. However, Stoll's son has "continued to say that he had been molested." In the case, the only defendant with a previous conviction of molestation was Grant Self, who rented Stoll's pool house briefly. John Stoll had to wait until 2004 for the reversal of his convictions, but was released on the new testimony. Self was sent to a mental hospital for sexual offenders because he had a prior conviction for child molestation. Self was freed in 2009.
A documentary titled Witch Hunt
Witch Hunt (film)
Witch Hunt is a 2008 documentary produced and narrated by Sean Penn about the Kern County child abuse cases in Kern County, California in the early 1980s.-External links:*...
, which focused primarily on Stoll's case, was produced and released in 2007. MSNBC also did a documentary on John Stoll and the Kern County cases. In 2009, John Stoll sued Kern County and was awarded 5 million dollars in compensation.
Prior to the start of the Kern County child abuse cases, several local social workers had attended a training seminar that foregrounded satanic ritual abuse as a major element in child sexual abuse, and had used the now-debunked memoir Michelle Remembers
Michelle Remembers
Michelle Remembers is a book published in 1980 co-written by Canadian psychiatrist Lawrence Pazder and his psychiatric patient Michelle Smith. A best-seller, Michelle Remembers was the first book written on the subject of satanic ritual abuse and is an important part of the controversies beginning...
as training material.
See also
- Day care sexual abuse hysteriaDay care sexual abuse hysteriaDay-care sex-abuse hysteria was a panic that occurred primarily in the 1980s and early 1990s featuring claims against daycare providers of satanic ritual abuse and several forms of child abuse...
- McMartin preschool case
- Wee Care Nursery SchoolWee Care Nursery SchoolThe Wee Care Nursery School was in Maplewood, New Jersey and was one of many day care child abuse cases that went to trial in the 1980s. Though initially successful in its prosecution of Margaret Kelly Michaels, the decision was overturned after five years in prison, on the basis of improper and...
- Fells Acres Day Care CenterFells Acres Day Care CenterFells Acres Day Care Center was located in Malden, Massachusetts, in the United States and was part of the day care sex abuse hysteria of the 1980s. Violet Amirault opened the facility in 1966.-Accusations and investigation:...
- Innocence ProjectInnocence ProjectAn Innocence Project is one of a number of non-profit legal organizations in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand dedicated to proving the innocence of wrongly convicted people through the use of DNA testing, and to reforming the criminal justice systems to...
- List of miscarriage of justice cases
- West Memphis 3West Memphis 3The West Memphis Three are three men who were tried and convicted as teenagers in 1994 of the 1993 murders of three boys in West Memphis, Arkansas. Damien Echols was sentenced to death, Jessie Misskelley, Jr. was sentenced to life imprisonment plus two 20-year sentences, and Jason Baldwin was...
External links
- Kern County child abuse cases at the Ontario Consultants on Religious ToleranceOntario Consultants on Religious ToleranceThe Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance are a small group in Kingston, Ontario dedicated to the promotion of religious tolerance through their website, ReligiousTolerance.org.-History of the group and its website:Bruce A...