PART 2:

THE "FELLS ACRE" RITUAL ABUSE CASE

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Continued from Part 1

Quotation:

A second appeal:

Ms Amirault and LeFave had been free for almost 2 years, after serving 8 years of an 8-20 year sentence. A hearing was held on 1997-MAY-5 in front of Middlesex Superior Court Judge Robert Barton. Included would have been a motion by the prosecution to return the women to prison, a two motions by the defense: one for a new trial and another to keep the women free on bail. Judge Barton said that the two Amirault women "did not receive a fair trial and justice was not done...The substantial risk of a miscarriage of justice has been established...I believe I cannot be fair and impartial considering the three motions before this court." He then recused himself from the case. A new judge was sought.

The Amiraults hired a new lawyer, Daniel Williams. He had won an appeal for Kelly Michaels. (Kelly was convicted in 1988 on 115 counts of sexual assault against 20 of her nursery students - a case very similar to Fells Acres. Her conviction was overturned in 1996). On 1997-MAY-9, Middlesex Superior Court Judge Isaac Borenstein overturned the convictions of Violet and Cheryl, and ordered a new trial. The ground for the appeal was that the Amiraults received ineffective assistance of counsel at their first trial. Williams was able to produce affidavits of the two original trial lawyers who admitted that they had made a mistake by not objecting to the placement of the child witnesses during the trial. Judge Borenstein wrote that the Amirault women would have been granted a new trial 10 years ago if they had effective lawyers at the time, and that the Massachusetts Supreme Court had not resolved the issue of effective assistance of counsel."

Middlesex County DA Thomas Reilly has decided to appeal the decision. He really had no choice. His only other option would be to order a new trial that he would be almost certain to lose. A great deal of knowledge is now available about the ease with which false memories can be implanted in children. Since the original trial, the frequency of vaginal irregularities in non-abused girls has been determined. At any new trial, the prosecution would be unable to bring forward any convincing evidence that any abuse actually happened. And without any proof that criminal action occurred, the defendants can hardly be found guilty of wrongdoing. Thus a new trial would almost certainly result in their acquittal.

Violet Amirault died of cancer on 1997-SEP-12 at the age of 74. ₂ She was being cared for by her daughter. She was visited by Wall Street Journal reporter Dorothy Rabinowitz two days before her death. Rabinowitz said "Surely, this horror she lived through had to contribute to her death. Everything she had was taken from her." A parent of a child involved in the case commented: "Her death doesn't make any difference. She was found guilty of molesting children. There's no witch hunt. This woman messed with kids' minds."

Reilly's appeal of the new trial order was scheduled to be argued in early 1997-DEC. But the defense attorney, James Sultan announced that he had developed new evidence that would provide additional grounds for a new trial. ₃ Maggie Bruck, a Canadian specialist in child interview techniques, has stated in an affidavit that the interview methods used in the Amirault case "have a substantial risk of producing unreliable and false reports from young preschool children.''  Dr. Bruck is the co-author of perhaps the most important recent book on this topic, published by the American Psychological Association. ₄ The high court decided to send the case back to Superior Court Judge Isaac Borenstein for another hearing during which the new evidence could be studied.

On 1998-APR-14, Judge Borenstein asked Assistant District Attorney Lynn Rooney if there was any evidence (physical or behavioral) which indicated any type of sexual abuse at Fells Acres, and which could be dated to before 1984-SEP-4, when the first allegations were made. Lynn Rooney was only able to come up with a medical record which of one girl student. It showed that she had two minor urinary infections: one sometime in 1982 and the other in 1984-JUN. That is the sum total of all the physical evidence that the Middlesex DA office had come up with!

Judge Borenstein ruled in 1998-JUN-18 that Cheryl Amirault should be granted a new trial because of new scientific findings. He commented: "Overzealous and inadequately trained investigators, perhaps unaware of the grave dangers of using improper interviewing and investigative techniques, questioned these children and their parents in a climate of panic, if not hysteria, creating a highly prejudicial and irreparable set of mistakes. These grave errors led to the testimony of the children being forever tainted." This was the first time that a U.S. trial court has ruled that new scientific findings about dangerous child interview techniques constitute new evidence that justifies a new trial. None of the original child witnesses would be allowed to testify in the new trial, because their testimony has been "forever tainted" by faulty interview techniques in the late 1980's. Judge Borenstein commented: "There are so many examples in the evidence of this case of the improper procedures that it would take days to go through them."

Again, the state appealed the latest ruling to the Supreme Judicial Court. In mid-1999-AUG, they overturned Borenstein's ruling. Cheryl prepared to return to prison. Probably all she would have had to do to gain her freedom would be to say that she was guilty of the charges. But this would wipe out any future chance of Gerald Amirault being released. It would also violate the memory of her mother. And, of course, it would be a lie.

The False Memory Syndrome Foundation collected some media editorials about the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court's decision to send Cheryl Amirault back to prison. 

Developments during the year 2000:

Continued in Part 3

References used:

1. Margaret Wente, "A darkness lifted at last," The Globe and Mail, Toronto, ON, 2003-OCT-18.
2. John Ellement and William F. Doherty, "Violet Amirault, center of child rape case, dies at 74", Boston Globe, 1997-SEP-13, Page A01
3. William F. Doherty, Article, Boston Globe, 1997-NOV-30, Page B03
4. S.J. Ceci & M. Bruck, "Jeopardy in the Courtroom: A Scientific Analysis of Children's Testimony", American Psychological Association, Washington DC (1995) Review/order this book safely from the online bookstore Amazon.com
5. Robin Estrin, "Judge frees convicted child abuser," Associated Press, at: http://www.truthinjustice.org/lafave.htm