Report: Politics had no role in Sandusky probe
By MARK
SCOLFORO Associated Press June 23, 2014
HARRISBURG — A report released
Monday detailing the handling of the Jerry Sandusky child molestation case
faults police and prosecutors for long delays in bringing charges but found no
evidence that politics affected the investigation.
The report,
commissioned by Democratic Attorney General Kathleen Kane and written by former
federal prosecutor Geoff Moulton, blamed a three-year time lapse in filing
charges on communication problems, an expungement of a 1998 complaint about the
former Penn State coach and a failure to take certain investigative steps early
on.
“The facts show an inexcusable lack of urgency in charging and
stopping a serial sexual predator,” said Kane, who had vowed to conduct a review
of the investigation while running for office. “The report documents that more
investigative work took place in just one month in 2011 than in all of either
2009 or 2010.”
Moulton said his review, including internal emails by
state prosecutors, “revealed no direct evidence that electoral politics
influenced any important decision made in the Sandusky
investigation.”....
Sandusky was convicted in 2012 of sexually abusing 10
boys and is serving a long prison sentence....
http://www.tribune-democrat.com/latestnews/x1396897838/Report-Politics-had-no-role-in-Sandusky-probe
http://goo.gl/qgaoPL Jesse
Friedman, Who Pleaded Guilty To Child Abuse In 1988, Fights For Exoneration
June 24, 2014
MINEOLA, N.Y. (CBSNewYork/AP) – A man portrayed in an
Oscar-nominated documentary about a notorious 1988 sex abuse case has launched
another attempt to clear his name.
Jesse Friedman and his attorney filed
a motion Tuesday in Nassau County Court. They want a judge to hold a hearing to
review evidence in the case.
Friedman and his father, Arnold Friedman,
pleaded guilty in 1988 to abusing 13 children during a computer class that the
elder Friedman taught at their Great Neck home. But Jesse Friedman has
maintained that he was coerced into confessing....
Last year, Rice
determined that Friedman was properly convicted.
“By any impartial
analysis, the re-investigation process prompted by Jesse Friedman, his advocates
and the 2nd Circuit, has only increased confidence in the integrity of Jesse
Friedman’s guilty plea and adjudication as a sex offender,” Rice’s report
stated.
About a half-dozen prosecutors, supplemented by an independent
review team that included noted defense attorney Barry Scheck, investigated
claims that police used flawed interview techniques, employed hypnotism to
elicit victims’ memories and took advantage of a moral panic that was sweeping
the country in the late 1980s.
It also examined whether Friedman had
caved to pressure from a county court judge and prosecutors to plead guilty, and
methodically addressed that and all the other criticisms.
The report said
during the first two weeks of the investigation, at least 35 children were
interviewed by a team of 12 detectives working in two-person teams. No single
detective dominated the investigation and different teams obtained incriminating
statements from different victims, the report said.
The review team also
said it found no credible evidence that hypnosis was used by investigators on
any child....
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2014/06/24/jesse-friedman-who-pleaded-guilty-to-child-abuse-in-1988-fights-for-exoneration/
http://goo.gl/w130bF Rice:
No Reason To Overturn Friedman Sex Abuse ConvictionFriedman Claims
There's 'Nothing But Lies In The Report' June 24, 2013
MINEOLA, N.Y.
(CBSNewYork/AP) – There is no reason to overturn the conviction of a man in a
notorious 1980s sex abuse scandal, New York prosecutors announced Monday after a
three-year review....
But Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice
released a 168-page report Monday that concluded there was strong reason to
investigate and prosecute both Friedman and his father, Arnold, when the scandal
erupted in 1987. The new inquiry also concluded that the two abused young boys
taking computer classes in the basement of their Great Neck
home....
Friedman, speaking at a news conference on Monday, said he’s
disappointed in the DA’s report but added he’ll continue his battle to clear his
name....
“By any impartial analysis, the re-investigation process
prompted by Jesse Friedman, his advocates and the 2nd Circuit, has only
increased confidence in the integrity of Jesse Friedman’s guilty plea and
adjudication as a sex offender,” the report stated....
The panel also
noted that after his guilty plea, Friedman went on “The Geraldo Rivera Show”
against his attorney’s advice and re-affirmed his guilt and discussed the abuse
he and his father inflicted on the children.
The panel also
re-interviewed parents of some of the victims and found none “have any reason
today to disbelieve that their sons were victims of the Friedmans.”
The
parents described their children having emotional problems, including bed
wetting, defecating in their clothing, sleeplessness, nightmares, stuttering, a
decline in school performance, separation anxiety and an overwhelming sense of
fear....
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2013/06/24/rice-no-reason-to-overturn-friedman-sex-abuse-conviction/
http://goo.gl/VvjsLm Capturing
the Friedmanshttp://www.leadershipcouncil.org/1/ctf/1.htmlDeconstructing
the Myths Advanced by the Film "CApturing the Friedmans" http://www.leadershipcouncil.org/1/ctf/myths.htmlIn
Their Own Words: Jesse's Victims Speak Out http://www.leadershipcouncil.org/1/ctf/vict.html