=====> With no intent to support or refute Louis in the issue he has just broached, I offer the following investigation, accessible in full - with a careful outline and many linked sub-files - at www.tiac.net/users/hcunn/witch/fellpress1.html valis Fells Acres day-care Ritual Abuse case and the Boston press Copyright © 1997 by Hugo S. Cunningham Individual, non-commercial reproduction allowed, provided this notice is retained. 18 Nov 1997 modified 30 Nov 97 only minor modifications have been made since Skip ahead to table of contents (index) Exit Fells Acres article and return to HSC index page Fells Acres day-care Ritual Abuse case: Witch-bound Massachusetts needs a helping hand-- again! The Louise Woodward au-pair trial focused international attention on the Massachusetts criminal justice system. (She was convicted of second-degree murder on 30 Oct 97, reduced on appeal to "manslaughter" 10 Nov 97.) Was justice done, or did prosecutorial zealots create a crime where none had existed? (Having missed two weeks of the trial, I plead neutrality.) Why did so many, some quite knowledgeable, assume the worst about justice in Middlesex County MA? After all, there was physical evidence in the Woodward case, even if its significance was hotly disputed. Much of this distrust stems from the Fells Acres ritual abuse case, where three totally innocent people drew horrendous (20- and 40-year) prison terms on nothing more than the testimony of toddlers who were repeatedly and coercively interviewed until they "disclosed" mythical abuse -- a 1980s version of the "spectral evidence" used in the 1692 Salem witch trials. The prosecutor responsible has enjoyed political cover from a faction in one of our largest local newspapers, with a "tonton macoute" journalistic ethic. A 150-word summary of the case follows. For more detail, check the web-site references in Section 1 of the Appendix. Starting in 1984, the office of Middlesex County DA Scott Harshbarger announced that Violet Amirault, her daughter Cheryl Amirault LeFave, and her son Gerald Amirault, owners of the successful 20-year-old Fells Acres day-care center in Malden MA, had suddenly converted it into a factory of child pornography and the most horrifying ritual abuse of helpless toddlers. Juries were persuaded to convict the Amiraults in 1986 (Gerald) and 1987 (Violet and Cheryl), due exclusively to the coached testimony of 3- and 4-year old children. No physical evidence or adult witness for any of the charges was ever found, despite the fact that the day-care center had always been open to a steady stream of unannounced parents and tradesmen. Starting in 1991, psychologists demonstrated how the leading questions used in cases like Fells Acres can brainwash child witnesses, but the Massachusetts legal establishment has, at least until very recently, proven extremely reluctant to correct a scandal. =======================