33 Cases from Legal
Proceedings
Overview: All of the cases in this file involve
claims in legal proceedings. Some cases are criminal,
some are civil, and a few are administrative or involve
an estate. The criminal cases all resulted in either a
guilty verdict or a guilty plea. The civil cases all
resulted in either a civil judgment or a civil settlement.
The cases included pre-trial discovery on the facts, and
often full-blown adjudication. In short, the
corroboration in these cases has been scrutinized and in
many cases verified through a legal proceeding.
K.B.s recovered memories of
child sexual abuse by a neighbor and close family
friend. K.B. v. Mathes (U.S. District Court,
Eastern District of Washington). Filed in 1982 (Docket
No. C-82-56), decided January 5, 1984 by Judge
Justin L. Quackenbush. Judgment for the plaintiff;
no appeal by defendant.
"K.B.s testimony is confirmed to some
extent by her sister Lisas testimony. Then
we have what I call the age fourteen alcohol
incident
the incident when K. arrived home
in an intoxicated state. (oral decision, filed
January 11, 1984, p. 2). "Then we have Mr.
Mathes own testimony that the only
statement he made to Mrs. B was that I wish
it hadnt happe!ned." (Id. at p.4)
[Additional evidence of financial payments by Mr.
Mathes as indicating "some scienter or
guilty knowledge on the part of Mr. Mathes"
on p. 5] Finally, "based on the evidence
presented in this case
I find that K.B.
completely repressed her recollections of the
defendants wrongful conduct from the time
of her high school years when she was obviously a
minor until she began seeking counseling for her
depression and anxiety in late 1979. (Id. at p.9)
"I further find that it was not until at
least April of 1981 that Ms. B. was able to fully
recall the acts of misconduct by the defendant."
(Id. at p.10)
- Delaney Nickersons memories of child sexual
abuse by her father. The memories first surfaced
while Ms. Nickerson was hospitalized in 1984. Ms.
Nickerson filed a criminal complaint several
years later and Mr. Smith was charged. He later
pled guilt, being placed on lifetime parole and
ordered by the court to have no further contact
with his daughter. Commonwealth v. Landon
Carter Smith (felony criminal case: Peterburg
Virginia, 1990).
Meiers-Post v. Schafer (Michigan
Court of Appeals, 1988) A civil suit by Jan
Meiers-Post against her former high-school
teacher for sexual abuse from 1970 to 1974.
"We hold that the period of limitation is
tolled where the child victim of an illicit
sexual relationship psychologically represses the
memory of the events and where, after the memory
is revived there is corroboration that the events
actually occurred.." "In his deposition,
defendant admitted to having sexual intercourse
with plaintiff, at various times, from 1972 to
1974." 427 N.W. 2d 606, 607.
- State v. Wilson (Polk County, Iowa; August,
1990). Criminal conviction of Thomas Dean Wilson
for incest and third-degree sexual abuse of his
daughter. "The trauma was so great that she
was unable to remember for eight yearsand
then only after months of therapy." (Marie
McCartan, "'Daddy Hurts Me'
The Horror
of Incest," Des Moines Register,
February 17, 1991: 1E). The corroborating
evidence uncovered through discovery included 'inappropriate
advances' made by the defendant toward another
minor in his role has a church chaperon, and a
former teen-age babysitter for the family who had
repeated sexual relations with the defendant.
There was additional corroboration from M's
childhood medical records. Twelve jurors found
Tom Wilson guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Id.
- Nicolette v. Carey (Federal District Court,
Western District of Michigan, 1990 judicial
decision). Civil action by Suzanne Nicolette
against her father, Joseph Carey for child sexual
abuse first remembered in adulthood. In denying
the defendant's motion to dismiss the case, Judge
Benjamin F. Gibson noted that "plaintiff has
submitted a letter addressed to plaintiff, signed
by defendant and dated April 19, 1987, in which
defendant discussed three or four incidents of
sexual contact he had with the plaintiff when she
was a child." See, Plaintiff's Exhibit No. 5.
Opinion dated November 19, 1990; District Court
File No. 1:90-CV-159.
- Pfiefle v. Hustwaite (King County Superior
Court, Washington; civil settlement, 1991).
Plaintiff, a 31-year-old woman, alleged that when
she was a grade school student at Sky Valley
Seventh Day Adventist School between 1969 and
1976 she was repeatedly raped and molested by a
teacher. She recovered the memory as an adult.
"Discovery revealed several other victims,
whose testimony was helpful in establishing that
the Seventh Day Adventist should have known of
the teacher's propensities." Shepard's/McGraw-Hill,
Verdicts, Settlements & Tactics (1991)
- Ds recovered memory (in 1991) of sexual
abuse by her father, Stanley Huntingford, 20-34
years earlier. As summarized by Justice Thackray:
"Mr. Huntingford was convicted by a jury on
six counts of what is now generally called sexual
assault. The charges were brought by three of his
five children. Of the three, two had continuous
memories of the abuse while the third, D.,
recovered her memory 34 years after the first
assault." Her Majesty the Queen v.
Stanley Charles Huntingford (Supreme Court of
British Columbia)(Vancouver Registry No. CC940539).
"The first woman [with continuous memory]
said that her father regularly raped her, but
stopped when she was 14 because she screamed when
he came into her bedroom. She said she told her
mother about the incidents in 1981
.The
accuseds wife, who testified for the
defense, told the jury she never confronted her
husband hen the first daughter told her in 1981
about the abuse." Larry Still, "Father,
73, convicted of incest," Vancouver Sun (February
4, 1995: A6).
As Justice Thackray explained at sentencing,
on March 28, 1995: "The Crown retained the
services of Dr. John Yuille. Dr. Yuille is a
psychologist and a leading expert in retention
and recovery of memory. He also has impressive
credentials in the area of sexual abuse. Dr.
Yuille interviewed D. and prepared a report
..
Dr. Yuille therefore gave oral evidence in which
he, in my opinion, fairly set forth the opinions
of the two opposing camps. Dr. Yuille did not in
any way demean the opinion of Dr. Loftus or the
opinions of others with whom he parts company on
the subject. Rather, he showed an objectivity
that allowed both the Crown and the defence to
rely upon his evidence and recommend it to the
jury." Id.
- Commonwealth v. Slutzer (1992 Superior
Court of Pennsylvania; criminal jury verdict).
"On November 24, 1990, John Mudd Jr. was
involved in a fight with a friend when, he said,
he suddenly dropped a chair he was holding and
started crying. "That's when I remembered
everything that happened that night," he
said during a court hearing [concerning the
murder of his father 16 years earlier]." Jon
Schmitz, "Court Upholds Murder Conviction on
Son's Old Memory," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
(October 8, 1993): B-1. "The sudden
recollections of John Mudd Jr. rekindled the
investigation of his father's murder 16 years ago
and thrust the case into the national limelight.
But Steven Slutzker's own words and the testimony
of less sensational witnesses led to his first-degree
murder conviction, jury forewoman Deb Magness
said yesterday after the trial." Jim Cuddy
Jr., "Witnesses Convicted Slutzker of Murder,
Juror Says," Pittsburgh Press, (January
29, 1992): B4 In his opinion filed with the
appeals court, Judge Jeffrey Manning said that
Mudd's testimony "was markedly consistent
with the testimony of others about the events
that night and with the physical evidence."
["Mudd Jr. testified he had been watching
television with his parents when there was a
power failure, which prompted Mudd Sr. to go to
the basement to check the fuse box. Police later
discovered that a fuse that directed power to the
living room had been loosened." Cuddy, 1992]
The judgment of sentence was affirmed by a three-judge
panel (809 Pittsburgh 1992 [J-A36043/93]).
- Hewczuk v. Sambor ( Civil Action No. 91-6562,
Federal District Court, Eastern District of
Pennsylvania). "Hewczuk attorney Nancy
Wasser said her client experienced vivid memories
of the alleged torture after she miscarried two
years ago
.records from Catholic Charities
and hospitals helped corroborate her client's
recollections." (Lisa Brennan, "Abuse
Victim Gets $600,000 32 Years Later; Remembered
Event Two years Ago," Legal Intelligencer,
November 6, 1992. See also, Lisa Brennan, "Judge
Upholds $600,000 Award in Abuse Case; Memory
Suppressed for 32 years," Legal
Intelligencer, February 26, 1993: 1)
In response to post-trial motions, the judge
affirmed the verdict, summarizing the evidence
and findings as follows: "Viewed in the
light most favorable to plaintiff, the verdict-winner,
the trial evidence established that, while in
defendants' foster case for a brief period in
early 1960, plaintiff was horribly mistreated (forced
to eat her own vomit and drink her own urine;
smeared with fecal matter and forced to eat it;
bathed in extremely hot water; nearly drowned
when her face was held under water in a toilet
bowl; and, on at least one occasion, sexually
assaulted); and that her memory of these
atrocities was totally suppressed for many years.
It is also clear that she regained her memory of
these events, more or less fully, by June of 1991,
and that she had begun to have 'flashbacks' and
partial awareness of the earlier trauma in the
summer of 1990." Memorandum and Order, pp. 1-2;
Hewczuk v. Sambor, C.A. 91-6562 (February
18, 1993).
- Leonard v. Estate of Cowles. (Hillsborough
Circuit Court, 1993). Frank Leonard's
recollection, in therapy, of childhood abuse by
his uncle, Tampa publishing executive Frank
Cowles, Jr. "Records were produced showing
that Cowles had been convicted in 1959 of
sexually abusing young boys in Clearwater
.According
to the lawsuit, Leonard's uncle admitted the
abuse and then killed himself. Leonard won a
settlement from the estate." St.
Petersburg Times, March 6, 1994. See also,
"Abuse lawsuit target's uncle's estate,"
St. Petersburg Times, April 14, 1993: 1B
- Herald v. Hood (Summit County, Ohio, jury
verdict, 1992; affirmed 1995). Julie Herald sued
her uncle, Dennis Hood, alleging sexual abuse
from age 3 (in 1962) through 15. The memory
returned while Herald was watching her 4-year old
daughter play with a friend. Herald presented a
taped telephone conversation in which her uncle
indicated that she "had been the only one."
Two therapists also testified that at a meeting
with Herald in their offices, he admitted
sexually abusing her. She was awarded $150,000 in
compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive
damages. The Ohio Supreme Court recently upheld
the decision. (Reginald Fields, "Witness
Says She Felt Confusion and Guilt; Memory of Sex
Abuse Comes Back by Observing Daughter, Court is
Told," Akron Beacon Journal, July 25,
1992: C1.)
- Dennis Hood's testimony verifying (a)
that knew the subject matter of Julie
Herald's phone call, and (b) that his
voice and Julie Herald's are the ones on
the tape.
- Complete transcript of the telephone call
in which Dennis Hood acknowledges abusing
Julie Herald .
- Dr. Devies's testimony on the
confrontation between Julie Herald and
Dennis Hood in his office.
- Ms.Kepler-Didato's testimony about the
same meeting, including the events
immediately thereafter.
- Rs recovered memories of being raped as
many as 20 times by her neighbor in childhood,
Lorne Francois. "The woman testified that
she was about 13 years old when she went to the
accuseds home one evening to use his living-room
telephone because her family had no phone
.She
said Francois pulled down her pants and underwear
and had sexual intercourse with her. When it was
over, she said, he told me now to tell
anybody, or else." "Prescott Child Sex-Abuse
Probe," Ottawa Citizen (April 1, 1992:
p. B2). Mr. Francois did not take the stand, and
the jury reached a unanimous decision of guilty.
The verdict was upheld by the Ontario Court of
Appeal (1993), 14 O.R. 3d 191, with one judge
dissenting due to concerns that the jury drew
improper inferences from the defendants
failure to take the stand. As stated by the
majority: "The trial judges
instructions were unimpeachable." The
verdict was also upheld by the Supreme Court of
Canada (R. v. Francois, [1994] 2 S.C.R.
827).
The most powerful corroboration of Rs
claim came from Project Jericho, a massive
investigation into child sexual abuse in the
Prescott area. That investigation uncovered a
host of other victims. Francois was found guilty
in 1995 "of two sexual assault charges
involving a 13-year-old boy more than 20 years
ago." "Prescott man guilty of sexual
abuse," Ottawa Citizen (May 3, 1995:
p.D1). "He is already serving six years for
sex crimes, including raping a teenage girl and
sexually assaulting two teenage boys." Id.
Charges that Francois sexually assaulted two
patients at the Royal Ottawa Hospital when he was
there for a court-ordered psychiatric assessment
in 1991 were dropped when the Crown failed to
move with sufficient speed. Jacquie Miller,
"Child molesters new charges quashed,"
Ottawa Citizen (March 3, 1993: P. A1).
Given Francoiss 30-year history of
violent sexual attacks on children, the Crown
moved in 1997 to have him declared a dangerous-offender.
An Ottawa court decided, however, that he was
unfit to take part in the hearing. He was been
committed to a mental hospital, instead. Jeremy
Mercer, "Pedophile unfit to take part in
legal action: 69-year-old man faces
hospitalization for dementia instead," Ottawa
Citizen (December 5, 1997: p. C3).
- Frank Fitzpatrick's memory of prolonged child
sexual abuse by Father James Porter. His personal
investigation resulted in tape-recorded
incriminatory statements by Porter, and eventual
identification of dozens of others victims.
Porter was prosecuted criminally in Fall River,
Massachusetts, and he pled guilty. A civil suit
against the Catholic church was settled on terms
favorable to the plaintiffs. Robert Correia &
Linda Borg, "'I'm Sorry,' Porter weeps;
Victims, judge unmoved; he gets 18-20 years,"
Providence Journal-Bulletin, December 9,
1993: 1)
- John Robatille's memory of sexual abuse by Father
Porter, triggered by reports about Frank
Fitzpatrick. "His specific memories were
confirmed by two classmates
Harvard
psychiatrist Stuart Grassian surveyed 43 [of the
Porter victims] in 1993 and found another 8 - or
19 percent - who reported no thoughts or memories
of the childhood abuse until the case broke in
the media." (Katy Butler, "The Latest
on Recovered Memory," Family Therapy
Networker, Nov/Dec 1996: 36).
- Keene v. Edie (King County Superior Court,
1993) The jury "found that Ronald Edie, 57,
of Auburn, had molested his former neighbor
between 1973 and 1977
Her claims were
bolstered by testimony of two of Edies daughters
and a woman who testified he molested them when
they were children." (Richard Seven, "Psychiatry
of Repressed Memories on Trial," Seattle
Times, July 9, 1993: A1.)
- Cynthia Lewiss memories of child sexual
abuse by Rev. Alfred R. Desrosiers. Her memories
were revived in 1993 when her mother, dying of
cancer, expressed the wish to see Father
Desrosiers, a long-time family friend. After a
hearing to assess the reliability of the
recovered-memory evidence, Judge Needham allowed
the case to proceed. One reason "was
corroborative evidence" in the form of
"conversations Father Desrosiers had with
Louis E. Gelineau, then Bishop of Providence, and
the Rev. Normand Godin after Lewis reported her
recalled memories to the diocese." Tom
Mooney, "Why a court accept recovered-memory:
While its legal validity is debate in one sexual-abuse
case, a judge rules that it is reliable and
admissible in a trial involving a Catholic priest,"
Providence Journal-Bulletin (April 13,
1998: A1).
- Hoult v. Hoult (Federal District Court in
Massachusetts; jury verdict, 1993). Successful
civil suit against David Hoult for sustained
child sexual abuse. Ms. Hoult's claims were
supported by something her mother witnessed (her
father on top of another sibling in bed) and by a
13-year old babysitter who testified that David
Hoult had sexually molested her. "Other
family members rememberd Jennifer's father
grabbing he breasts." (Minouche Kandel &
Eric Kandel, "Flights of Memory," Discover,
May 1994: 32.) Ms. Hoult's family sided with her,
and the jury verdict was unanimous. David Hoult
has since sued Ms. Hoult for libel, over her
subsequent statements that he had "raped"
her. A federal district judge recently dismissed
that suit after reviewing the trial record and
concluding that "the issue of rape was
decided [in Ms. Hoult's favor] by the jury."
Hoult v. Hoult (Civil Action No. 96-10970-RCL)(Slip
opinion, p.6).
- People v. Hoffman. (David Hoffman,
sentenced in Poughkeepsie, New York, June 15,
1994 for sexually abusing the young daughter of
his girlfriend 14-16 years earlier. "The
woman's first memory of the abuse came when she
was typing a report regard a sexual abuse case,"
working in a probation office in Grand Rapids,
Michigan. (ErinMarie Medick, "Woman's
Repressed Memories of Abuse Leads to Conviction,
Columbus Dispatch, June 14, 1994: 1A). The woman
eventually filed a police report, a detective
interviewed Hoffman, who had been convicted in
1986 of sexually abusing children at a children's
home in Duchess, County, New York. Hoffman
admitted he committed the earlier crimes, while a
graduate student at Ohio State University and
pled guilty as charged.
- Gonzalez v. Boullon (Florida jury verdict,
1994). Dr. Nina Gonzalez successfully brought a
civil suit against her stepfather, Luis Boullon,
in Florida. "While a premed at Holy Cross
College in Worcester, Mass, she began to remember
what she recalled as nighttime visits from her
stepfather
Testimony of her little cousin
and her stepmother who she told of the 'massages'
years before also weighed with the jurors."
Gonzalez's older brother, Ricardo, testified he
had witnessed two instances of abuse. (John
Lantingua, "$1 Million Award Over Repressed
Memory of Abuse," Miami Herald,
February 14, 1994: 1A.)
- Crook vs. Murphy (Benton
County Superior Court, Washington; Case No. 91-2-01102-5)
Verdict for plaintiff by Judge Dennis Yule,
February, 1994. Lynn Crook, the oldest of six
childern, successfully sued her father for
recovered memories of child sexual abuse. One of
her sisters testified to an abusive event she
always remembered. This decision is noteworthy
for what it says about Richard Ofshe, a
sociologist who testified against Ms. Crook:
"Just as (Ofshe) accuses (therapists) of
resolving at the outset (to find) repressed
memories of abuse and then constructing them, he
has resolved at the outset to find a macabre
scheme of memories progressing toward satanic
cult ritual and then creates them." There is
a detailed excerpt from the Los Angeles Times
about how Ofshe & Watters misrepresented the
facts of this case in their book, Making
Monsters. Ms. Crook has written a
response to Ofshe & Watters, which was
published in the Journal of Child Sexual Abuse.
- Alley v. Alley (King County Superior Court,
1994). Plaintiff successfully sued her father,
William Alley, for sexual assault in her
childhood. "No one in the Alley's family
testified on the father's behalf
.[The
plaintiff's attorneys] used psychiatric records
filed during Williams Alley's 1970s divorce to
support the family's claim of incest and abuse."
Richard Seven, "It Wasn't the Money, It Was
Principle; Jury says Father Raped Daughter,"
Seattle Times, June 14, 1994: B1). "In
addition, an unexpected witness for the plaintiff
came forward during the last week of the trial,
after having read about the case in the paper, to
offer testimony that when she was 12 and Julie
Alley was 6, Ms. Alley told her that, "My
daddy touched me," and pointed to her vagina."
("Dentist Found Liable in Recovered Memory
Case," PR Newswire, June 13, 1994. )
- People v. Lynch. California criminal
charges against William Lynch. "Charged with
14 counts of lewd conduct with a child stemming
from alleged attacks on four women when they were
between 7 and 13 years old from March 1967, to
July, 1972." One of the women repressed the
memory, the others remembered the abuse ever
since. (Julie Tamaki, "Abuse Case to
Challenge New Law on Limitations," Los
Angeles Times, May 15, 1994: B1).
- Chris White, whose repressed memories of sexual
abuse at Ryerson Public School 20 years ago,
resulted in a guilty plea by Robert Warren.
"Now in his mid-50s and living in British
Columbia, Warren had been with the Toronto Board
of Education for 23 years and had two other
convictions for sexual offenses against children.
One dated back to 1965 in Lindsay; the other was
in British Columbia in 1988." (Judy Steed,
"Abuse Victim
" The Toronto
Star, May 7, 1995: A1).
- Cheit v. San Francisco Boys Chorus and William
Farmer (San Francisco Superior Court: civil
settlement with SFBC, default judgment against
Farmer, 1994)(Plumas County Criminal Court:
warrant and criminal arrest, 1994). Corroborated
by other victims and by tape-recorded admission.
See, Mike Stanton, "Bearing Witness" [three-part
series] Providence Journal-Bulletin, May 7-9,
1995; see also, Miriam Horn, "Unlocking
Hidden Memories, " U.S. News & World
Report, November 29, 1993; "Update:
Recalling the past, embracing the future,"
August 4, 1997.
- State v. Quattrocchi (Rhode Island
Superior Court jury verdict; RI Supreme Court No.
95-343-C.A.). The first criminal case in Rhode
Island involving recovered memory. The state
presented evidence from two other girls who
reported sexual assaults by Quattrocchi: one was
his own goddaughter, who the defendant cornered
naked in a shower when she was seven-years old (in
1977). She told her parents about it when she was
a sophomore in college. The other incident
occurred four years later (in 1981) and resulted
in a contemporaneous report to the police. The
events at issue in this criminal case cover the
same years as those incidents. [In Catch-22
reasoning, the Rhode Island Supreme court
subsequently ruled that such evidence was "too
prejudicial" and the defendant would have to
be retried without such evidence. Without such
evidence, many states considered this kind of
testimony too unreliable - in absence of the kind
of corroboration that the Rhode Island court now
prohibits.]
- Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Crawford.
(Guilty verdict in murder case, 1995). "Franklin
Crawford, 49, of Dayton was charged in May 1994
with the murder of Pearl Mae Altman after another
man said that seeing a woman who resembled the
victim brought forth repressed memories of
witnessing Crawford throwing the woman off a
bridge. "John Reed cried as he testified
Thursday that he was 16 on Oct. 22, 1971, when he
saw Crawford throw Pearl Mae Altman into the
Allegheny River." "Man Guilty in 1971
Slaying After Witness Recalls the Drowning,"
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, February 19, 1995:
D15.) A woman's purse and shoes were found 23
years ago near the spot where he said Altman was
thrown in the river. Crawford also happened to
have been the prime suspect at the time. Crawford's
then-wife testified "that her husband came
home that night, removed his clothes, and put
them in the washer. She said it was the only time
in their marriage he put clothes in the washer.
She said he got dressed again and, before leaving,
told her to tell anyone looking for him that she
hadn't seen him." Lawrence Walsh, "Murder
Memory Misjudged by Judge," Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette, August 11, 1996: B6. [This case
was reversed on the ground that the judge did not
allow testimony of a psychiatrist who would have
testified about the "unreliability" of
recovered memory, the corroborative ase
notwithstanding. The case is still pending.]
- Thomas v. Freeman (Lee County, North
Carolina, unanimous jury verdict, June 22, 1995;
Case No. 93 CVS 831; upheld by North Carolina
Court of Appeals, November 19, 1996; No. COA96-226).
Unanimous jury verdict for Shirley Thomas against
her father, Velton Freeman, "for decades'
old, once-repressed memories of horrific physical
and sexual abuse
Witnesses corroborated
Thomas' claims with their own memories of Freeman
hitting, bruising and cursing Thomas; of him
carrying her out of her bedroom at night and her
returning later in tears; of Thomas being
terrified of his wrath; and of Thomas' mother
leaving marriage and the household in 1962 or '63,
long before her mother and sister claimed it
occurred in 1966." (See five-part series by
Jill Warren Lucas, beginning with "Jury
Awards $600,000 in abuse case," Sanford
Herald, June 13, 1995.)
- D.M.M, a 39-year old Canadian actress. "Remembered
repeated abuse by her family doctor when she
joined Alcoholics Anonymous after years of heavy
drinking
.[In March, 1996] a provincial
justice ordered Leo Pilo, M.D. to pay her $95,000
-- despite the testimony of FMSF advisory board
member and psychiatrist Harold Merskey, who
suggested that D.M.M. was probably suffering from
""false memories."" D.M.M.s
accusations were supported by four other women
who said Pilo had sexually abused them in
childhood. Pilo's medical license had been
previously revoked in a separate proceeding in
which he admitted the women's charges." (Katy
Butler, "The Latest on Recovered Memory,"
Family Therapy Networker, Nov/Dec 1996: 36,
37). Criticism by affiliates of the False Memory
Syndrome Foundation. Full-text of the relevant
legal documents in response.
- Wilson v. Phillips (California jury
verdict, 1996). LaDonna Wilson and her half-sister
(who does not want to be identified) sued John
Phillips for sexual molestations when each
daughter was about 5 years old. A jury awarded $1.15
million in compensatory damages. "During the
trial, Wilson, her sister and mother testified
about a time when Wilson's bed came crashing down
on a box of kittens. When the others came into
the bedroom, Phillips was there naked." (David
Reyes, "2 Daughters Win $1.15 Million in Sex
Abuse Case," Los Angeles Times, March
30, 1996: 1b).
- Franklin v. Stevenson (Utah
jury verdict, 1996). Cherise Franklin's memories
of sexual abuse by Kenton Stevenson. As
documented at trial, Franklin was in and out of
therapy; her flashbacks were not recovered during
therapy session. "After recording her [recovered]
memories in a dated journal, Franklin hired a
private detective, found Stevenson's former wife
and learned that Stevenson had been found to have
abused his own children as well. At trial [in
August 1996] in Salt Lake City, Stevenson's 16-year-old
daughter, Rayne Burtchin, testified that her
father had sexually abused her. A stepdaughter
testified that he had mutilated animals in front
of her. The accounts were supported by a 1986
Family court divorce and custody ruling, finding
that Stevenson had sexually abused his son and
two daughters and had raped one with a coat
hanger." (Katy Butler, "The Latest on
Recovered Memory," Family Therapy
Networker, Nov/Dec 1996: 36, 37). The
Findings of Fact established that Stevenson
abused all three of his children in the other
marriage. In a highly unusual move, the judge
entered a judgment not withstanding the verdict,
in favor of the defendant. The case is on appeal.
Note: Question No. 2 in the Special Verdict form
asked "Did Cherise Franklin produce
corroborating evidence in support of the
allegations of abuse against Kenton Stevenson?
The jury responded: Yes.
- Shahzade v. Gregory (Massachusetts federal
district court, Docket No. 92-12139-H). Civil
suit by Ann Shahzade against an older cousin for
molesting her for a five-year period beginning
when she was 11 years old. "Her cousin,
George Gregory, a California surgeon,
acknowledges he fondled her, but says he did not
sexually assault her." Judy Rakowsky, "Memory
Expert Supports Woman," Boston Globe,
April 1, 1996: 26. In his deposition, Gregory
admitted a series of fondling incidents that
occurred over a 12 to 16 month period. (Deposition
of George Gregory, May 10, 1995, pages 80-83; he
admitted additional fondling on pages 133-135.)
Note: "fondling" is sexual assault
under the criminal laws of virtually every state.
(The full text of the decision to allow recovered
memory testimony is available through Jim Hopper's
site on "Recovered Memories of Sexual Abuse:
Scientific Research & Scholarly Resources.")
The defendant settled the case after this
decision was rendered; there is a gag order
prohibiting release of the settlement amount.
- Martinelli v. Diocese of Bridgeport (1997
Connecticut civil jury verdict). Frank Martinelli's
adult recollections of sexual abuse by Father
Laurence Brett at St. Cecilia Church in Stamford
between 1962 and 1964. "Martinelli, who is
married and has a young son, testified during the
eight-day trial that he repressed his memory of
the abuse until 1991, when it all came back to
him like a "wave" while he was on the
telephone with a friend who told him he had also
been abused by Brett as a child." Daniel
Tepfer, "Diocese must pay; Jury awards $750,000
to victim," Connecticut Post (August
27, 1997): A1."Probably the most damaging
evidence of the trial was a memo of a meeting
that took place among diocese officials on Dec. 2,
1964, regarding an assault by Brett on a 19-year-old
male Sacred Heart University student. The memo
states the teen had gone to Brett to discuss a
sexual problem and Brett ended up performing oral
sex on him. The memo goes on to state that Brett
was being sent away for treatment, and, 'A
recurrence of hepatitis was to be feigned should
anyone ask,' it read." Id.
- Peter VanVeldhuizens memories of childhood
sexual abuse from 1966 to 1968 by Reverend J. Van
Zweden of the Netherlands Reformed Congregation
Church. VanVeldhuizen v. Netherlands Reformed
Church of Rock Valley (Iowa District Court for
Sioux County; 1997). VanVeldhuizen repressed the
memory and did not recall the abuse until
February 1991, while undergoing psychotherapy.
To avoid litigation, Dr. VanVeldthuizen agreed to
the request of the Netherlands Reformed Church to
submit the claim and all related evidence to the
Institute for Christian Conciliation. In a 9 page
letter, the Executive Director noted that,
"[I]n the twelve years that I have been
working in sexual abuse cases, I do not recall
meeting a more credible witness." Dr.
VanVeldhuizen introduced a variety of
corroborating evidence, including (1) testimony
that Rev. Van Zweden sexually abused his grandson,
and (2) eyewitness testimony to one of the
incidents of sexual abuse of Peter VanVeldhuizen
by Rev. Van Zweden. The mediator concluded
that, "Peter has more than met the highest
biblical standard of proof, which is actually
required only in capital offenses, namely, that
the sin be confirmed by the testimony of at least
two witnesses."
After insisting on Christian Conciliation, the
Church refused to go along with the findings.
Dr. VanVeldhuizen sued and proved his case (again)
in court. A Sioux County jury awarded
compensatory and punitive damages, after
VanVeldhuizen proved that Albert Bakker, a church
official at the time, witnessed the acts but did
nothing to stop then or to report them to the
appropriate officials.
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