RITUAL ABUSE CASES IN WESTCHESTER, NEW YORK STATE

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The same techniques which produced false testimony and implanted memories in other children were used in this investigation. Children who gave the "right" answers were rewarded with candy, badges and trips to the park. A 3 year old child told his parents about "a robber" who abused him during nap time. During the subsequent investigation, the FBI secretly recorded 640 hours of video tape at the day care. No abuse was observed. The children, told of being locked in a closet, beaten with a baseball bat and raped.

All of the children had problems picking out Rev. Grady in court during his trial; one child pointed to the Judge as the abuser. In common with most MVMO cases, an effective defense is impossible; no alibi can be presented, because the dates and times of the alleged abuse are unknown. No physical evidence was introduced at his trial. Even though the children's testimony did not mesh with that of the center's teachers or 26 character witnesses, Rev. Grady was convicted in 1986 of 19 counts of rape, sodomy and sexual abuse. He received a sentence of 15 to 45 years. Since he was 47 years at his trial, this could have been a life sentence.

Some irregularities occurred during the trials of the remaining four defendants. No teachers or parents could corroborate the children's ever-changing allegations. One juror in the Beauchamp case was allowed to remain even after it was found that her son was awaiting sentencing on a crack cocaine charge. The District Attorney allegedly told the New York Times that Algarin was tested for STD because one of the students had gonorrhea; it wasn't true. In Ramos' case, prosecutors either lost or intentionally suppressed evidence that could have cleared him. The 5 year old girl had a vaginal irritation and described sexual activity that was well beyond what would be expected from a person of her age. But the jury never heard that the irritation might well have been caused by her masturbation which she openly engaged in at the center. Her unexpected knowledge of sexual activities might well have come from adult movies that she often watched on cable TV. The investigators never revealed that she had told them that Ramos had done nothing to her. And they never turned over the center's sign-in book that allegedly contradicted the girl's grandmother who claimed to be in the school after the alleged incident. The book showed that she was never in the building on that day.

The five were all convicted and met each other in 1986 in a special "pederasty unit" of Clinton state prison. The five had shared the same District Attorney, Mario Merola. They talked bout documents that disappeared, uncorroborated testimony, of biased judges, tainted jurors and an overzealous district attorney.

Franklin Beauchamp's family persuaded attorney Joel B. Rudin to study Beauchamp's trial transcript. He eventually took on all five cases as a personal crusade. He said "It was appalling, frightening...It was the product of a very ambitious prosecutor who saw a good story and jumped on a national bandwagon. The true victims were the defendants." Beauchamp's conviction was the first to be overturned. The New York Supreme Court unanimously agreed that the original indictment was so vague that it was (in Rudin's words) "virtually impossible for a defendant to answer the charges and to prepare a defense.". Commenting on the Grady case, he said that prosecutors had gone too far in coaxing wild stories out of children too young to appreciate what they were saying. During the next seven years later, the remaining four innocent men had their convictions overturned. Rev. Grady was the last to be freed. A federal district judge ruled in late June that the pastor had been denied his constitutional right to effective counsel when his previous attorney failed to question the manner in which the original indictment had been prepared. The judge also ruled that Rev. Grady did not receive effective legal advice during his appeal process. He was released on bail on 1996-JUL-11. On AUG-7 the Bronx district attorney announced that they would not pursue the case further. None of the five has been retried; none has received an apology from the state. Alberto Ramos is suing for $35 million in damages.

The same factors were present during this trial as in other MVMO cases: a lack of physical evidence and suggestive child interview techniques.

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