OUTRAGEOUS RITUAL ABUSE CONVICTION Outrageous Ritual Abuse Conviction in Massachusetts. Real story. (c) Copyright 1994 by Jonathan G. Harris. Permission is hereby granted to copy in full for any non-profit use provided that this copyright notice and the disclaimer below are included. DISCLAIMER: This information represents the views of the author and not of MIT or any groups or publishers mentioned. I speak only for myself. FELLS ACRES (Malden, MA 1984): This ludicrous and outrageous miscarriage of justice has yet to be exposed in the popular press (or any press) to the people of Massachusetts. (The following is based on trial transcripts, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Decisions, and Boston Globe articles). The prosecutor maintained that daycare owner Violet Amirault, her son, and her daughter sadistically molested children in a room referred to as the "secret room", "hidden room", "special room", or "magic room." No such room has ever been found. No other teacher or parent heard of such a room until the first accusation. All rooms in the two story Cape Cod were used in this crowded school and teachers were denied access to no part of the building. None of this stopped District Attorney Harshbarger from directing the prosecution of this case, nor did it stop one jury from convicting owner Violet Amirault (60 years old at the time) and her daughter Cheryl LeFave. Nor did it stop another jury from convicting her son Gerald (Tooky) Amirault, a father to three children. All remain in prison in Massachusetts. THE BEGINNING The case started when a mother was having difficulties dealing with her five year old son. In March of 1984 she moved to Medford and enrolled her son in Fells Acres. Soon afterwards, her husband lost his job as a custodian at Wellesley and moved out of the house. Her son, Michael, attended Fells Acres two days a week from late March or early April until June. Upon leaving for summer vacation, she requested that Violet Amirault reserve a spot for Michael in the fall. His behavioral problems-- bed wetting, lying, baby talking like is 16 month old brother, and hostility-- worsened during the summer and it appears she may have blamed sexual abuse (she like, most parents in these cases denies questioning her son about sexual matters). She had her brother, who claims to have been molested at camp once, talk to her son, Michael. The son said something to the effect that someone had pulled his pants down. At Gerald's trial the mother testified that she was anxious about this, but denied suspecting sexual abuse; nevertheless, soon after this initial 'disclosure' she called a child abuse hotline. Sometime at the end of August Michael told her some story about being repeatedly abused in a secret room by Gerald in front of all of the teachers and of being forced to urinate in a cup and drink the urine. He claimed he was then taken to an upstairs magic room. He described the secret room as having a bed and a shelf with gold trophies. At the trial, the mother and son maintained that the rooms were in a white house and a brown house away from the school, even though originally they gave no indication that the rooms were outside of Fells Acres. THE WITCHHUNT A few days after the Michael's mother filed a complaint, police came to the school and arrested Gerald in front of all of the teachers and students. The police and social workers started further interviews with children, including Gerald's own daughters. Even when the children initially said nothing happened, the investigators continued the badger them. In some of the early stories children claimed they were molested by "a bad clown." Others claim they were photographed in sexual acts. It appears that the police believed there was a special hidden room at the school. They then closed the school and held a parents meeting where parents were instructed to ask their children about a magic room, a secret room, and a clown. Police told parents that any loss of appetite or bed wetting is a sign of sexual abuse and that they must persist in questioning their children because insistence that no abuse occurred should not be believed. Only later did they realize that there was no special or hidden room at Fells Acres. Soon afterwards the police searched the school for the magic room and pornographic photos. They proudly announced the seizure of a camera and 29 photos from the school, as well as photos from Cheryl's house. By not revealing that they were merely pictures of birthday parties, they gave the impression that they had found child pornography. Only a few days later, buried in the back pages was a statement from an unidentified source that no pornography had been found. To the parents took any slightly strange behavior became evidence of abuse. For one parent it was the time her three year old daughter suddenly blurted out "penises go in vaginas, don't they mommy." Rather than assume her daughter was parroting the words of an older child, she assumed this was a sign that her daughter had been involved in or participated in sexual activities. Even the fact that the girl used the words "penis" and "vagina" instead of her usual word "peepee" was evidence to this parent. Eventually 20 prosecutable cases surfaced. Nine children testified against Gerald, and four against Cheryl and Vi. Many of the children were eventually interviewed by a pediatric nurse, Susan Kelley, who is a strong proponent of the existence of ritual abuse. Her interviews where highly leading and suggestive, not settling for "no" answers. Children frequently told her very bizarre stories in attempts to figure out what she wanted to hear. After repeatedly being asked about a magic room, one girl began to describe a scene in which the bad clown passed out sticks on fire. Susan Kelley proceeded to ask about whether she had seen the clown's peepee or bumbum, and continued to ask such suggestive questions even after getting no for an answer. THE TRIAL Gerald's trial took place in the spring of 1986 and lasted three months. Cheryl and Vi's 11 day trial took place the following year. Both trials featured testimony by parent's of the children's "behavioral symptoms"-- many which were highly exaggerated and some likely fabricated. "Behavioral symptoms" that were absent during medical exams in 1984 and 1985 suddenly appeared in parents' testimony. One mother blamed her admission to a psychiatric hospital on her sons behavior after his disclosure which did not occur until several months in therapy after the school was closed. In Gerald's trial the children testified sitting at a small table in front of the jury. Judge Dolan took off her robe and sat with the children. Parents flanked the children so they would not have to look at Gerald, who was sitting off to the side. One child testified on videotape because the prosecution said he was too scared to go before the court. Such treatment gave the jurors a presumption of guilt. During both trials, many children admitted to practicing their testimony. The testimony of Brian M., below, is classic example of this: Cross by Julianne Balliro (comm vs. Amirault, May 26, 1986): page 31-98 Q: Okay. Well, do you practice things about Fells Acres, too, the same way you practice your ABCs? A: Yes. Q: Okay. You've been saying them over and over and over again? A: Yes. Q: And you saw them with lots of different people? A: Yes. Q: And if you forget, sometimes people help you remember? A: Yes. Q: Okay, and sometimes there's things--there are some things that they don't help you remember, right? A: Right. Q: Things like who Steve is, right? A: Right. [Steve is a mysterious bad man who Brian mentioned on an interview] .... Many others testified that if they did not practice, they would forget what happened at Fells Acres. Almost all children testified that they were threatened, even though experts state that when the abuser is not a family member, threatening children frequently causes them to tell about the abuse right away. Even the state's expert, Dr. Renee Brant, could not estimate the probability that a threat would be successful at keeping a child quite. In ritual abuse cases such as this one, threats have to successful virtually 100% of the time for the case to be credible, as no children disclosed any abuse until repeatedly questioned. In fact, when the case broke out most of the children testifying stated that they liked school and wanted to go back. This case included bizarre testimony as to a good clown and a bad clown who molested children. Some children claimed the bad clown was Gerald, even though they often initially named it with some other name. There was also a good puppet show and a bad puppet show. The testimony of Brian M (age 6 1/2 at Gerald Amirault's trial) concerning the bad puppet show is a classic illustration of some of the rehearsed testimony given by the children: [Redirect by Prosecutor Larry Hardoon. (Comm. vs. Amirault May 26, 1986) page 31-100 to 31-101] Q Brian, Julianne asked you about a puppet show; do you remember? A Yes. Q Okay. And did you go to one puppet show or more than one puppet show? A Just only two. Q Okay, there's two. And can you tell me what the two of them were? A I forget. Q All right. Well, were they both good puppet shows? A No, one was bad and one was good. Q Okay, and what happened at the one puppet show that was bad, Brian? A They took everyone's clothes off. Q Alright. And did they do anything after they took everyone's clothes off? Ms. Balliro: Objection. The Court: Overruled. A I forget that one. Q Okay. So you don't remember what they did after they took everyone's clothes off? Ms. Balliro: Objection. Motion to strike. court: Overruled. A. No. ..... page 31-103: Bench conference: Ms. Balliro: Your Honor, I would just move to strike the business about "they" took everyone's clothes off. We don't know who "they" is or whether "they" includes Tooky or Tooky was at the puppet show. Particularly interesting is the lack of essential details in this account of the puppet show, which form the basis for the defense attorney's objection. One boy testified to being tied to a tree in front of all of the students and teachers. He also said that Cheryl killed a dog and buried its blood in the sandbox. He even claimed a baby was killed there during one interview, although he forgot this at trial time. Another claimed that Vi killed a frog and fed it to him. During the original interview he said it quacked like a duck and was a monster. A girl claimed her wrist was slashed and it bled. Another girl talked about a game where she licked ice cream off of the trunk of an elephant and the trunk was Gerald's penis. Another girl claimed that the clown had chased her naked into the school yard, and everyone yelled "Ha Ha you are naked." The location of the magic or secret room moved around during the investigation. Some initially placed it in the basement, but at the trials the prosecution claimed to have identified it as an upstairs bathroom or an adjoining classroom, even though neither was ever inaccessible and both where regularly used by the children and teachers at the school. No teacher ever heard any mention of a magic or secret room nor saw Gerald dressed as a clown until this witchhunt started. The descriptions of the magic, secret, and hidden rooms appear to be very inconsistent. Some mention wires on the floor. Others a lamp and a green light and a green or orange rug. Some mention a camera on a tripod. No testimony that I have seen mentions a sink or toilet or any object normally found in a bathroom or classroom (I have read the complete trial testimony of six children and part of the direct examination of a seventh). Many of the children claimed that they told their teachers that they were going to the magic room. Ritual abuse theory promoters cite this as a documented case because all appeals have been lost and there are claims to physical evidence. The physical evidence is completely faulty. With the possible exception of one child, the "physical signs" are commonly found in unabused children. The one exception is a girl with a small scar on the hymen. I have not investigated this one claim, but there are many possible explanations--misinterpretation of the exam, the girl had inserted something into her own vagina, or the girl was molested at one time by someone else. This girl had testified only to be anally raped with a knife. Dr. Emans, the prosecutions witness tried to claim that the knife may have missed and left a small mark on the hymen. The judge struck this testimony as too speculative. Any of Dr. Emans' testimony should be regarded with strong skepticism, given her twisted testimony in Cheryl and Vi's trial. Dr. Emans testified that the presence of vulvitis in all three girls participating in the second trial was unusual and significant in identifying sexual abuse; in spite of the fact that the total population really included 60 girls, and a monograph she co-authored in 1982 states explicitly that vulvovaginitis is common and often due to poor hygiene. Vulvitis and vulvovaginitis are mild inflammations which can result from many causes--irritating soaps, uncleanliness, infections, and tight fitting clothing. Furthermore, one of the girls had not been at the school for 18 months by the time Dr. Emans carried out the examination. Vulvitis caused by the rubbing of sexual abuse generally heals within three weeks. The other two girls were examined at least four weeks after the school closed. THE AFTERMATH All three defendants were convicted. Vi, Cheryl, and Gerald remain in Massachusetts prisons, having lost all appeals to date. Vi and Cheryl keep getting denied parole because they won't confess. Their sentence was 8-20 years in prison, but the judge promised to reduce it to five years if they were denied parole when they first came up. He kept his promise, but in an unusual move, the prosecutor appealed the revised sentence and won at the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. Gerald's sentence is much harsher-- 30 to 40 years with parole eligibility after 20 years. The district attorney for Middlesex County, Scott Harshbarger used the convictions to bolster his career and is now the Massachusetts attorney general. Susan Kelley is now the head of Boston College's nursing department, and has made a career promoting the existence of ritual abuse and satanic ritual abuse. Dr. Emans remains a well respected physician, unpunished for her outrageous testimony, and people believe that physical evidence documents this ritual abuse case. The police officers who started the panic got promoted. As for the magic or secret room, some say it is the second floor bathroom, others an adjacent classroom, and others still wonder where to find it. In Massachusetts the emperor prances around naked and few people have noticed. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------