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The images of your life,
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picture them.
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On your refrigerator, in albums,
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frames, they capture every
stage, change, celebration.
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Without them, how much do you remember.
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How much do you rely on
these photos to remind you
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of the journey you've taken in life?
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Now imaging them gone.
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This is the first photo
John Stoll has of his life.
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The rest were either
confiscated by police,
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destroyed after the death of his mother,
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or lost to the passing of time.
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This grainy black and white photo,
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taken when he was 41 years old,
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the day he was convicted of
17 counts of child molestation
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in Bakersfield, California.
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The primary
industries are oil
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and agriculture.
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- Bakersfield, Kern
County, has historically,
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since I've worked here, had a history of,
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I've heard the term, cowboy
law enforcement for years.
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We kinda like that.
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- I think a lot about what
Bakersfield is is there's
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a lot of conservative
people here and they all
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wanna feel that they're safe.
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In 1982, Ed
Jagels arrived in Bakersfield.
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He ran for district
attorney on a tough on crime
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law and order agenda.
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- We simply got to jail
a lot more criminals for
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a lot longer.
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00:02:49,225 --> 00:02:52,368
This means first, we need to
establish a set of minimal
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acceptable sentences below
which judges simply won't go.
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Prosecutors have to demand
that the court start
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sentencing severely.
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- The culture was established at the top
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that we are going to
enforce crime and it doesn't
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matter who you are, we're gonna do that.
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- There's kind of a running
joke in Kern County,
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especially during that time, it was,
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come to Kern County on vacation
and leave on probation.
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One day
they started appearing in
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the headlines of the local paper.
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Groups of child molesters.
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Sheriff's investigators said
there were eight rings in all.
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Deputies arrested more than
30 people, most of them like
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John Stoll, white lower
class working moms and dads
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with no criminal record.
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- You don't think about
that stuff, you just,
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what kind of, who sits
around thinking, boy I hope
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I don't get blamed, I hope
nobody calls me a child molester.
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00:04:02,365 --> 00:04:06,115
Who the hell would think
something like that?
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John Stoll
was working long days in
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the hot Bakersfield sun
in the summer of 1984.
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His nights weren't any easier.
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He and his ex-wife, Anne,
had been arguing over custody
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of their son, Jed.
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00:04:22,948 --> 00:04:24,865
I went to bed, 11:30,
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the lights are on in my
bedroom and there's two guys
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standing there.
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Two guys, one in a suit and
one dressed in a sport coat.
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Jacket but no tie or
anything, the other guy
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was dressed in a suit.
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They're telling me to
get up and get dressed,
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and I went, what the
hell are you doing in my,
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what's going on?
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And they start, they
got right away, they got
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their badges out.
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00:04:54,045 --> 00:04:55,778
And the search warrant's
laying there and I look at
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00:04:55,778 --> 00:04:58,432
the search warrant and
I think, they're looking
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for pornography material.
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00:05:02,429 --> 00:05:04,012
Tapes and pictures.
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00:05:05,084 --> 00:05:07,448
They got this whole list
of horrible crap, you know,
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00:05:07,448 --> 00:05:09,930
some pedophile had, and
that's what they were lookin'
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00:05:09,930 --> 00:05:10,933
for in my home.
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00:05:10,933 --> 00:05:15,864
So I'm thinkin', they ain't
got none of that shit here.
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Your son said that he was molested by you,
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and I said, that's impossible.
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I don't believe you.
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I really got, they said,
you better settle down here,
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because I was cursing, you
son of a bitch, you say that.
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00:05:29,419 --> 00:05:32,441
John Stoll
cherished the weekends he had
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with his son.
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After his divorce two years
earlier, he couldn't wait
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00:05:36,465 --> 00:05:40,048
for the days Jed came
to his house to stay.
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00:05:41,677 --> 00:05:44,420
John says they had a great
time together at the beach
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just a week before,
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and what the investigators
were saying now had to
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be an awful mistake.
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00:05:52,536 --> 00:05:55,142
- Jed said that I molested him twice.
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My original arrest was three counts,
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three counts of child molestation.
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00:06:05,045 --> 00:06:07,122
So they take me down to the police station
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00:06:07,122 --> 00:06:10,760
and they play this good cop, bad cop rap.
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00:06:10,760 --> 00:06:12,806
You know, they come in,
and one guy would come in
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00:06:12,806 --> 00:06:14,122
and say, "How could you do this shit?"
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00:06:14,122 --> 00:06:15,895
And yell at me and holler at me.
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00:06:15,895 --> 00:06:17,806
Then the other one comes in
and says, "Look man, sometimes
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00:06:17,806 --> 00:06:20,413
"I can understand where you might wanna."
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00:06:20,413 --> 00:06:22,763
And I'm goin', and I'm
just reeling because they
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00:06:22,763 --> 00:06:25,965
keep saying that I molested my child.
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00:06:25,965 --> 00:06:28,875
Somewhere along the line this,
if you ever get arrested,
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00:06:28,875 --> 00:06:31,661
keep your mouth shut,
came into view, so I just
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00:06:31,661 --> 00:06:33,683
stopped talking to them
because I could see they
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were just feeding on me, they
were just loving, you know,
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00:06:36,000 --> 00:06:37,750
they had me freaking.
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00:06:39,899 --> 00:06:42,401
That first 24 hours, I
just can't explain it.
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00:06:42,401 --> 00:06:45,936
I cannot explain the
fear, the rage, the anger,
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00:06:45,936 --> 00:06:49,269
you're just so scared, you're terrified.
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So I sit in this bed and
this guy comes in and sits
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down on the bed, it's his bed.
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00:07:03,254 --> 00:07:07,421
And I look over and I realize
that it's Ricky Pitts.
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00:07:09,127 --> 00:07:12,534
Ricky Pitts had seven
adults in his big ring,
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00:07:12,534 --> 00:07:16,000
and we had seen him in the
paper, but I never read
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what he did because I
didn't wanna hear all that,
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00:07:17,835 --> 00:07:20,075
so I just, you know, I
just looked and I thought,
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00:07:20,075 --> 00:07:21,598
look at this no good
son of a bitch, you know.
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00:07:21,598 --> 00:07:24,931
Here I'm sitting in the bed next to him.
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00:07:28,553 --> 00:07:30,894
Rick Pitts
and his wife Marcella
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were notorious in town.
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Their faces were plastered
all over the newspapers.
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00:07:44,009 --> 00:07:46,790
Today the couple is still reeling.
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00:07:46,790 --> 00:07:49,249
They've moved far away from
Bakersfield and have chosen
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not to have their faces
shown for this film.
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00:07:53,192 --> 00:07:55,665
- Well, it's just, we've
set up here in this
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little community and people
think where there's smoke
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there's fire.
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00:08:01,160 --> 00:08:03,345
Even though there wasn't,
but how do you sit down
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00:08:03,345 --> 00:08:06,227
and explain to a whole town, you know,
129
00:08:06,227 --> 00:08:09,847
and that's why we don't
want our faces shown.
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00:08:09,847 --> 00:08:13,586
It's not that I'm not
ashamed, or you know,
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00:08:13,586 --> 00:08:16,512
and I'd do anything to help,
but we don't wanna destroy
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00:08:16,512 --> 00:08:19,665
the rest of our lives, we're
just gettin' it back together
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00:08:19,665 --> 00:08:21,770
after all these years.
134
00:08:21,770 --> 00:08:23,457
- It's the worst thing
you can ever be accused of
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00:08:23,457 --> 00:08:24,690
in your life.
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00:08:24,690 --> 00:08:26,924
They was accusing
everybody of it back then,
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00:08:26,924 --> 00:08:29,725
we had friends that were
scared to even, you know,
138
00:08:29,725 --> 00:08:31,184
I told them just stay
away and don't even come,
139
00:08:31,184 --> 00:08:33,409
don't associate with us
because we were scared
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00:08:33,409 --> 00:08:35,922
they'd get drug in to it.
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00:08:35,922 --> 00:08:38,404
- And he tells me exactly
what's gonna happen to me now
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00:08:38,404 --> 00:08:41,603
for, through the whole thing.
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00:08:41,603 --> 00:08:43,523
I get angry with him right away.
144
00:08:43,523 --> 00:08:46,856
Because he's tellin' me I'm
gonna get all kinds of counts
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and they're gonna be all kinds of kids.
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00:08:49,651 --> 00:08:51,799
Well they're gonna go
canvass the neighborhood,
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00:08:51,799 --> 00:08:53,576
they're gonna talk to
every kid that was ever
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00:08:53,576 --> 00:08:55,077
at your house, they're gonna.
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00:08:55,077 --> 00:08:56,290
And I'm thinkin', you're
crazy man, I don't even
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00:08:56,290 --> 00:08:58,331
wanna hear this shit.
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00:08:58,331 --> 00:09:00,381
And he said, "Man, prepare yourself."
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00:09:00,381 --> 00:09:02,531
Two days later they
call me, Stoll step out.
153
00:09:02,531 --> 00:09:05,906
That's what they'd say, they
mean step out of the cell.
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00:09:05,906 --> 00:09:08,246
I stepped out of the cell
and I walked down the hall
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00:09:08,246 --> 00:09:11,084
and he said, "You're going to court."
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00:09:11,084 --> 00:09:14,681
They put me in waist chains
again and I went to court.
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00:09:14,681 --> 00:09:19,084
And then all of a sudden
there was two other kids
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00:09:19,084 --> 00:09:22,890
and then another kid and
another kid and another kid.
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00:09:22,890 --> 00:09:26,520
Now it's a whole big
passle, there was this whole
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00:09:26,520 --> 00:09:28,020
giant molest ring.
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00:09:34,755 --> 00:09:37,891
Just what
Rick predicted came true.
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Investigators canvassed the
neighborhood and questioned
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00:09:40,046 --> 00:09:41,629
kids who knew John.
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00:09:50,185 --> 00:09:54,374
- I was arraigned on 12 more
counts against one child
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and eight, 10, 12 counts
against another child.
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00:09:57,905 --> 00:10:00,240
Then I went back to jail
and a couple days later
167
00:10:00,240 --> 00:10:03,251
they called me back again and
arraigned me on another child.
168
00:10:03,251 --> 00:10:06,264
And I went back again and they
arraigned me on another child
169
00:10:06,264 --> 00:10:08,825
and then took me back
again and arraigned me
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00:10:08,825 --> 00:10:10,769
on sixth child.
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00:10:10,769 --> 00:10:14,006
- When you get one of those
cases and you start conversing
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00:10:14,006 --> 00:10:17,291
with a five year old child
or a six year old child,
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00:10:17,291 --> 00:10:20,176
and they're able to say things that your
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00:10:20,176 --> 00:10:24,439
five year old child at home
would absolutely never know,
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00:10:24,439 --> 00:10:26,497
there are bells that go off.
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00:10:26,497 --> 00:10:29,664
And because that's a learned behavior.
177
00:10:34,930 --> 00:10:37,298
Today
those children are adults
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00:10:37,298 --> 00:10:40,100
and they remember John
Stoll, their neighborhood
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00:10:40,100 --> 00:10:42,767
and the sheriff's investigators.
180
00:10:48,810 --> 00:10:52,977
- It was life like normal kids
it seemed like for a while.
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00:10:57,006 --> 00:10:58,973
- Everybody hung outside,
you know, out front,
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00:10:58,973 --> 00:11:01,473
kinda talked and did whatever.
183
00:11:04,498 --> 00:11:07,396
- I was little, you know, six
years old, seven years old.
184
00:11:07,396 --> 00:11:09,861
All the kids played in
the neighborhood together.
185
00:11:09,861 --> 00:11:14,763
- And we were rowdy, we were
rough kids in Bakersfield.
186
00:11:14,763 --> 00:11:17,080
John Stoll rented
a modest three bedroom house
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00:11:17,080 --> 00:11:19,499
in this rough and tumble neighborhood.
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00:11:19,499 --> 00:11:22,980
He did have a rare
commodity though, a pool.
189
00:11:22,980 --> 00:11:27,530
The perfect anecdote for the
stifling Bakersfield heat.
190
00:11:27,530 --> 00:11:29,334
- We started opening the pool.
191
00:11:29,334 --> 00:11:32,176
When the pool was there,
then that's how those two
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00:11:32,176 --> 00:11:36,343
boys came over to play in
it with Jed in the pool.
193
00:11:47,715 --> 00:11:49,638
- I went to his house a couple times.
194
00:11:49,638 --> 00:11:53,458
I went swimming there maybe
twice that I remember.
195
00:11:53,458 --> 00:11:56,449
- I think I only swam maybe
four or five times over there.
196
00:11:56,449 --> 00:11:58,413
Not very much.
197
00:11:58,413 --> 00:12:00,170
- I remember there was a
pool, but I don't remember
198
00:12:00,170 --> 00:12:02,162
a lot of swimming, I
mean, I'm sure we did,
199
00:12:02,162 --> 00:12:05,354
but, you know, it was a
hot summer in Bakersfield.
200
00:12:27,503 --> 00:12:30,552
- After a while, the sheriffs
came knocking on the door
201
00:12:30,552 --> 00:12:31,969
asking questions.
202
00:12:33,168 --> 00:12:36,680
- Some officers came to my
house and told my mom and dad
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00:12:36,680 --> 00:12:38,555
they needed to talk to me
204
00:12:38,555 --> 00:12:40,678
and separated me and my mom and dad.
205
00:12:40,678 --> 00:12:43,325
- I was scared 'cause it
was the sheriffs and they,
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00:12:43,325 --> 00:12:46,758
you know, they asked questions like
207
00:12:46,758 --> 00:12:49,669
do you know this person, John?
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00:12:49,669 --> 00:12:51,034
Do you know Eddie?
209
00:12:51,034 --> 00:12:52,518
Who else was there?
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00:12:52,518 --> 00:12:55,351
Did they ever, did they touch you?
211
00:12:56,209 --> 00:12:59,073
Then they showed a diagram of a picture of
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00:12:59,073 --> 00:13:01,273
a man and a woman.
213
00:13:01,273 --> 00:13:03,249
Did you have to touch them here?
214
00:13:03,249 --> 00:13:05,800
They just pointed out
all the private parts.
215
00:13:05,800 --> 00:13:07,438
- Asked me all kinds of questions.
216
00:13:07,438 --> 00:13:11,605
Told me that the neighbor
kids seen stuff happen to me.
217
00:13:12,567 --> 00:13:14,838
- I remember the knock on the door, when
218
00:13:14,838 --> 00:13:18,505
the child welfare people
came to pick us up.
219
00:13:19,855 --> 00:13:21,651
Child molest
cases are on the rise here
220
00:13:21,651 --> 00:13:23,375
in Kern County.
221
00:13:23,375 --> 00:13:25,624
- We noticed that we were
spending an increasing amount
222
00:13:25,624 --> 00:13:29,651
of our time on these cases,
and in fact, more recently
223
00:13:29,651 --> 00:13:33,999
the investigating agencies
and the district attorney's
224
00:13:33,999 --> 00:13:37,424
office have been inundated
with child molest cases.
225
00:13:37,424 --> 00:13:40,532
- There was not a push to
go out and find these cases,
226
00:13:40,532 --> 00:13:42,139
they were thrust upon us.
227
00:13:42,139 --> 00:13:46,050
We were receiving information from people
228
00:13:46,050 --> 00:13:49,467
that some of these things were happening,
229
00:13:51,078 --> 00:13:53,661
and so you have to investigate.
230
00:14:00,606 --> 00:14:03,486
- We just lived our lives
and we weren't involved
231
00:14:03,486 --> 00:14:08,294
in anything like that, so it
had nothing to do with us.
232
00:14:08,294 --> 00:14:10,056
Scott and
Brenda Kniffen barely noticed
233
00:14:10,056 --> 00:14:11,408
the headlines.
234
00:14:11,408 --> 00:14:15,192
They were busy making a
living, raising their two sons.
235
00:14:15,192 --> 00:14:17,573
I was a partsman in
charge of inventory control
236
00:14:17,573 --> 00:14:21,740
and computer operations for
a diesel engine repair shop.
237
00:14:25,807 --> 00:14:27,618
At the time
of our arrest, I was just
238
00:14:27,618 --> 00:14:29,500
a house wife.
239
00:14:29,500 --> 00:14:33,293
Before that I did waitressing,
hostessing, cashiering,
240
00:14:33,293 --> 00:14:34,626
stuff like that.
241
00:14:36,095 --> 00:14:38,328
- Family was most important
thing to us, you know,
242
00:14:38,328 --> 00:14:40,537
and I'm not just saying
our kids, but lettin' them
243
00:14:40,537 --> 00:14:44,258
be around their grandparents
and that kind of stuff.
244
00:14:44,258 --> 00:14:47,692
Our boys were involved in sports.
245
00:14:47,692 --> 00:14:52,143
Cub scouts,
wrestling, t-ball, soccer.
246
00:14:52,143 --> 00:14:53,893
And school.
247
00:14:58,704 --> 00:15:02,826
- The doorbell rings, and I
remember the doorbell stuck,
248
00:15:02,826 --> 00:15:06,534
it was just weird, it
wouldn't quit ringing.
249
00:15:06,534 --> 00:15:09,376
So I go and I look out the
peep hole and I see all these
250
00:15:09,376 --> 00:15:13,097
people on my front doorstep,
but when I opened the door,
251
00:15:13,097 --> 00:15:16,812
they busted past me, started
tearing my house apart,
252
00:15:16,812 --> 00:15:20,979
and I asked them not to
cuff me in front of my son.
253
00:15:22,206 --> 00:15:25,538
And they had me go get
dressed and they watched me
254
00:15:25,538 --> 00:15:26,538
get dressed.
255
00:15:31,891 --> 00:15:33,648
- If you leave a home where
you think you should take
256
00:15:33,648 --> 00:15:35,615
a child and you don't and
that child gets killed or
257
00:15:35,615 --> 00:15:38,767
molested, you live with that and there's
258
00:15:38,767 --> 00:15:40,517
just no choice there.
259
00:15:41,451 --> 00:15:43,694
- They came and picked me up at work
260
00:15:43,694 --> 00:15:47,486
and came in and told me I was arrested
261
00:15:47,486 --> 00:15:50,178
and I thought it was like
one of these joke grams
262
00:15:50,178 --> 00:15:53,292
coming to the front counter
and parts area and all that.
263
00:15:53,292 --> 00:15:56,181
The guy came in and he wasn't
wearing a uniform or anything,
264
00:15:56,181 --> 00:15:59,700
he was just plain clothes
and tells me to step around
265
00:15:59,700 --> 00:16:03,907
to be handcuffed and I'm like,
what kind of mistake is this?
266
00:16:03,907 --> 00:16:05,491
There's somethin' wrong.
267
00:16:05,491 --> 00:16:07,327
They take me out, put me in
the car, drive us downtown
268
00:16:07,327 --> 00:16:10,827
and I'm tellin' Brenda, something's wrong.
269
00:16:19,751 --> 00:16:22,083
Brenda and
Scott Kniffen weren't alone.
270
00:16:22,083 --> 00:16:26,250
Their friends Alvin and Debra
McCuan were also arrested.
271
00:16:28,835 --> 00:16:31,199
The defendants
sat quietly showing little
272
00:16:31,199 --> 00:16:33,440
emotion as they listened
to the judge bind them
273
00:16:33,440 --> 00:16:36,398
over for trial on charges of
molesting their own children.
274
00:16:36,398 --> 00:16:39,082
One by one, Judge Kline
read the counts against
275
00:16:39,082 --> 00:16:41,766
Alvin and Debra McCuan,
Scott and Brenda Kniffen,
276
00:16:41,766 --> 00:16:44,364
charges ranging from forcing
the children to have sex
277
00:16:44,364 --> 00:16:47,112
with adults to hanging
the children from hooks
278
00:16:47,112 --> 00:16:48,728
and beating them.
279
00:16:48,728 --> 00:16:51,094
- One of the accusations
to Brenda was sodomy.
280
00:16:51,094 --> 00:16:52,881
She said, "What is that?"
281
00:16:52,881 --> 00:16:53,884
- I didn't know what sodomy was.
282
00:16:53,884 --> 00:16:55,245
- She didn't know what it was.
283
00:16:55,245 --> 00:16:59,548
My mom and dad both
came and visited me and
284
00:16:59,548 --> 00:17:02,660
asked me to look in their
eyes and tell me if it
285
00:17:02,660 --> 00:17:05,021
was true or not, and when
I told them it wasn't true,
286
00:17:05,021 --> 00:17:08,260
they stood behind us from that moment on.
287
00:17:08,260 --> 00:17:09,875
Scott's parents
put up the money to bail
288
00:17:09,875 --> 00:17:13,255
them out of jail, but
their home was empty.
289
00:17:13,255 --> 00:17:17,064
The court placed their
two sons in foster care.
290
00:17:17,064 --> 00:17:19,506
- We were afraid to go home
because we were getting
291
00:17:19,506 --> 00:17:21,981
threatening phone calls and
stuff, so we went and stayed
292
00:17:21,981 --> 00:17:24,985
with his parents for a
while, and then finally
293
00:17:24,985 --> 00:17:28,788
we went back home, and
everybody in our neighborhood
294
00:17:28,788 --> 00:17:31,637
that knew us and knew the
kids were very kind to us,
295
00:17:31,637 --> 00:17:34,086
but I told them to stay
away from us please,
296
00:17:34,086 --> 00:17:37,919
don't want this to happen
to you or your kids.
297
00:17:42,528 --> 00:17:46,231
I had a friend that knew
one of the foster mothers
298
00:17:46,231 --> 00:17:49,782
and she wouldn't tell me
anything, their names or anything,
299
00:17:49,782 --> 00:17:52,671
but she said the boys were in Shafter.
300
00:17:52,671 --> 00:17:55,255
So I drove out there and
drove by the house hoping
301
00:17:55,255 --> 00:17:57,496
I could just look at them.
302
00:17:57,496 --> 00:17:59,306
Not to talk to them or
anything, just to drive by
303
00:17:59,306 --> 00:18:00,951
and look at them.
304
00:18:00,951 --> 00:18:03,692
And I would think I would
hear the boys in their room
305
00:18:03,692 --> 00:18:05,808
calling me and I'd go
runnin' back there and they
306
00:18:05,808 --> 00:18:09,725
weren't there and I'd
sit on their bed and cry.
307
00:18:18,732 --> 00:18:20,854
As the
Kniffens waited for answers,
308
00:18:20,854 --> 00:18:23,021
more people were arrested.
309
00:18:27,327 --> 00:18:29,487
- I still don't even know how it happened.
310
00:18:29,487 --> 00:18:30,899
The Kern
County Sheriff's Department
311
00:18:30,899 --> 00:18:32,781
picked up Jeff Modahl.
312
00:18:32,781 --> 00:18:36,050
He was a widower raising two daughters.
313
00:18:36,050 --> 00:18:40,133
The officers accused him
of molesting his girls.
314
00:18:40,133 --> 00:18:43,185
- Knocked on the door and
stuck a 9mm right at my nose.
315
00:18:43,185 --> 00:18:46,376
And then from that day on,
my life turned upside down.
316
00:18:46,376 --> 00:18:49,375
Nothin' at all with what I had before.
317
00:18:49,375 --> 00:18:51,339
- He got arrested for the same thing.
318
00:18:51,339 --> 00:18:54,922
So he and I were only
a couple weeks apart.
319
00:18:57,132 --> 00:18:58,928
The jail was
filling up with accused
320
00:18:58,928 --> 00:19:00,652
child molesters.
321
00:19:00,652 --> 00:19:02,665
As the men awaited trial,
they sat side by side
322
00:19:02,665 --> 00:19:05,131
and shared their stories
and realized the striking
323
00:19:05,131 --> 00:19:06,214
similarities.
324
00:19:07,418 --> 00:19:09,096
- You didn't know what to believe anymore.
325
00:19:09,096 --> 00:19:11,870
When you know that you're
innocent, you haven't done nothin'
326
00:19:11,870 --> 00:19:15,161
and then just sit there
with all these other people,
327
00:19:15,161 --> 00:19:19,161
they're all crying innocent
too, what do you do?
328
00:19:20,577 --> 00:19:21,905
What do you believe?
329
00:19:21,905 --> 00:19:24,809
- We're all goin', what
the hell is going on here?
330
00:19:24,809 --> 00:19:27,392
'Cause now we're all seeing it.
331
00:19:30,346 --> 00:19:32,184
It's a scary thing when
you're all sittin' there and
332
00:19:32,184 --> 00:19:33,956
all lookin' at each
other and you're goin',
333
00:19:33,956 --> 00:19:35,244
wait a minute, this is bullshit.
334
00:19:35,244 --> 00:19:37,172
None of these people,
none of them, did this.
335
00:19:37,172 --> 00:19:38,584
Here comes Jeff.
336
00:19:38,584 --> 00:19:40,552
I tell him what's gonna
happen and sure enough.
337
00:19:40,552 --> 00:19:42,469
- It was just somethin'
338
00:19:44,730 --> 00:19:48,892
just a look in his eye,
that he could look me
339
00:19:48,892 --> 00:19:52,615
into my eye and say that he was innocent,
340
00:19:52,615 --> 00:19:56,361
he didn't look away, it was
right straight in my eyes,
341
00:19:56,361 --> 00:20:00,834
and you could see, when he
talked about his son, Jed,
342
00:20:00,834 --> 00:20:04,004
that this man loved that kid.
343
00:20:04,004 --> 00:20:06,125
Not in a weird way.
344
00:20:06,125 --> 00:20:09,375
His life was wrapped around little Jed.
345
00:20:12,708 --> 00:20:16,875
That told me, because I know
how I felt with my girls.
346
00:20:19,843 --> 00:20:23,343
Now we were developing a kinship.
347
00:20:29,912 --> 00:20:34,017
- We got passes to go to the
law library and of course,
348
00:20:34,017 --> 00:20:36,289
we had to do it at different
times than everybody
349
00:20:36,289 --> 00:20:38,419
else because we were in
protective custody because
350
00:20:38,419 --> 00:20:40,502
of the charges and stuff.
351
00:20:41,451 --> 00:20:45,618
We went to the library,
started readin' and writin'.
352
00:20:48,574 --> 00:20:51,411
We wrote that
congressman and representatives of
353
00:20:51,411 --> 00:20:54,339
the area and asked them
to look at it and most of
354
00:20:54,339 --> 00:20:56,298
them just shined us on, you
know, because they figured
355
00:20:56,298 --> 00:20:58,630
we were a bunch of child molesters.
356
00:20:58,630 --> 00:21:00,449
The inmates knew
they needed to do something
357
00:21:00,449 --> 00:21:05,247
drastic to make someone,
anyone, listen to their story.
358
00:21:05,247 --> 00:21:07,456
- We figured a hunger
strike would get us to talk
359
00:21:07,456 --> 00:21:09,789
to somebody besides a guard.
360
00:21:15,301 --> 00:21:17,923
- We wanted the attorney
general, we wanted the FBI,
361
00:21:17,923 --> 00:21:21,826
we wanted somebody, we didn't
care, almost didn't care who.
362
00:21:21,826 --> 00:21:25,033
If just somebody would come
in and investigate this.
363
00:21:25,033 --> 00:21:26,804
- Because the people just left.
364
00:21:26,804 --> 00:21:28,951
They're not guilty, we're
not guilty, I'm not guilty,
365
00:21:28,951 --> 00:21:30,683
Pitts is not guilty and
I named all these people
366
00:21:30,683 --> 00:21:31,840
and I said we didn't do this.
367
00:21:31,840 --> 00:21:33,477
We're all sitting up
there and we're all saying
368
00:21:33,477 --> 00:21:35,313
we want the FBI to come and take a look,
369
00:21:35,313 --> 00:21:37,646
please come and take a look.
370
00:21:43,592 --> 00:21:46,724
When we refused the meals
the very first time,
371
00:21:46,724 --> 00:21:48,552
nothin' happened.
372
00:21:48,552 --> 00:21:52,719
But when we did it the next day
again, then a sergeant came.
373
00:21:53,587 --> 00:21:55,886
- Was getting serious enough
where the hospital staff,
374
00:21:55,886 --> 00:21:58,766
or the jail hospital staff
had to start monitoring us,
375
00:21:58,766 --> 00:22:02,044
and make sure that we were okay,
376
00:22:02,044 --> 00:22:04,711
because there was no food eaten.
377
00:22:09,715 --> 00:22:12,557
Little by little, by
doing things like this
378
00:22:12,557 --> 00:22:16,529
and bringing attention to
Kern County, these things
379
00:22:16,529 --> 00:22:20,612
helped us with rapport of
a lot of other inmates,
380
00:22:22,204 --> 00:22:24,686
with rapport of staff, 'cause they knew,
381
00:22:24,686 --> 00:22:29,118
why would they make all this
ruckus if they were so guilty?
382
00:22:29,118 --> 00:22:30,765
- When the FBI did come,
383
00:22:30,765 --> 00:22:34,848
I was told that it was
out of their jurisdiction.
384
00:22:35,786 --> 00:22:39,436
They didn't get into this kind of thing.
385
00:22:39,436 --> 00:22:41,005
It's been more
than a year since the four
386
00:22:41,005 --> 00:22:42,401
defendants were arrested.
387
00:22:42,401 --> 00:22:44,323
As they walked into court
this morning, one of them,
388
00:22:44,323 --> 00:22:46,570
Debra McCuan, said she was
glad the case was finally
389
00:22:46,570 --> 00:22:48,131
going to trial.
390
00:22:48,131 --> 00:22:51,185
- I'm glad it's getting
underway, it's kind of a relief.
391
00:22:51,185 --> 00:22:55,352
We can finally get both
sides out and get vindicated.
392
00:22:59,295 --> 00:23:01,651
Prosecution
began this morning by detailing
393
00:23:01,651 --> 00:23:05,254
some of the 121 counts that
have been lodged against
394
00:23:05,254 --> 00:23:06,254
the parents.
395
00:23:07,666 --> 00:23:10,816
- You're all in, to
participate together jointly
396
00:23:10,816 --> 00:23:12,066
in sexual acts.
397
00:23:13,114 --> 00:23:16,228
Kniffen boys would be forced
by their parents to get
398
00:23:16,228 --> 00:23:19,428
down on the floor or beds
with the McCuan girls
399
00:23:19,428 --> 00:23:21,345
and have sex with them.
400
00:23:22,254 --> 00:23:24,216
- Scott and I never been in
trouble, so we don't know
401
00:23:24,216 --> 00:23:27,973
the law, so we would tell
him, well ask this question,
402
00:23:27,973 --> 00:23:30,979
no, we'll save that and
we'll bring it up on appeal.
403
00:23:30,979 --> 00:23:33,220
Well, you can't bring up
anything on appeal that
404
00:23:33,220 --> 00:23:34,860
wasn't brought up at trial.
405
00:23:34,860 --> 00:23:36,335
We didn't know that.
406
00:23:36,335 --> 00:23:38,669
The prosecutor
outlined a two year pattern
407
00:23:38,669 --> 00:23:41,727
of child sex, sex with their
parents and motel sex parties
408
00:23:41,727 --> 00:23:42,977
with strangers.
409
00:23:45,380 --> 00:23:46,992
The
Kniffen/McCuan trial revealed to
410
00:23:46,992 --> 00:23:49,506
John Stoll and Jeff Modahl
what would happen when their
411
00:23:49,506 --> 00:23:51,694
cases finally went to trial.
412
00:23:51,694 --> 00:23:53,844
- I'd go out for my preliminary
and all that terrible crap
413
00:23:53,844 --> 00:23:55,901
and then he'd go out for
his and he'd come back with
414
00:23:55,901 --> 00:23:57,501
35 counts.
415
00:23:57,501 --> 00:24:00,287
And it was just, and I,
you know, and he said,
416
00:24:00,287 --> 00:24:01,936
"My god, it's just like you
said, it's just like Rick said,
417
00:24:01,936 --> 00:24:04,783
"it's just like the Kniffens
and McCuans had told
418
00:24:04,783 --> 00:24:05,860
"us it was gonna be."
419
00:24:05,860 --> 00:24:09,610
It was their pattern,
that's how they did it.
420
00:24:15,328 --> 00:24:17,061
It's been
nine months since the trial
421
00:24:17,061 --> 00:24:19,270
of the Kniffes and the
McCuans got underway.
422
00:24:19,270 --> 00:24:21,906
An experience that prosecutor
Gindes says none of them
423
00:24:21,906 --> 00:24:23,780
will ever forget.
424
00:24:23,780 --> 00:24:26,066
He wants the jurors to
remember what the four children
425
00:24:26,066 --> 00:24:29,050
told them under oath, about
being tied naked to a railing
426
00:24:29,050 --> 00:24:31,655
in the family home and
being sexually molested.
427
00:24:31,655 --> 00:24:34,015
Going to sex parties with
their parents who had both
428
00:24:34,015 --> 00:24:36,574
molested them and then passed
them along to strangers
429
00:24:36,574 --> 00:24:39,203
to have sex, taking
pictures along the way.
430
00:24:39,203 --> 00:24:41,613
- They were not testifying
against people they did not know,
431
00:24:41,613 --> 00:24:44,946
these four defendants are their parents.
432
00:24:46,947 --> 00:24:51,344
And that is so crucially
important in this case.
433
00:24:51,344 --> 00:24:54,490
- He let them have everything
they wanted, the DA's office,
434
00:24:54,490 --> 00:24:55,964
we got nothing.
435
00:24:55,964 --> 00:24:58,214
We didn't even get to have
a medical exam, they got
436
00:24:58,214 --> 00:24:59,760
to have two.
437
00:24:59,760 --> 00:25:02,412
The boy's school teachers
came in, he said it wasn't
438
00:25:02,412 --> 00:25:04,697
relevant, that they didn't know them.
439
00:25:04,697 --> 00:25:06,337
Family doctors.
440
00:25:06,337 --> 00:25:09,764
The doctor who delivered Brian
came in and said he never
441
00:25:09,764 --> 00:25:12,801
saw anything wrong with either boy.
442
00:25:12,801 --> 00:25:15,362
The judge said it wasn't relevant.
443
00:25:15,362 --> 00:25:17,612
Just anything we asked for.
444
00:25:18,739 --> 00:25:20,426
- It was just unstoppable.
445
00:25:20,426 --> 00:25:24,249
The lawyers, the lawyers really tried.
446
00:25:24,249 --> 00:25:27,833
They were angry and frustrated
and just extremely angry.
447
00:25:27,833 --> 00:25:30,057
At nights they'd come up
and talk to us and they
448
00:25:30,057 --> 00:25:31,580
were yellin'.
449
00:25:31,580 --> 00:25:34,599
They were so, they
couldn't believe this guy
450
00:25:34,599 --> 00:25:36,576
was gettin' away with this stuff.
451
00:25:36,576 --> 00:25:38,188
Though they
walk and they talk like normal
452
00:25:38,188 --> 00:25:41,839
children, their could have been
poisoned by the defendants.
453
00:25:41,839 --> 00:25:46,006
For these four children,
this case will never end.
454
00:25:48,127 --> 00:25:50,673
- The kids would come in
there and they'd say one thing
455
00:25:50,673 --> 00:25:52,601
and then they'd take a break
and they'd come back in
456
00:25:52,601 --> 00:25:55,044
and say something totally different.
457
00:25:55,044 --> 00:25:58,087
So first they'd say, no,
nothin' happened, you know.
458
00:25:58,087 --> 00:26:01,804
No, that didn't happen to us,
and then they'd take a break,
459
00:26:01,804 --> 00:26:04,604
come back in, yeah, that did happen.
460
00:26:04,604 --> 00:26:07,133
In all these
trials, defense attorneys
461
00:26:07,133 --> 00:26:09,157
argued that the kids have
been told what to say
462
00:26:09,157 --> 00:26:10,890
on the stand.
463
00:26:10,890 --> 00:26:13,892
- When they do testify, they
will testify in many instances
464
00:26:13,892 --> 00:26:18,324
in situations that are totally
impossible to have occurred.
465
00:26:18,324 --> 00:26:21,491
- I knew my girls, I knew in my heart,
466
00:26:22,572 --> 00:26:25,684
in my soul and everything
that they would never say
467
00:26:25,684 --> 00:26:27,380
anything like this.
468
00:26:27,380 --> 00:26:30,128
It would not, the words
would not come out of their
469
00:26:30,128 --> 00:26:32,188
mouth on their own.
470
00:26:32,188 --> 00:26:35,340
And I knew this from day one.
471
00:26:35,340 --> 00:26:38,720
- The idea that we would
have the time, let alone
472
00:26:38,720 --> 00:26:41,887
the inclination to go out
and coach kids to testify
473
00:26:41,887 --> 00:26:44,970
in these cases in this way is absurd.
474
00:26:46,767 --> 00:26:49,421
The accused
thought their trials were absurd,
475
00:26:49,421 --> 00:26:52,574
so outrageous that there was
no way they could be convicted.
476
00:26:52,574 --> 00:26:56,131
- If you said, no, it
couldn't happen on the 21st,
477
00:26:56,131 --> 00:26:58,295
I was over at the coast.
478
00:26:58,295 --> 00:27:00,489
Then it was, "Where were you the 22nd?"
479
00:27:00,489 --> 00:27:01,853
Well I can't remember.
480
00:27:01,853 --> 00:27:03,172
Well then it was the 22nd.
481
00:27:03,172 --> 00:27:04,236
That's just how they did it.
482
00:27:04,236 --> 00:27:06,052
It just changed dates,
they changed charges.
483
00:27:06,052 --> 00:27:08,331
- When out jury went out
and they called us back,
484
00:27:08,331 --> 00:27:10,572
me and Rick had already made plans.
485
00:27:10,572 --> 00:27:12,956
We were gonna go, you know,
spend the weekend off,
486
00:27:12,956 --> 00:27:14,873
or something, you know?
487
00:27:21,015 --> 00:27:22,841
After six months
of testimony and two weeks
488
00:27:22,841 --> 00:27:26,004
of deliberations, all seven
defendants were convicted
489
00:27:26,004 --> 00:27:30,171
on 373 counts of child
molestation and child pornography.
490
00:27:31,692 --> 00:27:34,259
Those convicted are Ricky
Pitts, Marcella Pitts,
491
00:27:34,259 --> 00:27:37,374
Colleen Bennett, Wayne
Forsythe, Wayne Dill,
492
00:27:37,374 --> 00:27:39,810
Grace Dill, and Gina Miller.
493
00:27:39,810 --> 00:27:42,284
Six of the seven convicted
are related and the court
494
00:27:42,284 --> 00:27:44,649
was filled with emotions
as family members heard
495
00:27:44,649 --> 00:27:46,316
the guilty verdicts.
496
00:27:51,754 --> 00:27:53,896
- Any kind of evidence
pointed to our innocence,
497
00:27:53,896 --> 00:27:55,691
they'd never let them in.
498
00:27:55,691 --> 00:27:58,103
Judge would overrule it or
wouldn't let it come in,
499
00:27:58,103 --> 00:28:00,172
or you know, you didn't
have a chance because they
500
00:28:00,172 --> 00:28:02,348
never let anything from our side come in.
501
00:28:02,348 --> 00:28:04,588
- I had no idea they
were gonna convict us.
502
00:28:04,588 --> 00:28:07,452
I thought, that was
unbelievable, I mean, it was,
503
00:28:07,452 --> 00:28:09,765
it just wasn't believable.
504
00:28:09,765 --> 00:28:11,771
- Sentencing for all seven
defendants is scheduled
505
00:28:11,771 --> 00:28:13,334
for August 30th.
506
00:28:13,334 --> 00:28:16,984
Each face a maximum term
of 300 years in prison,
507
00:28:16,984 --> 00:28:19,900
and if given the maximum term,
this would be the longest
508
00:28:19,900 --> 00:28:24,067
sentence ever handed down
in Kern County's history.
509
00:28:28,294 --> 00:28:31,688
- When the Pitts got
it, I knew we were done.
510
00:28:31,688 --> 00:28:33,774
News of these
convictions made the accused
511
00:28:33,774 --> 00:28:37,684
more desperate than ever
to prove their innocence.
512
00:28:37,684 --> 00:28:41,665
- My family wanted me to take a polygraph
513
00:28:41,665 --> 00:28:46,299
and then the DA even agreed
if I passed the polygraph,
514
00:28:46,299 --> 00:28:49,475
that he wouldn't press the charges.
515
00:28:49,475 --> 00:28:52,347
When the polygraph test
came back that I was tellin'
516
00:28:52,347 --> 00:28:55,282
the truth, that nothin' had ever happened,
517
00:28:55,282 --> 00:28:58,115
well then the DA backed out of it.
518
00:28:59,872 --> 00:29:01,993
The jury
deliberated just a week after
519
00:29:01,993 --> 00:29:04,273
listening to nine months
of testimony against
520
00:29:04,273 --> 00:29:06,750
Scott and Brenda Kniffen,
Alvin and Debra McCuan.
521
00:29:06,750 --> 00:29:09,675
The two Bakersfield couples,
by their own children,
522
00:29:09,675 --> 00:29:12,007
of child molesting.
523
00:29:12,007 --> 00:29:14,037
- When we walked in that
court room, and I looked at
524
00:29:14,037 --> 00:29:16,818
the jury and none of them
would look back at us,
525
00:29:16,818 --> 00:29:18,985
I knew we were in trouble.
526
00:29:20,117 --> 00:29:22,029
Today, with
the courtroom packed to
527
00:29:22,029 --> 00:29:24,347
standing room only, it took
almost two hours to read
528
00:29:24,347 --> 00:29:26,014
all of the verdicts.
529
00:29:27,797 --> 00:29:29,795
It proved to be too
much for Brenda Kniffen,
530
00:29:29,795 --> 00:29:32,353
the blonde mother of two
fainted after hearing that
531
00:29:32,353 --> 00:29:36,749
she had been convicted on 70
felony counts of child molest.
532
00:29:36,749 --> 00:29:39,949
- I fainted in the court room.
533
00:29:39,949 --> 00:29:42,152
I just, I couldn't believe it.
534
00:29:42,152 --> 00:29:44,917
I thought we would go home,
that the truth would come out
535
00:29:44,917 --> 00:29:46,194
and we'd go home.
536
00:29:46,194 --> 00:29:47,861
It didn't seem real.
537
00:29:48,910 --> 00:29:52,657
I think you're kinda
in shock at that point.
538
00:29:52,657 --> 00:29:55,622
And I just kept thinkin' I was going home.
539
00:29:55,622 --> 00:29:58,112
- Some of these counts
are mandatory consecutive,
540
00:29:58,112 --> 00:30:01,062
what we call full boat,
not 1/3 the mid-term,
541
00:30:01,062 --> 00:30:02,895
but the full term consecutive.
542
00:30:02,895 --> 00:30:05,744
Each one is a potential
eight years, so if,
543
00:30:05,744 --> 00:30:07,900
your arithmetic is
probably better than mine,
544
00:30:07,900 --> 00:30:09,675
but it's literally hundreds of years.
545
00:30:09,675 --> 00:30:12,012
Superior
court judge Marvin Ferguson
546
00:30:12,012 --> 00:30:16,070
sentenced 30 year old Alvin
McCuan to a 268 year term.
547
00:30:16,070 --> 00:30:19,994
His 27 year old wife, Debra, to 252 years
548
00:30:19,994 --> 00:30:22,672
on 75 convictions each.
549
00:30:22,672 --> 00:30:26,223
30 year old Scott Kniffen
and his wife Brenda
550
00:30:26,223 --> 00:30:30,586
were sentenced to 240
years each for 70 and 71
551
00:30:30,586 --> 00:30:33,114
felony child molesting counts.
552
00:30:33,114 --> 00:30:36,011
It's estimated that they
would be eligible for parole
553
00:30:36,011 --> 00:30:37,428
in the year 2110.
554
00:30:38,916 --> 00:30:41,193
The defendants have
stolen from their children
555
00:30:41,193 --> 00:30:43,435
one of the most precious ,
556
00:30:43,435 --> 00:30:46,359
and that's a child's innocence.
557
00:30:46,359 --> 00:30:47,873
Kern County
superior court judge,
558
00:30:47,873 --> 00:30:49,699
Marvin Ferguson, went
on to describe the two
559
00:30:49,699 --> 00:30:52,480
Bakersfield couples as
vicious, callous and cruel,
560
00:30:52,480 --> 00:30:55,461
as he sentenced them today
for a total of 1000 years
561
00:30:55,461 --> 00:30:57,739
between them for molesting
their own and each other's
562
00:30:57,739 --> 00:30:59,377
children.
563
00:30:59,377 --> 00:31:03,744
- I ask rhetorically and
sadly if a small child cannot
564
00:31:03,744 --> 00:31:07,081
trust their mother and
father, who can they trust
565
00:31:07,081 --> 00:31:11,196
and will they ever be able to trust again?
566
00:31:28,028 --> 00:31:31,267
I still can't believe it.
567
00:31:31,267 --> 00:31:32,829
- It seems like a bad nightmare.
568
00:31:32,829 --> 00:31:34,630
Seems like I oughta wake
up tomorrow and it'll be
569
00:31:34,630 --> 00:31:36,144
over with, but it's not.
570
00:31:36,144 --> 00:31:37,750
Miss my wife already.
571
00:31:37,750 --> 00:31:39,071
I miss my kids.
572
00:31:39,071 --> 00:31:41,218
I miss my family.
573
00:31:41,218 --> 00:31:44,968
I just want everything
to get back to normal.
574
00:31:50,445 --> 00:31:53,692
- It sure does change your
way of lookin' at the system.
575
00:31:53,692 --> 00:31:56,346
They can come in there and
just take your family and
576
00:31:56,346 --> 00:31:58,726
they don't, they didn't
listen to our side before
577
00:31:58,726 --> 00:32:01,104
they had us convicted.
578
00:32:01,104 --> 00:32:04,307
- To this day I don't, I
don't know, I don't know what
579
00:32:04,307 --> 00:32:07,116
happened, I don't know
how it could've happened.
580
00:32:07,116 --> 00:32:11,114
It's like when someone asks
me, how did this happen?
581
00:32:11,114 --> 00:32:14,236
Well, hell, you know as
much about it as I do.
582
00:32:14,236 --> 00:32:15,594
I don't know how it happened either,
583
00:32:15,594 --> 00:32:18,261
all I know is it happened to me.
584
00:32:27,936 --> 00:32:30,779
- I don't, I was shocked.
585
00:32:30,779 --> 00:32:33,129
My lawyer started crying.
586
00:32:33,129 --> 00:32:34,946
He actually started crying.
587
00:32:34,946 --> 00:32:37,335
Chuck Sorea, big man.
588
00:32:37,335 --> 00:32:40,299
And seeing tears coming
out of that big man's face,
589
00:32:40,299 --> 00:32:42,466
because he believed in me.
590
00:32:49,011 --> 00:32:51,501
When they handed down the sentence,
591
00:32:51,501 --> 00:32:53,168
he gave me 80 years,
592
00:32:55,701 --> 00:32:57,118
and suspended 32,
593
00:33:01,984 --> 00:33:04,067
so I would have to do 48.
594
00:33:06,535 --> 00:33:10,618
And I asked the, I stood
up, I said what the heck
595
00:33:11,975 --> 00:33:14,975
is the difference between 48 and 80?
596
00:33:16,267 --> 00:33:18,684
This judge, he went crazy.
597
00:33:19,902 --> 00:33:23,697
He started screaming, I mean screaming.
598
00:33:23,697 --> 00:33:27,616
Calling me depraved, crazy, he went off.
599
00:33:27,616 --> 00:33:30,159
He thought he'd done me a favor.
600
00:33:30,159 --> 00:33:31,813
A favor?
601
00:33:31,813 --> 00:33:35,466
I'm innocent and you're
gonna say, gee,
602
00:33:35,466 --> 00:33:38,299
I knocked off 32 years off of his.
603
00:33:40,237 --> 00:33:43,390
- They offered us a deal,
and I don't know how anybody
604
00:33:43,390 --> 00:33:46,138
can sit up in court and
say, yeah I molested my son
605
00:33:46,138 --> 00:33:47,055
for a deal.
606
00:33:48,838 --> 00:33:49,671
Sorry.
607
00:33:50,813 --> 00:33:52,147
You know, can't do that.
608
00:33:52,147 --> 00:33:54,153
I could've been out in 12 1/2
with the deal they offered me
609
00:33:54,153 --> 00:33:57,431
and I sure as hell wasn't gonna
say I was a child molester.
610
00:33:57,431 --> 00:34:00,181
Sorry, take your deal and put it.
611
00:34:09,637 --> 00:34:11,775
John Stoll
heard his fate and immediately
612
00:34:11,775 --> 00:34:13,799
responded to the judge.
613
00:34:13,799 --> 00:34:16,926
He said, "Thank you, your honor.
614
00:34:16,926 --> 00:34:19,644
"I'm sure it is expected of
me to come before this court
615
00:34:19,644 --> 00:34:23,430
"on bended knee asking for
leniency and claiming remorse.
616
00:34:23,430 --> 00:34:27,455
"I don't expect leniency and
I have no cause for remorse.
617
00:34:27,455 --> 00:34:30,475
"I was a victim of a blatantly
motivated and heartless
618
00:34:30,475 --> 00:34:33,168
"district attorney, an
over zealous social worker,
619
00:34:33,168 --> 00:34:36,277
"and an inadequately trained
sheriff's investigator.
620
00:34:36,277 --> 00:34:38,844
"I'm not guilty of these
crimes, your honor,
621
00:34:38,844 --> 00:34:40,990
"or this sentence would be adequate.
622
00:34:40,990 --> 00:34:44,157
"I'm just not guilty of these crimes."
623
00:34:46,202 --> 00:34:47,848
All evidence
was based on the victim's
624
00:34:47,848 --> 00:34:50,802
testimony, which reinforces
prosecutors statements
625
00:34:50,802 --> 00:34:53,914
that a child's testimony can convict.
626
00:34:53,914 --> 00:34:56,075
- I think it shows you
that the jury of our peers
627
00:34:56,075 --> 00:34:59,051
listened to the testimony
of traumatized children
628
00:34:59,051 --> 00:35:00,877
and believe children.
629
00:35:00,877 --> 00:35:03,530
Children don't lie about things like this
630
00:35:03,530 --> 00:35:07,128
and you can see it by the
verdicts that they gave.
631
00:35:32,853 --> 00:35:36,342
- At that time, the whole
county was convinced that
632
00:35:36,342 --> 00:35:39,205
they were just in a, this
herd of child molesters
633
00:35:39,205 --> 00:35:41,031
just fell out of the trees all at once.
634
00:35:41,031 --> 00:35:43,965
And I believe that the jury
was caught up in it too.
635
00:35:43,965 --> 00:35:45,574
These angry
and concerned parents stood
636
00:35:45,574 --> 00:35:48,211
behind hastily written signs
in front of the municipal court
637
00:35:48,211 --> 00:35:49,492
building today.
638
00:35:49,492 --> 00:35:51,653
The group is made up of
parents with children.
639
00:35:51,653 --> 00:35:54,415
They call themselves
"Kids Are People Too,"
640
00:35:54,415 --> 00:35:57,042
and their concern is not
only with stiffer penalties
641
00:35:57,042 --> 00:36:00,456
for the perpetrator, but
concern for the victim.
642
00:36:00,456 --> 00:36:02,696
- We're trying to get
stiffer laws for these child
643
00:36:02,696 --> 00:36:05,850
molesters, child beaters,
whoever's hurting children,
644
00:36:05,850 --> 00:36:08,246
we're trying to put a stop
where they can put them in jail
645
00:36:08,246 --> 00:36:09,519
and leave them there.
646
00:36:09,519 --> 00:36:11,488
I brought my kids into this
world because I love them,
647
00:36:11,488 --> 00:36:14,335
not for some maniac to hurt them.
648
00:36:14,335 --> 00:36:18,502
- My best friend who I
known almost my whole life,
649
00:36:20,258 --> 00:36:23,341
she told me don't ever call me again.
650
00:36:24,373 --> 00:36:26,214
- People were threatened.
651
00:36:26,214 --> 00:36:28,062
The public got scared.
652
00:36:28,062 --> 00:36:30,694
Especially when the cases
started happening more and
653
00:36:30,694 --> 00:36:33,619
more and more, or they've
created more and more.
654
00:36:33,619 --> 00:36:37,786
Because now it started
happening to not just this guy
655
00:36:39,777 --> 00:36:42,580
over here, this started
happening to the neighbor,
656
00:36:42,580 --> 00:36:44,173
to the neighbor's friend,
657
00:36:44,173 --> 00:36:46,256
to the neighbor's sister.
658
00:36:49,286 --> 00:36:51,389
Jack and Jackie
Cummings lived in Bakersfield
659
00:36:51,389 --> 00:36:53,226
their whole lives and they'd
never been in trouble with
660
00:36:53,226 --> 00:36:54,630
the law.
661
00:36:54,630 --> 00:36:56,559
But after police picked up their friend,
662
00:36:56,559 --> 00:36:59,071
life was never the same.
663
00:36:59,071 --> 00:37:01,257
- The first thing for us
was when we got a phone call
664
00:37:01,257 --> 00:37:04,887
that Johnny Gonzales had been
arrested, I'd never forget
665
00:37:04,887 --> 00:37:07,900
that, and he'd been picked
up the night before.
666
00:37:07,900 --> 00:37:10,725
We couldn't understand it,
you know, I mean he was a rig
667
00:37:10,725 --> 00:37:12,466
mechanic that worked
about 70 hours a week,
668
00:37:12,466 --> 00:37:14,634
it didn't really make any sense.
669
00:37:14,634 --> 00:37:16,609
Johnny
Gonzales and his wife Cheryl
670
00:37:16,609 --> 00:37:18,328
were both arrested.
671
00:37:18,328 --> 00:37:20,411
Jackie Cummings babysat the
Gonzales' kids while they
672
00:37:20,411 --> 00:37:21,578
went to court.
673
00:37:22,962 --> 00:37:25,453
- They started pointing her
out in court as the babysitter,
674
00:37:25,453 --> 00:37:27,731
you know, the social
workers would point at them,
675
00:37:27,731 --> 00:37:29,750
there's the babysitter and
the next thing we know,
676
00:37:29,750 --> 00:37:33,217
the cops are watching our house.
677
00:37:33,217 --> 00:37:35,257
We could just feel them closing in on us.
678
00:37:35,257 --> 00:37:37,279
It was like they're gonna,
I just know they're gonna
679
00:37:37,279 --> 00:37:38,497
arrest us and we packed
up the kids and left town
680
00:37:38,497 --> 00:37:40,695
in the middle of the night.
681
00:37:40,695 --> 00:37:42,523
It was just growing and it
didn't make any sense to us,
682
00:37:42,523 --> 00:37:44,531
but all of a sudden it
was like they wanted
683
00:37:44,531 --> 00:37:46,738
to arrest everybody.
684
00:37:46,738 --> 00:37:49,110
While the hysteria
in Bakersfield intensified,
685
00:37:49,110 --> 00:37:52,610
the Cummings drove hundreds of miles away.
686
00:37:54,947 --> 00:37:59,114
The convicted were also a
long way from Kern County.
687
00:38:04,746 --> 00:38:08,913
- I believe San Quentin was
the absolutely worst 18 months
688
00:38:10,347 --> 00:38:11,264
of my life.
689
00:38:12,347 --> 00:38:16,180
I mean, it was absolutely
terrifying at times.
690
00:38:19,644 --> 00:38:22,677
Because it was one of
the oldest prisons in
691
00:38:22,677 --> 00:38:26,231
the United States, the
oldest in California,
692
00:38:26,231 --> 00:38:29,876
so it had blind spots,
it had hallways, it had
693
00:38:29,876 --> 00:38:32,376
all sorts of dangerous places.
694
00:38:33,583 --> 00:38:37,500
There was one place that
was termed blood alley
695
00:38:38,920 --> 00:38:42,166
because none of the towers
could see this one area,
696
00:38:42,166 --> 00:38:43,908
so you could kill someone there
697
00:38:43,908 --> 00:38:45,991
and nobody would see you.
698
00:38:54,436 --> 00:38:57,122
- When I was at San Quentin,
I went to yard for quite
699
00:38:57,122 --> 00:38:59,994
a while and a friend of
mine from Kern County
700
00:38:59,994 --> 00:39:03,655
that had been in and
out of prison and stuff,
701
00:39:03,655 --> 00:39:05,706
he was in there for murder,
702
00:39:05,706 --> 00:39:08,578
kinda watched my back
and then finally he said,
703
00:39:08,578 --> 00:39:10,524
"I can't watch your back anymore.
704
00:39:10,524 --> 00:39:12,841
"There are some people here
that are gonna hurt you."
705
00:39:12,841 --> 00:39:14,496
So I quit going to yard.
706
00:39:14,496 --> 00:39:17,218
I stayed in a cell for nine
months and filed in court
707
00:39:17,218 --> 00:39:19,928
and finally got moved
to protective custody
708
00:39:19,928 --> 00:39:22,565
where I could at least
go out and exercise and
709
00:39:22,565 --> 00:39:24,148
live somewhat safe.
710
00:39:42,819 --> 00:39:44,738
- When I got to prison,
they didn't know what to do
711
00:39:44,738 --> 00:39:47,532
with me because they never
had anybody that had my amount
712
00:39:47,532 --> 00:39:51,529
of time, so they put me in
a unit that was built for
713
00:39:51,529 --> 00:39:53,520
the Manson girls,
714
00:39:53,520 --> 00:39:56,579
and it was six cells
and it's off by itself
715
00:39:56,579 --> 00:39:59,382
and you get out of your
cell once a day to take
716
00:39:59,382 --> 00:40:01,765
a shower and then you get
locked back up and they
717
00:40:01,765 --> 00:40:05,265
bring you your meals and everything there.
718
00:40:08,594 --> 00:40:12,930
Some girl from Kern County,
who I had no idea who she was,
719
00:40:12,930 --> 00:40:17,097
said she knew me and told
everybody what I was there for.
720
00:40:18,180 --> 00:40:21,097
So then I had to go be locked down.
721
00:40:29,365 --> 00:40:32,252
- I was angry, so I wasn't
listening to anybody.
722
00:40:32,252 --> 00:40:33,761
I didn't care what people said to me.
723
00:40:33,761 --> 00:40:35,961
I didn't belong here, this
was unfair, you can't do
724
00:40:35,961 --> 00:40:39,628
this to me, but you
can't tell anybody that.
725
00:40:41,572 --> 00:40:45,578
State prison is not easy on men.
726
00:40:45,578 --> 00:40:50,191
You come in with a being
convicted of a sexual crime
727
00:40:50,191 --> 00:40:54,274
against children and you're
not a popular person.
728
00:40:58,820 --> 00:41:01,004
- I was in maybe six,
seven months and I read in
729
00:41:01,004 --> 00:41:04,852
the newspaper in the law
library that this guy in
730
00:41:04,852 --> 00:41:08,699
Washington, I think, Washington
state was arrested with
731
00:41:08,699 --> 00:41:11,074
automatic weapons and a
quarter ton of marijuana
732
00:41:11,074 --> 00:41:13,493
and he got 40 years.
733
00:41:13,493 --> 00:41:16,428
And I said, I got 40
years, that's my story.
734
00:41:16,428 --> 00:41:19,262
So when anybody asks, that's
the story I told them.
735
00:41:19,262 --> 00:41:20,672
My family worried.
736
00:41:20,672 --> 00:41:23,084
They knew probably a little
bit more than Brenda did
737
00:41:23,084 --> 00:41:27,251
about some of the threats I
had by other inmates and staff.
738
00:41:28,114 --> 00:41:31,001
I tried to keep it from Brenda.
739
00:41:31,001 --> 00:41:33,766
I knew that he
probably had it a lot rougher
740
00:41:33,766 --> 00:41:34,683
than I did.
741
00:41:42,156 --> 00:41:45,844
It was hard, but we wrote
each other every single day.
742
00:41:45,844 --> 00:41:48,094
Boxes and boxes of letters.
743
00:41:58,186 --> 00:42:01,251
In letter
dated December 16, 1989,
744
00:42:01,251 --> 00:42:04,953
Scott Kniffen said, "Dear Brenda, hi babe.
745
00:42:04,953 --> 00:42:08,604
"I do love you so very
much and I always will too.
746
00:42:08,604 --> 00:42:12,224
"I know in you I have the
very best woman, wife, lover,
747
00:42:12,224 --> 00:42:14,761
"best friend and so much more.
748
00:42:14,761 --> 00:42:17,439
"I'm more than anxious to
take care of you in every way
749
00:42:17,439 --> 00:42:19,039
"plus some darling.
750
00:42:19,039 --> 00:42:23,722
"As for me, I'm doing okay,
yet I certainly do miss you.
751
00:42:23,722 --> 00:42:27,172
"I'm always thinking of you
and I long to be with you too.
752
00:42:27,172 --> 00:42:30,676
"God willing, our innocence
will be proven soon so we
753
00:42:30,676 --> 00:42:34,079
"are set free, reunited
and able to enjoy our lives
754
00:42:34,079 --> 00:42:35,582
"to the fullest.
755
00:42:35,582 --> 00:42:38,691
"Take care of yourself
and God bless you always.
756
00:42:38,691 --> 00:42:40,524
"Love forever, Scott."
757
00:42:42,985 --> 00:42:47,746
- We kinda spoke to each
other in our letters and tried
758
00:42:47,746 --> 00:42:48,750
to...
759
00:42:48,750 --> 00:42:49,805
- Encourage each other.
760
00:42:49,805 --> 00:42:52,490
- When she would get down,
I would try to encourage her
761
00:42:52,490 --> 00:42:53,966
and vice versa.
762
00:42:53,966 --> 00:42:55,400
She got down a lot more than
I did, or I wouldn't show
763
00:42:55,400 --> 00:42:57,483
her when I felt that way.
764
00:43:00,366 --> 00:43:03,366
- Positive, it had to stay positive.
765
00:43:05,555 --> 00:43:08,331
Yeah, I knew I was gonna
come home, didn't know when,
766
00:43:08,331 --> 00:43:09,666
but it had to happen.
767
00:43:09,666 --> 00:43:13,416
They can't keep an
innocent person locked up.
768
00:43:14,450 --> 00:43:16,284
Other inmates would walk up to me and say,
769
00:43:16,284 --> 00:43:18,532
"You don't belong here."
770
00:43:18,532 --> 00:43:21,282
I said thank you, I know I don't.
771
00:43:26,967 --> 00:43:29,675
- And then I worried
about the boys constantly.
772
00:43:29,675 --> 00:43:32,547
Not being with family or anybody.
773
00:43:32,547 --> 00:43:35,582
Not knowing if whoever
they were with was taking
774
00:43:35,582 --> 00:43:37,082
good care of them.
775
00:43:40,197 --> 00:43:42,303
- I actually spoke to Jed a couple times,
776
00:43:42,303 --> 00:43:44,035
which was really nice.
777
00:43:44,035 --> 00:43:47,633
And one time when I called,
I called my mother just
778
00:43:47,633 --> 00:43:49,897
to say hi and ask her how
she was because, you know,
779
00:43:49,897 --> 00:43:51,465
she's older.
780
00:43:51,465 --> 00:43:53,261
I just went, "Hi, how you doin' mom?"
781
00:43:53,261 --> 00:43:54,761
"Hey, Jed's here."
782
00:43:55,785 --> 00:43:57,609
I said, "You think he
wants to talk to me?"
783
00:43:57,609 --> 00:43:59,950
And she said, "Jed, your
daddy's on the phone."
784
00:43:59,950 --> 00:44:01,448
And he said, "Yes."
785
00:44:01,448 --> 00:44:02,830
And he talked to me.
786
00:44:02,830 --> 00:44:05,233
We didn't talk about what
happened, you know what I mean,
787
00:44:05,233 --> 00:44:06,214
we just talked.
788
00:44:06,214 --> 00:44:07,047
How are ya?
789
00:44:07,047 --> 00:44:07,880
You okay?
790
00:44:07,880 --> 00:44:09,223
I miss you daddy.
791
00:44:09,223 --> 00:44:10,056
You know.
792
00:44:10,056 --> 00:44:11,956
So I saw where he was
goin' so I didn't bring
793
00:44:11,956 --> 00:44:15,026
any of that crap up, I was
just great to talk to him.
794
00:44:15,026 --> 00:44:19,193
And then my ex-wife, my
mother, Jed told my, you know,
795
00:44:20,537 --> 00:44:22,540
"I talked to my daddy."
796
00:44:22,540 --> 00:44:24,743
Well, that was the last
time I talked to him.
797
00:44:24,743 --> 00:44:28,910
They put him in therapy and
I never spoke to him again.
798
00:44:30,301 --> 00:44:33,344
All he had left
was this one picture of Jed.
799
00:44:33,344 --> 00:44:35,748
His mom sent it to him
in prison and he hung it
800
00:44:35,748 --> 00:44:37,506
in his locker.
801
00:44:37,506 --> 00:44:39,673
He looked at it every day.
802
00:44:49,234 --> 00:44:52,212
- Being away from my wife and my children,
803
00:44:52,212 --> 00:44:53,045
family.
804
00:44:56,650 --> 00:45:00,145
When my mom and dad died six
days apart, it was really,
805
00:45:00,145 --> 00:45:01,812
really, really hard.
806
00:45:05,752 --> 00:45:06,835
And not easy.
807
00:45:18,225 --> 00:45:20,407
While the
convicted were learning to adapt
808
00:45:20,407 --> 00:45:23,122
to their lives in prison,
the kids who had testified
809
00:45:23,122 --> 00:45:25,417
against them slowly began
to admit what really
810
00:45:25,417 --> 00:45:29,209
happened behind closed
doors with investigators.
811
00:45:29,209 --> 00:45:31,495
- I remember tellin' them
no for about four hours
812
00:45:31,495 --> 00:45:33,777
and I was just tired.
813
00:45:33,777 --> 00:45:36,759
I just wanted to go
home, so I said what they
814
00:45:36,759 --> 00:45:38,412
wanted me to say.
815
00:45:38,412 --> 00:45:40,254
- I told them what they
wanted me to tell them.
816
00:45:40,254 --> 00:45:44,156
- They said that if I don't
say that something happened
817
00:45:44,156 --> 00:45:46,622
that this terrible man
that's done this to all
818
00:45:46,622 --> 00:45:49,378
of these people is gonna
be doing it to more kids,
819
00:45:49,378 --> 00:45:52,328
that I needed to do it, you know,
820
00:45:52,328 --> 00:45:54,294
I needed to help them.
821
00:45:54,294 --> 00:45:56,448
- That's just the way they
asked the questions over
822
00:45:56,448 --> 00:45:58,239
and over and over until
you finally just said what
823
00:45:58,239 --> 00:46:01,203
they wanted to hear, and they were done.
824
00:46:01,203 --> 00:46:02,403
They were happy with it.
825
00:46:02,403 --> 00:46:04,261
- That's basically the only
time I ever said anything
826
00:46:04,261 --> 00:46:07,382
had happened, is when I
had to for them or they
827
00:46:07,382 --> 00:46:09,117
weren't gonna leave me alone.
828
00:46:09,117 --> 00:46:12,183
- They asked the same questions
and if I kept saying no,
829
00:46:12,183 --> 00:46:14,518
they said, you know, you have
to tell us the truth, Victor,
830
00:46:14,518 --> 00:46:16,610
you know, you don't wanna
lose your parents, do you?
831
00:46:16,610 --> 00:46:20,177
You don't wanna, something bad happen.
832
00:46:20,177 --> 00:46:22,408
- They made me do it.
833
00:46:22,408 --> 00:46:24,447
I was intimidated, I was scared.
834
00:46:24,447 --> 00:46:26,368
- We'd sit down first they'd
get the little puppets out
835
00:46:26,368 --> 00:46:28,969
with all the anatomically
correct puppets and tell us
836
00:46:28,969 --> 00:46:31,488
what had happened, and we're
like, nothin', you know,
837
00:46:31,488 --> 00:46:33,268
sit there, gosh they hated that.
838
00:46:33,268 --> 00:46:34,915
They hated when we said nothin' happened.
839
00:46:34,915 --> 00:46:37,119
Eventually we figured out,
you know, well, they did
840
00:46:37,119 --> 00:46:39,067
that, you know.
841
00:46:39,067 --> 00:46:41,426
That sounds terrible.
842
00:46:41,426 --> 00:46:44,194
It made the counselors
happy, all of a sudden
843
00:46:44,194 --> 00:46:46,630
they're ecstatic because
we showed them somethin'
844
00:46:46,630 --> 00:46:48,986
that was awful with these puppets.
845
00:46:48,986 --> 00:46:51,234
- They promised me that
nobody would get in trouble
846
00:46:51,234 --> 00:46:52,567
or go to prison.
847
00:46:57,642 --> 00:46:59,148
When we call you to the stand,
848
00:46:59,148 --> 00:47:00,592
this is what you're gonna say.
849
00:47:00,592 --> 00:47:02,832
They would ask me the same
questions and be like yes
850
00:47:02,832 --> 00:47:04,871
and no and yes.
851
00:47:04,871 --> 00:47:07,065
- You could tell it was a mad-lib story
852
00:47:07,065 --> 00:47:09,162
with all the kids.
853
00:47:09,162 --> 00:47:10,311
Almost the same.
854
00:47:10,311 --> 00:47:12,086
They didn't really change much up.
855
00:47:12,086 --> 00:47:16,491
I told counselors and
teachers and everybody,
856
00:47:16,491 --> 00:47:19,684
a lot of authority figures,
which didn't give me any
857
00:47:19,684 --> 00:47:21,017
help whatsoever.
858
00:47:33,680 --> 00:47:36,923
- Ever since John went to
jail, I was always scared,
859
00:47:36,923 --> 00:47:39,478
you know, because I knew
that I lied and they told me
860
00:47:39,478 --> 00:47:43,818
to lie and it wasn't
something that I wanted to do.
861
00:47:43,818 --> 00:47:45,528
Family members
of the convicted were trying
862
00:47:45,528 --> 00:47:48,219
to prove this kind of
coercion was going on.
863
00:47:48,219 --> 00:47:51,403
They formed a group called
Victims of Child Abuse
864
00:47:51,403 --> 00:47:53,574
Legislation, or VOCAL.
865
00:47:53,574 --> 00:47:57,089
- They're leading these kids
into saying what their saying.
866
00:47:57,089 --> 00:48:00,618
And then there are some,
from some of the reports that
867
00:48:00,618 --> 00:48:03,917
VOCAL has received, that are
just out there for convictions
868
00:48:03,917 --> 00:48:06,525
only and they don't care
what they have to do to
869
00:48:06,525 --> 00:48:08,524
get those convictions.
870
00:48:08,524 --> 00:48:10,482
- If you're just simply gonna
refuse to believe that the
871
00:48:10,482 --> 00:48:13,394
suspect could've done it,
this relative of yours,
872
00:48:13,394 --> 00:48:17,397
that's to say the cops
brainwashed the kids.
873
00:48:17,397 --> 00:48:21,564
They have relatives whom they
simply can't believe did it.
874
00:48:26,275 --> 00:48:29,023
In 1985 the
sexual molestation allegations
875
00:48:29,023 --> 00:48:31,162
took a more sinister turn .
876
00:48:31,162 --> 00:48:33,394
The sheriff's department
began investigating charges
877
00:48:33,394 --> 00:48:36,644
of satanic worship and human sacrifice.
878
00:48:39,630 --> 00:48:42,105
- You gotta realize how
crazy this thing got.
879
00:48:42,105 --> 00:48:45,795
Here they are diggin' up
this land with a back hoe,
880
00:48:45,795 --> 00:48:48,404
doin' infrared, lookin' for bodies.
881
00:48:48,404 --> 00:48:49,994
They didn't find anything.
882
00:48:49,994 --> 00:48:52,563
You know, there wasn't anything there.
883
00:48:52,563 --> 00:48:54,350
The Cummings
and their children were still
884
00:48:54,350 --> 00:48:57,363
on the run, but they couldn't
get far enough away from
885
00:48:57,363 --> 00:49:00,336
the new wave of frightening allegations.
886
00:49:00,336 --> 00:49:02,791
Investigators caught
up with them at a motel
887
00:49:02,791 --> 00:49:05,865
hundreds of miles from Bakersfield.
888
00:49:05,865 --> 00:49:08,242
They suspected the
Cummings were involved in
889
00:49:08,242 --> 00:49:09,993
satanic rituals.
890
00:49:09,993 --> 00:49:12,121
- They knocked on the
door, grabbed the kids,
891
00:49:12,121 --> 00:49:14,353
didn't arrest us, just
grabbed the kids in the middle
892
00:49:14,353 --> 00:49:17,118
of the night and left with them.
893
00:49:17,118 --> 00:49:20,083
- There's nothing worse than
you've got a kid clawing
894
00:49:20,083 --> 00:49:22,464
you, I had claw marks on my
back because he didn't wanna
895
00:49:22,464 --> 00:49:23,828
let go of me.
896
00:49:23,828 --> 00:49:25,943
And then you've got people
with guns telling you to
897
00:49:25,943 --> 00:49:27,402
put him in a strange car.
898
00:49:27,402 --> 00:49:30,417
I refused, I was like no, you do it.
899
00:49:30,417 --> 00:49:34,435
But yeah, he was screaming
and clawing me as they
900
00:49:34,435 --> 00:49:36,075
pulled him away from me.
901
00:49:36,075 --> 00:49:37,658
It was devastating.
902
00:49:40,020 --> 00:49:42,384
The Cummings were not alone.
903
00:49:42,384 --> 00:49:44,524
Many kids connected to
the satanic cases were
904
00:49:44,524 --> 00:49:46,497
in protective custody.
905
00:49:46,497 --> 00:49:50,018
Even though most of their parents
were not yet under arrest.
906
00:49:50,018 --> 00:49:51,845
28 children
involved in the case are
907
00:49:51,845 --> 00:49:54,819
under the care of the county's
child protective services.
908
00:49:54,819 --> 00:49:57,254
The head of that division
says he's confident
909
00:49:57,254 --> 00:50:00,249
the system is working
properly and that parents are
910
00:50:00,249 --> 00:50:02,692
not being denied due process.
911
00:50:02,692 --> 00:50:06,064
- We cannot hold people's
children without going to court,
912
00:50:06,064 --> 00:50:09,940
without showing why we're
holding their children,
913
00:50:09,940 --> 00:50:14,509
and without a judge agreeing
that there is sufficient
914
00:50:14,509 --> 00:50:18,349
evidence that these
children would be in danger
915
00:50:18,349 --> 00:50:21,375
if they went back to the parents.
916
00:50:21,375 --> 00:50:23,165
- By the time they'd picked
our kids up and we got
917
00:50:23,165 --> 00:50:24,805
back to Bakersfield, the
allegations had gotten
918
00:50:24,805 --> 00:50:26,171
real outlandish.
919
00:50:26,171 --> 00:50:29,643
We started getting the
witchcraft and the satanism.
920
00:50:29,643 --> 00:50:32,532
Police reports saying
we'd murdered, you know,
921
00:50:32,532 --> 00:50:35,361
her nephew saying we'd
murdered dogs and wolves
922
00:50:35,361 --> 00:50:37,330
and bears and just pretty much anything in
923
00:50:37,330 --> 00:50:42,086
the animal kingdom was
open for sacrifice I guess.
924
00:50:42,086 --> 00:50:43,808
One youngster
told sheriffs he saw
925
00:50:43,808 --> 00:50:46,291
Cummings stab his young
son to death during
926
00:50:46,291 --> 00:50:47,929
a satanic ritual.
927
00:50:47,929 --> 00:50:49,897
The son is alive and in protective custody
928
00:50:49,897 --> 00:50:53,775
and Cummings has never
been questioned or charged.
929
00:50:53,775 --> 00:50:54,979
- We live for our kids.
930
00:50:54,979 --> 00:50:57,812
We didn't go out at night and
leave them with babysitters
931
00:50:57,812 --> 00:50:59,301
and things like that.
932
00:50:59,301 --> 00:51:02,338
When that little boy was
born, that was the happiest
933
00:51:02,338 --> 00:51:03,588
day of my life.
934
00:51:06,992 --> 00:51:07,992
What's left?
935
00:51:11,937 --> 00:51:13,708
Horrific
headlines in the paper pushed
936
00:51:13,708 --> 00:51:15,588
Kern County's grand jury
to seek outside help from
937
00:51:15,588 --> 00:51:19,101
the top lawmaker in the
state, attorney general,
938
00:51:19,101 --> 00:51:20,518
John Van De Kamp.
939
00:51:21,623 --> 00:51:25,229
- Each DA has tremendous
authority in his own county
940
00:51:25,229 --> 00:51:28,968
and the only time an
attorney general can step in
941
00:51:28,968 --> 00:51:32,448
is essentially law and
order has broken down
942
00:51:32,448 --> 00:51:34,615
in a very significant way.
943
00:51:36,062 --> 00:51:37,966
The attorney
general sent dozens of
944
00:51:37,966 --> 00:51:42,126
investigators to Kern County
to look into the satanic cases.
945
00:51:42,126 --> 00:51:45,271
After months of analysis,
Van De Kamp's office issued
946
00:51:45,271 --> 00:51:47,413
a report finding major
problems with the way
947
00:51:47,413 --> 00:51:49,760
the Kern County sheriff,
district attorney,
948
00:51:49,760 --> 00:51:53,760
and child protective
services handled the cases.
949
00:51:55,699 --> 00:51:59,250
- Their training was very
deficient in this whole area
950
00:51:59,250 --> 00:52:01,815
among all the departments.
951
00:52:01,815 --> 00:52:03,648
Protocols were absent.
952
00:52:04,518 --> 00:52:06,663
- Among specific findings
in the report, there are
953
00:52:06,663 --> 00:52:09,496
recommendations that
agencies that investigate
954
00:52:09,496 --> 00:52:12,659
child molestation cases
have a set of guidelines.
955
00:52:12,659 --> 00:52:16,131
Among specific criticism
was too much questioning
956
00:52:16,131 --> 00:52:19,183
of the alleged victims,
the questioning, they say,
957
00:52:19,183 --> 00:52:23,350
is being conducted by those
who were not properly trained.
958
00:52:27,512 --> 00:52:30,191
- At that point, everyone
believed that what the kids
959
00:52:30,191 --> 00:52:34,079
were telling the children's
protective service folks
960
00:52:34,079 --> 00:52:36,496
truthful, why would they lie?
961
00:52:37,476 --> 00:52:41,643
Well, you know it depends
on the underlying facts,
962
00:52:42,878 --> 00:52:45,045
what led to the statement.
963
00:52:46,232 --> 00:52:48,076
Children are innocent.
964
00:52:48,076 --> 00:52:51,594
Most of the time they probably won't lie.
965
00:52:51,594 --> 00:52:55,560
But if it's being fed to them
what to say and so forth,
966
00:52:55,560 --> 00:52:58,478
I mean, it's a very
delicate kind of a situation
967
00:52:58,478 --> 00:53:01,326
and it needed to be treated
with sensitivity, yes,
968
00:53:01,326 --> 00:53:03,885
but at the same time,
if they're to be useful
969
00:53:03,885 --> 00:53:07,868
and if they're gonna send
somebody away for 10, 15, 20
970
00:53:07,868 --> 00:53:11,160
years, then you have to
be able to make sure that
971
00:53:11,160 --> 00:53:13,993
they're not dealt with improperly,
972
00:53:15,236 --> 00:53:18,787
that you are getting the
truth and what they are saying
973
00:53:18,787 --> 00:53:20,847
is corroborated.
974
00:53:20,847 --> 00:53:22,713
Rouline
Pitts, the co-founder of
975
00:53:22,713 --> 00:53:24,873
Victims of Child Abuse
Legislation, says these findings
976
00:53:24,873 --> 00:53:28,080
are what they've been
fighting for all along.
977
00:53:28,080 --> 00:53:30,907
- We don't wanna see some of
these people that are guilty
978
00:53:30,907 --> 00:53:32,240
get away with it.
979
00:53:32,240 --> 00:53:34,381
All we want to see is these
children protected and
980
00:53:34,381 --> 00:53:36,464
these families protected.
981
00:53:39,367 --> 00:53:41,693
Fueled by the
attorney general's findings,
982
00:53:41,693 --> 00:53:43,713
defense attorneys returned
to court to try to free
983
00:53:43,713 --> 00:53:44,880
the convicted.
984
00:53:51,856 --> 00:53:55,627
- We gave, to defense counsel
and to private counsel,
985
00:53:55,627 --> 00:53:56,960
some ammunition.
986
00:53:58,745 --> 00:54:00,930
Even so, it took
years to get the first case
987
00:54:00,930 --> 00:54:02,597
in front of a judge.
988
00:54:16,579 --> 00:54:19,912
- Six years, five months and three days.
989
00:54:20,948 --> 00:54:22,727
That's how
long Rick Putts spent
990
00:54:22,727 --> 00:54:26,123
behind bars in some of
California's meanest prisons.
991
00:54:26,123 --> 00:54:29,971
He and six others,
including his wife Marcella,
992
00:54:29,971 --> 00:54:33,288
were the first of Kern County's
notorious sex molesters
993
00:54:33,288 --> 00:54:36,121
to get their convictions reversed.
994
00:54:38,377 --> 00:54:41,852
- As you can imagine, it's
pretty good to be out.
995
00:54:41,852 --> 00:54:44,865
Pretty good feelin', but our
kids all grown up by then.
996
00:54:44,865 --> 00:54:48,082
Missed a lot of good years with our kids.
997
00:54:55,291 --> 00:54:56,713
We didn't have nothin'.
998
00:54:56,713 --> 00:55:00,880
We was livin' in a neighbor's
trailer behind his house.
999
00:55:08,429 --> 00:55:12,713
- When the Pitts got out,
and then we lost our appeal,
1000
00:55:12,713 --> 00:55:14,796
it was devastating to us.
1001
00:55:17,701 --> 00:55:20,713
- I wrote to this big
amnesty thing in Canada
1002
00:55:20,713 --> 00:55:23,148
and they wrote back that
they were terribly sorry
1003
00:55:23,148 --> 00:55:24,920
after sending me two letters
and saying they knew I
1004
00:55:24,920 --> 00:55:27,595
was innocent and they knew,
they knew I was innocent.
1005
00:55:27,595 --> 00:55:31,762
But then they had lost funding
so they couldn't continue.
1006
00:55:32,685 --> 00:55:34,886
So they just as much told me,
hey, we know you didn't do it,
1007
00:55:34,886 --> 00:55:37,127
but we can't do anything about it.
1008
00:55:37,127 --> 00:55:40,797
- It seemed like every
time we had our hopes up
1009
00:55:40,797 --> 00:55:44,750
that the door got slammed
on us for a long time.
1010
00:55:44,750 --> 00:55:49,317
- The whole way through
the system, on and off,
1011
00:55:49,317 --> 00:55:52,619
I would get encouraged by something.
1012
00:55:52,619 --> 00:55:54,680
Then I would try to write again.
1013
00:55:54,680 --> 00:55:58,669
But when enough people just
stop helping or offering
1014
00:55:58,669 --> 00:56:01,438
to help and stop even answering your mail,
1015
00:56:01,438 --> 00:56:03,355
you kinda stop writing.
1016
00:56:04,224 --> 00:56:08,714
- As the years go by, I still
kept feeling I'd go home.
1017
00:56:08,714 --> 00:56:10,672
I kept thinking the boys
would get old enough,
1018
00:56:10,672 --> 00:56:14,255
come back, tell the
truth and we'd go home.
1019
00:56:20,403 --> 00:56:23,887
After six
more years, and hundreds of
1020
00:56:23,887 --> 00:56:26,437
letters, Scott and Brenda
Kniffen finally saw each other
1021
00:56:26,437 --> 00:56:30,341
again when they got their
long awaited day in court.
1022
00:56:30,341 --> 00:56:32,478
- He had less hair.
1023
00:56:32,478 --> 00:56:34,765
- She told me in court when
she first saw me after,
1024
00:56:34,765 --> 00:56:36,779
what eight years or whatever,
1025
00:56:36,779 --> 00:56:39,446
"God honey, you need Rogain."
1026
00:56:41,652 --> 00:56:42,985
- Well, you did.
1027
00:56:44,975 --> 00:56:48,581
- Our boys recanted, so that
opened it back up for us.
1028
00:56:48,581 --> 00:56:50,736
- There was selective
reinforcement of certain kinds
1029
00:56:50,736 --> 00:56:53,976
of responses and there
are a number of studies
1030
00:56:53,976 --> 00:56:57,340
in literature that show
that when this constellation
1031
00:56:57,340 --> 00:57:00,609
of forces comes together,
that you can get children
1032
00:57:00,609 --> 00:57:04,504
to make statements about
things that never happened.
1033
00:57:04,504 --> 00:57:08,814
Statements that can be
really quite damaging.
1034
00:57:08,814 --> 00:57:11,043
The Kniffen's
case was strong, focusing
1035
00:57:11,043 --> 00:57:13,541
on the issue of improper
questioning techniques that
1036
00:57:13,541 --> 00:57:16,219
generated false testimony
from their children.
1037
00:57:16,219 --> 00:57:19,169
- They said that the kids had grown up and
1038
00:57:19,169 --> 00:57:23,336
weren't able to testify
again or something like that
1039
00:57:24,805 --> 00:57:28,294
and that the cases were
overturned on a technicality,
1040
00:57:28,294 --> 00:57:32,204
that they'll never come out
and say you're innocent.
1041
00:57:32,204 --> 00:57:34,736
- We didn't expect a
judge from Kern County to
1042
00:57:34,736 --> 00:57:36,736
reverse our convictions.
1043
00:57:37,729 --> 00:57:40,055
It was the first time a
Kern County judge reversed
1044
00:57:40,055 --> 00:57:43,555
a conviction instead of the appeals court.
1045
00:58:15,121 --> 00:58:17,954
- Hi, I didn't even recognize you.
1046
00:58:19,657 --> 00:58:20,740
I want a hug.
1047
00:58:29,616 --> 00:58:31,306
It was great, you know.
1048
00:58:31,306 --> 00:58:32,389
Tears of joy.
1049
00:58:33,584 --> 00:58:36,495
- Well my aunt gave a big party for us.
1050
00:58:36,495 --> 00:58:38,162
Everybody was there.
1051
00:58:45,088 --> 00:58:47,505
Everything had changed a lot.
1052
00:58:49,327 --> 00:58:52,153
And then you kind of feel like
you're a stranger, don't you?
1053
00:58:52,153 --> 00:58:53,155
- Yeah.
1054
00:58:53,155 --> 00:58:55,130
- Even with family and stuff.
1055
00:59:25,259 --> 00:59:28,390
The Kniffen's
friends, Alvin and Debra McCuan,
1056
00:59:28,390 --> 00:59:32,557
were also freed after their
convictions were reversed.
1057
00:59:39,366 --> 00:59:41,790
Three years later, Jeff
Modahl got a chance to prove
1058
00:59:41,790 --> 00:59:42,957
his innocence.
1059
00:59:43,853 --> 00:59:46,491
As the hearing began, a
box of evidence surfaced
1060
00:59:46,491 --> 00:59:51,071
which had been in an
investigator's garage for years.
1061
00:59:51,071 --> 00:59:52,977
- They asked him to send
anything he had on the Modahl
1062
00:59:52,977 --> 00:59:53,810
case so he just threw it
all on and didn't even
1063
00:59:53,810 --> 00:59:55,572
go through it.
1064
00:59:55,572 --> 00:59:58,322
And he sent them the smoking gun.
1065
01:00:06,233 --> 01:00:09,659
- When you find medical
evidence that was hidden
1066
01:00:09,659 --> 01:00:13,826
from the defense that said
point blank there is no
1067
01:00:17,181 --> 01:00:19,848
sexual molestation at this time.
1068
01:00:23,915 --> 01:00:25,986
- They kept saying that
didn't take any medical exams
1069
01:00:25,986 --> 01:00:27,787
and then they found one
that said there's nothing
1070
01:00:27,787 --> 01:00:30,270
wrong with the child, and they
had hid it all those years
1071
01:00:30,270 --> 01:00:32,543
and they found it, somebody just found it.
1072
01:00:32,543 --> 01:00:34,140
The attorney
general's investigation
1073
01:00:34,140 --> 01:00:38,307
found many instances like
this of withheld evidence.
1074
01:00:39,939 --> 01:00:43,918
- There were times when
evidence was not disclosed,
1075
01:00:43,918 --> 01:00:48,298
that if a child was taken
in for a medical examination
1076
01:00:48,298 --> 01:00:52,222
the only time that that would be revealed,
1077
01:00:52,222 --> 01:00:56,546
let's say to the DA, was
when it was inculpatory,
1078
01:00:56,546 --> 01:00:59,263
when there was some evidence of abuse,
1079
01:00:59,263 --> 01:01:02,799
but not, if there has been no evidence,
1080
01:01:02,799 --> 01:01:04,632
nothing would come in.
1081
01:01:06,134 --> 01:01:09,924
- They sat there with
evidence that could've gotten
1082
01:01:09,924 --> 01:01:12,665
me out of prison 15 years before then.
1083
01:01:12,665 --> 01:01:15,311
Actually I'd have never been
convicted, not got me out
1084
01:01:15,311 --> 01:01:16,144
of prison.
1085
01:01:17,284 --> 01:01:21,717
Then my lawyers would
have said, what's this?
1086
01:01:21,717 --> 01:01:25,884
And that's reasonable doubt,
that's all you needed.
1087
01:01:28,070 --> 01:01:30,733
In that garage
along with the medical reports
1088
01:01:30,733 --> 01:01:32,816
was a long cassette tape.
1089
01:01:34,980 --> 01:01:38,560
- On it was a recording
of law enforcement and
1090
01:01:38,560 --> 01:01:41,775
a social worker interrogating,
essentially, interrogating
1091
01:01:41,775 --> 01:01:44,977
a child and it demonstrated many of
1092
01:01:44,977 --> 01:01:47,215
the inappropriate techniques.
1093
01:01:47,215 --> 01:01:50,407
- That's how Modahl got out, that tape.
1094
01:01:50,407 --> 01:01:53,614
Just what everybody said
they were doing to the kids
1095
01:01:53,614 --> 01:01:55,847
was on that tape.
1096
01:01:55,847 --> 01:01:58,720
Did that happen
before they tied you down
1097
01:01:58,720 --> 01:02:01,053
or after or do you remember?
1098
01:02:03,882 --> 01:02:04,988
It happened after.
1099
01:02:04,988 --> 01:02:06,954
After they tied you down?
1100
01:02:06,954 --> 01:02:08,455
What did they do, got on the bed and just
1101
01:02:08,455 --> 01:02:10,172
put it in your mouth?
1102
01:02:12,463 --> 01:02:15,022
This tape was
proof of what the attorney
1103
01:02:15,022 --> 01:02:19,870
general's office wrote about
in its report 14 years earlier.
1104
01:02:19,870 --> 01:02:22,751
- In a sense, the
investigators really telling
1105
01:02:22,751 --> 01:02:25,217
the children what happened
and the children saying yes
1106
01:02:25,217 --> 01:02:29,602
or whatever and being sort
of led into statements
1107
01:02:29,602 --> 01:02:33,280
rather than having them just,
rather than say what happened,
1108
01:02:33,280 --> 01:02:34,947
did anything happen?
1109
01:02:36,042 --> 01:02:38,391
Now Theresa,
the last time that it happened
1110
01:02:38,391 --> 01:02:43,098
was in the summer of '83 at
grandma's house on Cottonwood.
1111
01:02:43,098 --> 01:02:45,931
The time before that, when was it?
1112
01:02:47,813 --> 01:02:49,451
I don't remember.
1113
01:02:49,451 --> 01:02:52,964
Was it like weeks or days?
1114
01:02:52,964 --> 01:02:54,968
When I asked
you before you told me that
1115
01:02:54,968 --> 01:02:56,849
it happened a lot of times.
1116
01:02:56,849 --> 01:02:59,775
Happened off and on all the
time between the first time
1117
01:02:59,775 --> 01:03:03,025
it started in 1980 until summer of '83.
1118
01:03:04,538 --> 01:03:07,127
And you told me that, remember
how frequently you said
1119
01:03:07,127 --> 01:03:07,960
it would happen?
1120
01:03:07,960 --> 01:03:10,120
You said not every week,
but how often about?
1121
01:03:10,120 --> 01:03:10,953
Once a month.
1122
01:03:10,953 --> 01:03:13,703
About once a month.
1123
01:03:16,036 --> 01:03:17,858
After hearing
the tape recording of
1124
01:03:17,858 --> 01:03:21,525
Jeff Modahl's daughter,
the judge freed him.
1125
01:03:33,460 --> 01:03:35,582
Today is the
first day in the last 15
1126
01:03:35,582 --> 01:03:38,782
years Jeffrey Modahl has
woken up and he is not
1127
01:03:38,782 --> 01:03:40,032
in a jail cell.
1128
01:03:42,013 --> 01:03:46,314
- How many days, years,
that I had to do that.
1129
01:03:46,314 --> 01:03:50,064
To wake up this morning
was pretty fantastic.
1130
01:03:51,847 --> 01:03:56,014
- Jeff was the one that told
the Innocence Project about me.
1131
01:03:59,745 --> 01:04:01,491
He told his attorney
and his attorney called
1132
01:04:01,491 --> 01:04:03,324
the Innocence Project.
1133
01:04:04,178 --> 01:04:06,162
When I got the mail from
the Northern California
1134
01:04:06,162 --> 01:04:08,722
Innocence Project, I
didn't have a clue who or
1135
01:04:08,722 --> 01:04:10,267
what they were.
1136
01:04:10,267 --> 01:04:12,259
I just thought it was another
one of them do-gooder outfits
1137
01:04:12,259 --> 01:04:16,426
that, you know, pour your guts
out to them and they let ya.
1138
01:04:17,417 --> 01:04:20,093
- We're a group of lawyers
and law students and we are
1139
01:04:20,093 --> 01:04:23,659
trying to really meet
a need which is address
1140
01:04:23,659 --> 01:04:26,300
the problems of people who
are innocent serving time
1141
01:04:26,300 --> 01:04:27,412
in California prisons.
1142
01:04:27,412 --> 01:04:30,222
- You gotta realize I've
written to hundreds of people
1143
01:04:30,222 --> 01:04:33,819
and I got another letter
and it sounded really great,
1144
01:04:33,819 --> 01:04:36,286
you know, please answer this
questionnaire, and I thought,
1145
01:04:36,286 --> 01:04:38,675
do I really wanna put
myself through this again,
1146
01:04:38,675 --> 01:04:39,758
because it's.
1147
01:04:41,172 --> 01:04:44,926
You leave a lot behind but
every time you have to drag
1148
01:04:44,926 --> 01:04:48,322
it back out and tell it
again, it still hurts just
1149
01:04:48,322 --> 01:04:51,072
as much as it did the first time.
1150
01:04:52,426 --> 01:04:55,041
John decided
to take the emotional risk.
1151
01:04:55,041 --> 01:04:59,208
He filled out the questionnaire
and waited for a response.
1152
01:05:01,241 --> 01:05:05,231
- So I get this letter,
we're coming to see you.
1153
01:05:05,231 --> 01:05:09,204
Yes, an attorney, just
like that, came to see me
1154
01:05:09,204 --> 01:05:10,851
in prison.
1155
01:05:10,851 --> 01:05:13,544
I couldn't get anybody to
come and see me anywhere
1156
01:05:13,544 --> 01:05:15,061
and here they came.
1157
01:05:15,061 --> 01:05:17,713
- He answered everything
as openly and truthfully
1158
01:05:17,713 --> 01:05:18,851
as he could.
1159
01:05:18,851 --> 01:05:21,590
He was emotional at times.
1160
01:05:21,590 --> 01:05:24,923
It was difficult to be in
the presence of his emotions.
1161
01:05:24,923 --> 01:05:28,593
When he spoke about his
son and how he lost his son
1162
01:05:28,593 --> 01:05:32,010
and his regret over that and his sadness.
1163
01:05:34,024 --> 01:05:35,624
It was very difficult.
1164
01:05:35,624 --> 01:05:38,200
- She's really serious and
she believes me and she
1165
01:05:38,200 --> 01:05:40,394
tells me she does.
1166
01:05:40,394 --> 01:05:42,977
That was a pretty cool feeling.
1167
01:05:44,046 --> 01:05:46,918
She said, "We don't believe
you did this and we're
1168
01:05:46,918 --> 01:05:49,835
"gonna do our best to get you out."
1169
01:05:50,757 --> 01:05:53,637
- Not long after we decided
we would look into the case,
1170
01:05:53,637 --> 01:05:57,453
we spoke with the boys,
now young men, and that was
1171
01:05:57,453 --> 01:05:59,763
completely compelling.
1172
01:05:59,763 --> 01:06:01,846
To speak with them, hear
their story about what had
1173
01:06:01,846 --> 01:06:06,618
happened to them was very,
it was overwhelming to us
1174
01:06:06,618 --> 01:06:10,285
that we knew we now had
to pursue this case.
1175
01:06:11,315 --> 01:06:13,487
For John and for them.
1176
01:06:13,487 --> 01:06:15,811
- I was relieved once I talked to them.
1177
01:06:15,811 --> 01:06:18,768
And I guess there was some correspondence
1178
01:06:18,768 --> 01:06:20,362
between me and John,
1179
01:06:20,362 --> 01:06:23,897
and he's like, hey, everything's cool.
1180
01:06:23,897 --> 01:06:27,136
I know, you know, he wasn't
blaming me for stuff.
1181
01:06:27,136 --> 01:06:29,282
'Cause I felt like really guilty.
1182
01:06:29,282 --> 01:06:31,022
Like there's something
else I could've done.
1183
01:06:31,022 --> 01:06:33,092
But I just didn't know what
and I'd asked so many people,
1184
01:06:33,092 --> 01:06:34,892
nobody could help.
1185
01:06:34,892 --> 01:06:37,204
Here comes this Innocence Project.
1186
01:06:37,204 --> 01:06:40,755
It was like a guardian angel or something.
1187
01:06:40,755 --> 01:06:43,557
- Each one of them explained
how they had been questioned,
1188
01:06:43,557 --> 01:06:45,919
the pressure that had been put upon them,
1189
01:06:45,919 --> 01:06:49,638
the fears that they had,
the way they felt obligated
1190
01:06:49,638 --> 01:06:52,501
to say what it was that
law enforcement made,
1191
01:06:52,501 --> 01:06:54,700
and the social workers
made very clear to them
1192
01:06:54,700 --> 01:06:56,520
they wanted them to say.
1193
01:06:56,520 --> 01:06:57,809
And that's why they said it.
1194
01:06:57,809 --> 01:07:01,406
And they made very clear
they had, that nothing had
1195
01:07:01,406 --> 01:07:03,239
ever happened to them.
1196
01:07:11,087 --> 01:07:13,128
Armed
with these recantations,
1197
01:07:13,128 --> 01:07:15,533
the Innocence Project petitioned
the court for a hearing
1198
01:07:15,533 --> 01:07:19,200
so they could prove
John Stoll was innocent.
1199
01:07:22,082 --> 01:07:24,180
We got a notice
saying that there was going to
1200
01:07:24,180 --> 01:07:26,241
be an evidentiary hearing on the case.
1201
01:07:26,241 --> 01:07:29,301
And that was, you know,
that was a huge step for us
1202
01:07:29,301 --> 01:07:31,315
to be able to get into
a courtroom and prove
1203
01:07:31,315 --> 01:07:33,648
what we knew to be the case.
1204
01:07:39,363 --> 01:07:41,773
- The kids came forward
and they told what happened
1205
01:07:41,773 --> 01:07:45,316
and it was just such a wonderful feeling.
1206
01:07:45,316 --> 01:07:47,538
Five of the
child witnesses came forward
1207
01:07:47,538 --> 01:07:50,888
to recant the statements
they made 20 years earlier.
1208
01:07:50,888 --> 01:07:54,539
But there was still one potential
obstacle for John Stoll,
1209
01:07:54,539 --> 01:07:58,622
his own son Jed still
thought he'd been molested.
1210
01:08:02,744 --> 01:08:04,735
- He didn't say very much,
I mean, that was the most
1211
01:08:04,735 --> 01:08:06,848
remarkable thing about what he did say,
1212
01:08:06,848 --> 01:08:10,904
which was I believe that I
was molested by my father.
1213
01:08:10,904 --> 01:08:13,052
I have no recollection of it.
1214
01:08:13,052 --> 01:08:15,714
I have no recollection
of any specific act.
1215
01:08:15,714 --> 01:08:18,377
I have no recollection
of any of these people.
1216
01:08:18,377 --> 01:08:21,569
I have no recollection of
any of the other defendants.
1217
01:08:21,569 --> 01:08:23,379
I don't remember the children.
1218
01:08:23,379 --> 01:08:25,822
I don't remember anything,
essentially, except that I
1219
01:08:25,822 --> 01:08:27,938
know I was molested.
1220
01:08:27,938 --> 01:08:29,795
- Jed was the hardest part.
1221
01:08:29,795 --> 01:08:33,735
But I, I feel sorry for
Jed and sorry that he feels
1222
01:08:33,735 --> 01:08:36,243
that way, but I didn't do
anything so I'm not carrying
1223
01:08:36,243 --> 01:08:37,076
any guilt.
1224
01:08:38,061 --> 01:08:39,810
It's a burden to know
that your son thinks you
1225
01:08:39,810 --> 01:08:41,665
did something to him.
1226
01:08:41,665 --> 01:08:45,248
Even if you didn't,
it's still pretty hard.
1227
01:08:46,098 --> 01:08:47,895
The prosecution
counted on Jed Stoll's
1228
01:08:47,895 --> 01:08:50,218
testimony to convince the
judge that the molestation had
1229
01:08:50,218 --> 01:08:51,051
happened.
1230
01:08:52,092 --> 01:08:55,385
As the other boys recanted,
the prosecutor, Lisa Green,
1231
01:08:55,385 --> 01:08:58,173
fought to discredit them.
1232
01:08:58,173 --> 01:09:01,203
- When Lisa Green was asking
the questions, like, you know,
1233
01:09:01,203 --> 01:09:05,370
you're lying, are you
lying now, pretty much.
1234
01:09:05,370 --> 01:09:07,368
And I would say no, I'm not lying.
1235
01:09:07,368 --> 01:09:08,818
Well why would you lie then?
1236
01:09:08,818 --> 01:09:13,455
I was six years old, that's
just what they told me to do.
1237
01:09:13,455 --> 01:09:15,414
That's what they told me to say.
1238
01:09:15,414 --> 01:09:17,895
- Their voracity was questioned.
1239
01:09:17,895 --> 01:09:20,418
They were challenged, they
were even accused of lying.
1240
01:09:20,418 --> 01:09:23,554
The motive for that was never
really made very clear why
1241
01:09:23,554 --> 01:09:26,903
they would seek to come
forward in this public way
1242
01:09:26,903 --> 01:09:29,776
with this humiliating
information, to what end
1243
01:09:29,776 --> 01:09:31,695
what they would gain from it.
1244
01:09:31,695 --> 01:09:32,779
It's preposterous.
1245
01:09:32,779 --> 01:09:34,292
They would gain nothing from it.
1246
01:09:34,292 --> 01:09:36,815
But that was the approach that was taken,
1247
01:09:36,815 --> 01:09:39,283
was that they were
somehow making this up for
1248
01:09:39,283 --> 01:09:40,937
some unknown reason.
1249
01:09:40,937 --> 01:09:42,668
- Go in there and hear
her say all that stuff and
1250
01:09:42,668 --> 01:09:44,857
hear her badger the kids,
treat the children the way
1251
01:09:44,857 --> 01:09:47,367
she did, you know, call
them liars, said they were
1252
01:09:47,367 --> 01:09:49,867
doing it for their own profit.
1253
01:09:53,874 --> 01:09:55,695
After five
months of hearings, the judge
1254
01:09:55,695 --> 01:09:57,945
finally came to a decision.
1255
01:09:59,576 --> 01:10:03,876
- The worst moment, worse
than my conviction was the day
1256
01:10:03,876 --> 01:10:07,321
the judge was reading his decision.
1257
01:10:07,321 --> 01:10:10,333
And at the beginning it didn't sound good.
1258
01:10:10,333 --> 01:10:12,996
- I thought from his first
words that he was saying
1259
01:10:12,996 --> 01:10:16,008
he was granting the writ,
and then he goes on to say
1260
01:10:16,008 --> 01:10:19,191
all the problems with the
case and it's not clear to me
1261
01:10:19,191 --> 01:10:21,806
that maybe I misheard what
he said at the beginning
1262
01:10:21,806 --> 01:10:23,351
and he wasn't granting it.
1263
01:10:23,351 --> 01:10:26,397
- And I actually thought I
was gonna have a heart attack.
1264
01:10:26,397 --> 01:10:28,300
'Cause I'm looking around,
my ears are buzzing,
1265
01:10:28,300 --> 01:10:33,156
and I can hear my heart just
bang, bang, bang, bang, bang.
1266
01:10:33,156 --> 01:10:35,948
The petitioner
has met his burden of showing
1267
01:10:35,948 --> 01:10:40,115
that the interviewing techniques
used by a child protective
1268
01:10:41,233 --> 01:10:44,166
service worker and Kern
County sheriff's officer
1269
01:10:44,166 --> 01:10:48,333
resulted in unreliable testimony
of the child witnesses.
1270
01:10:49,538 --> 01:10:53,580
Consequently, petitioners
remaining claim that his
1271
01:10:53,580 --> 01:10:57,747
conviction was the result
of false testimony is moot.
1272
01:11:01,776 --> 01:11:05,943
Petitioners motion is granted
and the judgement rendered
1273
01:11:07,653 --> 01:11:10,486
against the petitioner is vacated.
1274
01:11:32,329 --> 01:11:33,797
It was tremendous.
1275
01:11:33,797 --> 01:11:37,464
It was relief like
you've never experienced.
1276
01:11:40,647 --> 01:11:43,265
- That was one of the happiest
days of my life I think.
1277
01:11:43,265 --> 01:11:46,521
When I seen that on TV when he walked out.
1278
01:11:46,521 --> 01:11:49,271
There's nothing better than that.
1279
01:11:55,432 --> 01:11:56,961
I was happy.
1280
01:11:56,961 --> 01:12:00,711
Like somebody let this
huge weight off of me.
1281
01:12:45,442 --> 01:12:48,357
Today as they
start their own families,
1282
01:12:48,357 --> 01:12:51,464
the children are still
struggling to live normal lives.
1283
01:12:59,433 --> 01:13:01,516
- I carry a lot of guilt.
1284
01:13:06,651 --> 01:13:08,277
It's been hard.
1285
01:13:08,277 --> 01:13:10,556
- It's really complicated
and it's frustrating
1286
01:13:10,556 --> 01:13:12,639
to sort out the emotions.
1287
01:13:19,021 --> 01:13:22,123
- I think a lot of them do
a lot of drugs and alcohol
1288
01:13:22,123 --> 01:13:24,534
just trying to escape
something, I don't know,
1289
01:13:24,534 --> 01:13:26,328
they can't forgive themselves.
1290
01:13:26,328 --> 01:13:29,303
I know it's had a lasting affect on them.
1291
01:13:29,303 --> 01:13:31,637
- If this would've never
happened, first of all,
1292
01:13:31,637 --> 01:13:34,376
I would've never even attempted a drug.
1293
01:13:34,376 --> 01:13:37,117
I would've never even thought of a drug.
1294
01:13:37,117 --> 01:13:39,176
When'd you get that story book, Jonathan?
1295
01:13:39,176 --> 01:13:40,410
- The story book?
1296
01:13:40,410 --> 01:13:41,243
- Yeah.
1297
01:13:41,243 --> 01:13:42,157
Here, you want the big one?
1298
01:13:42,157 --> 01:13:44,167
While Carla
Modahl's father Jeff was
1299
01:13:44,167 --> 01:13:48,167
in prison, she attempted
suicide more than once.
1300
01:13:53,893 --> 01:13:57,336
Brandon, our oldest
son, feels guilty to this day
1301
01:13:57,336 --> 01:13:59,965
because of us going to
prison and our families going
1302
01:13:59,965 --> 01:14:02,081
through this and we've
tried to convince him
1303
01:14:02,081 --> 01:14:05,257
he was only a kid and
they molded and pushed him
1304
01:14:05,257 --> 01:14:09,424
and forced him to say what he
said and we don't blame him.
1305
01:14:27,871 --> 01:14:31,286
- I'm mad at the court system
and I'm mad at the people
1306
01:14:31,286 --> 01:14:35,502
for not catching it and
I'm mad at the counselors
1307
01:14:35,502 --> 01:14:38,328
for reinstilling all theses
things and telling me
1308
01:14:38,328 --> 01:14:39,770
I was in denial as
opposed to saying, well,
1309
01:14:39,770 --> 01:14:41,069
maybe you weren't.
1310
01:14:41,069 --> 01:14:43,863
- Despise is a big word.
1311
01:14:43,863 --> 01:14:44,927
It's a hard word.
1312
01:14:44,927 --> 01:14:47,010
I think despise is a much
1313
01:14:49,864 --> 01:14:51,781
harsher word than hate.
1314
01:14:53,753 --> 01:14:55,850
And that's the way I feel
about authority figures
1315
01:14:55,850 --> 01:14:57,100
in Bakersfield.
1316
01:14:59,013 --> 01:15:01,347
- They took my innocence.
1317
01:15:01,347 --> 01:15:03,534
I feel raped by them, basically.
1318
01:15:03,534 --> 01:15:05,666
I didn't even know none
of this this stuff.
1319
01:15:05,666 --> 01:15:07,597
I didn't know kids were being molested.
1320
01:15:07,597 --> 01:15:10,063
I didn't, you know, I didn't have any clue
1321
01:15:10,063 --> 01:15:13,311
to any of that stuff, so basically
1322
01:15:13,311 --> 01:15:15,654
they threw all that
stuff in my head and all
1323
01:15:15,654 --> 01:15:17,385
the details and all that stuff.
1324
01:15:17,385 --> 01:15:19,438
- I definitely don't
do well with officials.
1325
01:15:19,438 --> 01:15:21,677
Anybody who works for the
state or the county or any,
1326
01:15:21,677 --> 01:15:25,104
you know, all those kinds
of people, I have this
1327
01:15:25,104 --> 01:15:26,979
inherent distrust for.
1328
01:15:26,979 --> 01:15:29,546
And the worst part is that
I know where it comes from
1329
01:15:29,546 --> 01:15:31,546
and I can't turn it off.
1330
01:15:39,145 --> 01:15:40,705
- I didn't bathe my
daughter for the first year,
1331
01:15:40,705 --> 01:15:41,932
you know what I mean?
1332
01:15:41,932 --> 01:15:44,950
It wasn't until the trial
reopened and stuff that
1333
01:15:44,950 --> 01:15:48,183
I realized, hey you know,
there's some characteristics,
1334
01:15:48,183 --> 01:15:50,712
I shouldn't be afraid to be
around other people's kids.
1335
01:15:50,712 --> 01:15:54,365
- Think about it, all those
people, now all those children
1336
01:15:54,365 --> 01:15:57,548
that are just confused and
upset and afraid of their
1337
01:15:57,548 --> 01:16:00,984
own kids, I mean, they ruined
a lot of people's lives,
1338
01:16:00,984 --> 01:16:02,317
they really did.
1339
01:16:10,590 --> 01:16:14,757
- I have a son and I never
got to give him a bath.
1340
01:16:23,383 --> 01:16:25,537
I would have my mom bathe
him because I didn't want
1341
01:16:25,537 --> 01:16:27,269
people to say, you
know you're touching him
1342
01:16:27,269 --> 01:16:28,737
the wrong way.
1343
01:16:28,737 --> 01:16:32,258
'Cause I knew that I didn't
wanna be in John's shoes
1344
01:16:32,258 --> 01:16:34,758
for something that's not true.
1345
01:16:55,806 --> 01:16:57,735
- Unfortunately they are
victims but they're just victims
1346
01:16:57,735 --> 01:17:01,900
of this county and the
way they tried to make
1347
01:17:01,900 --> 01:17:05,630
themselves so powerful and noticeable.
1348
01:17:05,630 --> 01:17:09,797
- There was a lot of law
enforcement and DA's office
1349
01:17:10,742 --> 01:17:14,742
and so on, judges, that
gained political ground.
1350
01:17:23,629 --> 01:17:25,951
- In general there's a
hysteria about crime,
1351
01:17:25,951 --> 01:17:28,385
particularly about
crimes against children.
1352
01:17:28,385 --> 01:17:32,405
Because, you know, we
value our children and
1353
01:17:32,405 --> 01:17:36,066
no parent would like to
ever imagine their child
1354
01:17:36,066 --> 01:17:37,876
being molested.
1355
01:17:37,876 --> 01:17:41,779
But I think that definitely,
not only in Kern County,
1356
01:17:41,779 --> 01:17:45,391
maybe Kern County highlights
it, but I think in general,
1357
01:17:45,391 --> 01:17:48,624
I think we live in a society
that's far more fearful
1358
01:17:48,624 --> 01:17:52,624
than the statistics or
the objective truth would
1359
01:17:53,468 --> 01:17:54,301
point to.
1360
01:17:57,637 --> 01:18:00,322
- We had a sheriff at the
time that had a philosophy
1361
01:18:00,322 --> 01:18:03,210
that children generally don't lie,
1362
01:18:03,210 --> 01:18:06,503
and had a philosophy, to
this day, is absolutely
1363
01:18:06,503 --> 01:18:09,995
when you're dealing with
children as victims of crime,
1364
01:18:09,995 --> 01:18:12,412
you're in a no win situation.
1365
01:18:13,279 --> 01:18:16,885
A lot of what went wrong,
if something did go wrong,
1366
01:18:16,885 --> 01:18:20,718
was that the way that
we interviewed children.
1367
01:18:22,628 --> 01:18:26,524
We probably should have
relied more on expertise
1368
01:18:26,524 --> 01:18:30,108
of professional counselors,
maybe even included them
1369
01:18:30,108 --> 01:18:31,275
in interviews.
1370
01:18:41,204 --> 01:18:43,025
- I don't think there was
a deliberate witch hunt,
1371
01:18:43,025 --> 01:18:47,113
I think it was a, it
was an issue involving
1372
01:18:47,113 --> 01:18:51,030
lack of training, lack
of knowledge, maybe lack
1373
01:18:52,475 --> 01:18:54,892
of leadership that kept that,
1374
01:18:58,588 --> 01:19:02,044
folks that were involved in
it kept supporting each other
1375
01:19:02,044 --> 01:19:04,868
and couldn't view it from
any other place except from
1376
01:19:04,868 --> 01:19:07,368
the perspective of conviction.
1377
01:19:08,904 --> 01:19:12,744
But I don't believe there
was an evil intent on
1378
01:19:12,744 --> 01:19:16,435
the part of the prosecutors
or the investigators.
1379
01:19:16,435 --> 01:19:19,643
Although, if I were one of
the defendants who had been
1380
01:19:19,643 --> 01:19:23,670
sent to prison, I certainly
would feel that there was.
1381
01:19:23,670 --> 01:19:25,755
- The witch hunt happened
and when the witch hunt went,
1382
01:19:25,755 --> 01:19:27,088
you were guilty.
1383
01:19:28,791 --> 01:19:33,035
You were guilty before
you even did anything.
1384
01:19:33,035 --> 01:19:36,330
- That would require
the district attorney,
1385
01:19:36,330 --> 01:19:39,362
the detective commander of
the sheriff's department,
1386
01:19:39,362 --> 01:19:43,916
the sheriff and every officer
involved to conspire to do,
1387
01:19:43,916 --> 01:19:47,266
and I can tell you as
a detective commander
1388
01:19:47,266 --> 01:19:49,849
that just never happened, ever.
1389
01:19:57,208 --> 01:20:00,792
- I think that there were
people in power that set
1390
01:20:00,792 --> 01:20:03,721
the tone for what everybody
else did so that the
1391
01:20:03,721 --> 01:20:06,568
people who were the
ultimate decision makers,
1392
01:20:06,568 --> 01:20:10,120
you know, it starts at the
top and it filters down
1393
01:20:10,120 --> 01:20:13,001
to how everybody else
regards their role and
1394
01:20:13,001 --> 01:20:14,415
what they're doing.
1395
01:20:14,415 --> 01:20:17,332
And the top was one of ambition and
1396
01:20:20,156 --> 01:20:24,072
zealotry and that's what
ended up filtering down to
1397
01:20:24,072 --> 01:20:26,911
all the other players involved.
1398
01:20:26,911 --> 01:20:28,512
- We're just collateral
damage in whatever they were
1399
01:20:28,512 --> 01:20:30,024
working on.
1400
01:20:30,024 --> 01:20:34,191
And it worked, the guy's still
runnin' the show down there.
1401
01:20:39,748 --> 01:20:43,270
- That people get sentenced
to death a higher percentage
1402
01:20:43,270 --> 01:20:44,270
of the time.
1403
01:21:02,075 --> 01:21:04,148
- There really are no checks
and balances there because
1404
01:21:04,148 --> 01:21:08,252
they feed off one another
and there's nobody there to
1405
01:21:08,252 --> 01:21:10,770
question what anybody else is doing.
1406
01:21:10,770 --> 01:21:13,821
And so I think that really
lends itself to what happened
1407
01:21:13,821 --> 01:21:16,693
here where a situation got out of hand.
1408
01:21:16,693 --> 01:21:18,451
And there was nobody here
to say wait a minute,
1409
01:21:18,451 --> 01:21:20,345
there's something wrong with this.
1410
01:21:41,419 --> 01:21:45,658
- This does happen and it
can be you, your neighbor,
1411
01:21:45,658 --> 01:21:48,505
your son, daughter, it
can happen right now.
1412
01:21:48,505 --> 01:21:51,995
There's no rhyme or reason why it happens.
1413
01:21:51,995 --> 01:21:55,495
If somebody wants to do it, it can happen.
1414
01:22:17,095 --> 01:22:19,108
Brenda and Scott
Kniffen are still married
1415
01:22:19,108 --> 01:22:20,833
and live in Nevada.
1416
01:22:20,833 --> 01:22:23,084
They wish they could live
closer to their two sons
1417
01:22:23,084 --> 01:22:25,821
and four grandchildren who
still live in Bakersfield,
1418
01:22:25,821 --> 01:22:29,255
but despite the reversal of
his conviction, Scott had
1419
01:22:29,255 --> 01:22:31,588
trouble landing a job there.
1420
01:22:37,705 --> 01:22:40,259
Now they make a 375 mile drive every month
1421
01:22:40,259 --> 01:22:42,092
to visit their family.
1422
01:22:43,616 --> 01:22:46,987
- We can't live our lives
being bitter in that regard.
1423
01:22:46,987 --> 01:22:50,265
We know in our hearts that
one day God will meet out
1424
01:22:50,265 --> 01:22:54,432
justice and we cannot, what
amount of time we have left
1425
01:22:55,587 --> 01:22:59,245
on this earth, we cannot run
around with a chip on our
1426
01:22:59,245 --> 01:23:02,543
shoulder and be mad about it at everybody.
1427
01:23:32,701 --> 01:23:34,712
Jack and Jackie
Cummings never ended up
1428
01:23:34,712 --> 01:23:35,979
being arrested.
1429
01:23:35,979 --> 01:23:39,874
Even so, their kids weren't
returned to them for a year.
1430
01:23:39,874 --> 01:23:42,488
They still live in Bakersfield
with their three sons
1431
01:23:42,488 --> 01:23:45,189
and five grandchildren.
1432
01:23:45,189 --> 01:23:47,427
The charges against their
friends, the Gonzales',
1433
01:23:47,427 --> 01:23:49,030
were dropped.
1434
01:23:49,030 --> 01:23:51,613
The couple was never convicted.
1435
01:23:56,415 --> 01:23:58,897
Rick and Marcella Pitts
are also still together.
1436
01:23:58,897 --> 01:24:03,064
They live in a small Oklahoma
town near their children.
1437
01:24:05,021 --> 01:24:07,994
Jeff Modahl also moved
out to the heartland.
1438
01:24:07,994 --> 01:24:10,872
He settled in Nebraska with his new wife.
1439
01:24:10,872 --> 01:24:14,039
They had a son, Jeffrey Modahl Junior.
1440
01:24:17,659 --> 01:24:19,382
by yourself.
1441
01:24:19,382 --> 01:24:22,779
by yourself too?
1442
01:24:22,779 --> 01:24:23,612
- Yep.
1443
01:24:24,542 --> 01:24:26,102
You got it?
1444
01:24:26,102 --> 01:24:26,935
- Yep.
1445
01:24:30,136 --> 01:24:32,051
Jeff's
daughters, Carla and Theresa,
1446
01:24:32,051 --> 01:24:36,218
moved to the same town to
be close to their father.
1447
01:24:49,338 --> 01:24:52,335
- I'm a country boy and
I'm pretty happy where I'm
1448
01:24:52,335 --> 01:24:57,258
at right now because I got
lucky with a wife that I have
1449
01:24:57,258 --> 01:24:58,091
and my son
1450
01:24:59,376 --> 01:25:02,915
and so far still being
graced with good health
1451
01:25:02,915 --> 01:25:06,248
and things like that that I'm happy for.
1452
01:25:13,058 --> 01:25:15,721
For a 60 year old man to
get out and to have to try
1453
01:25:15,721 --> 01:25:19,968
to start over, that's even,
it's got to be rougher yet,
1454
01:25:19,968 --> 01:25:22,801
then it was for someone that's 45.
1455
01:25:25,888 --> 01:25:29,136
Look at that grin on his face.
1456
01:25:29,136 --> 01:25:31,299
How are you my friend?
1457
01:25:52,363 --> 01:25:55,657
John and
Jeff are back together now
1458
01:25:55,657 --> 01:25:57,313
as free men.
1459
01:25:57,313 --> 01:26:00,770
They say the bond they share
is truly that of brothers.
1460
01:26:00,770 --> 01:26:03,079
- He knows how I feel.
1461
01:26:03,079 --> 01:26:05,412
He knows what I have inside.
1462
01:26:06,663 --> 01:26:09,496
A lot of, I'm not gonna say anger,
1463
01:26:11,848 --> 01:26:14,039
but there's soemthin' built up inside
1464
01:26:14,039 --> 01:26:17,886
and I can talk to it to
him because he understands.
1465
01:26:17,886 --> 01:26:19,964
- There was a lot of people
that got out and said,
1466
01:26:19,964 --> 01:26:22,453
I know you didn't do this,
John, I'll do my best to
1467
01:26:22,453 --> 01:26:24,529
help you, and nobody ever did.
1468
01:26:24,529 --> 01:26:28,696
And Jeffrey did, that's just,
Jeffrey's very important
1469
01:26:30,171 --> 01:26:31,693
to me.
1470
01:26:31,693 --> 01:26:33,443
Very important to me.
1471
01:26:34,402 --> 01:26:36,166
The day John
Stoll walked out of prison
1472
01:26:36,166 --> 01:26:37,884
he was alone.
1473
01:26:37,884 --> 01:26:40,434
His parents had died,
his friends were gone,
1474
01:26:40,434 --> 01:26:43,722
and the rest of his family
had moved on without him.
1475
01:26:43,722 --> 01:26:46,273
Since his release, John
has been piecing together
1476
01:26:46,273 --> 01:26:49,691
a new life, new friends,
and a new extended family
1477
01:26:49,691 --> 01:26:52,108
of people who believe in him.
1478
01:26:56,024 --> 01:27:00,191
Slowly, he's made his way
back into the free world.
1479
01:27:01,488 --> 01:27:03,960
California's Victim
Compensation Board gave John
1480
01:27:03,960 --> 01:27:08,341
$700,000 for the 20
years he was in prison.
1481
01:27:08,341 --> 01:27:11,096
With that money, he bought
his first new car and took
1482
01:27:11,096 --> 01:27:13,530
road trips all around the country,
1483
01:27:13,530 --> 01:27:17,697
living a life he could only
dream of for all those years.
1484
01:27:26,503 --> 01:27:28,650
But John says he would
give it all up tomorrow
1485
01:27:28,650 --> 01:27:32,817
for just one more moment, one
more picture with his son Jed.
121033
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